El Padrino (The Godfather), El Patrón (The Boss), or El Zar de la Cocaína (The Tsar of Cocaine), were all names for Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, the founder and head of the Medellín Cartel.
In 1975, Escobar began developing his cocaine operation in Colombia as well as his smuggling routes into the United States. A year later he was arrested, along with some of his men, for possession of 39 pounds of white paste. It was during this time when Escobar’s pattern of bribing or killing authorities began, when he tried to bribe Medellín judges who were forming the case against him, and when that did not work, he had the two officers killed and the case was dropped.
Escobar was a man that was feared by many. He exuded his power in the way he carried himself as well as how he took care of his business. Due to a rise in the demand for cocaine in the United States, it was estimated that about 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the United States every month.
Escobar developed smuggling shipments, routes, and distribution networks in South Florida and California. An island called Norman’s Cay located in the Bahamas became the new trans-shipment site for distributing their cocaine. Escobar and his cartel co-founder Carlos Lehder worked together to build and establish the island as the perfect location to grow their business.
In addition to using planes to transport their product, Roberto Escobar, Escobar’s brother, said that Escobar at one point used two small submarines to transport their larger shipments into the United States.
Aside from The Medellín Cartel controlling a large portion of the drugs that entered into the United States, the cartel also controlled a portion of the drugs entering Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Spain. It is even rumored that his cartel reached as far as Asia at one point.
With an estimated net worth of 30 billion US dollars, by the early 1990s, Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in history. He was also at one point, one of the 10 richest men in the world.
With gun shots to the leg, torso and a fatal shot through the ear, Escobar was finally captured and killed by the Colombian National Police on December 2, 1993. It is rumored and said by Roberto Escobar that Escobar had committed suicide, and shot himself through the ear.
Multiple movies and TV series have been made about Escobar and his life. "The Infiltrator," the most recent film made, focuses on the capturing of Escobar. The film hit the big screen July 13th and has made 8.5 million dollars in the box office.
The film features Bryan Cranston as Robert Mazur, a United States Customs special agent who goes undercover with the alias, "Bob Musella" to help bust Pablo Escobar's money-laundering organization during the 1980s.
"The Infiltrator" has received positive reviews from credible
sources, including Rotten Tomatoes with about 100 reviews equaling to a rating
of 68 percent.
The fascination followed by the facts behind the life of "The
King of Cocaine," Escobar, leads to entertaining films and TV series, as
we see with "The Infiltrator." I highly recommend treating yourself this summer to this suspenseful, action-packed film.
