Local officers posed with the body of Escobar soon after he was killed by police.
Pablo Escobar was a career criminal from a young age. As a son of a teacher and a peasant his options were limited. During the 1970’s a young Escobar became involved with the cocaine trade. The King of Cocaine would eventually become one of the wealthiest men in the world with $30 billion, and possibly more buried throughout his home country.
In 1975, Pablo Escobar became an entrepreneur in the cocaine world by developing his own methods for smuggling cocaine into the largest market in the world; the United States of America. A year later Pablo began his notorious reign of corruption and violence by killing two police officers set to testify against him and other associates.
Escobar and his associates would eventually form what is now known as the Medellin Cartel. This cartel was notoriously violent and became the object of much scrutiny by both the American and Colombian governments. At the height its power, the cartel was responsible for smuggling in 80 percent of all cocaine in the United States.
As it became apparent to the United States government that Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel were behind the surge in cocaine supply, they developed a plan to stop him. On December 2, 1993 the United States provided support to the Colombian National Police as they attempted to bring Escobar to justice. Both he and his bodyguard were shot and killed as they attempted to escape by running on the roof. His reign of violence was over and still serves as a powerful reminder that drug pushers have a nasty habit of ending up dead or in jail.
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