With the rave reviews about Narcos on Netflix, it seems as if there is a drastic increase in the amount of people wanting to know more about the enigmatic drug dealer, Pablo Escobar. If you have been living under a rock, or were born after the 90s, Escobar, at one point was the biggest drug dealer in the world. He sold a lot of drugs, made mountains of money and was pretty ruthless.
When you hear about the life that Pablo Escoabr lived, it almost seems as if it was a movie. This is why you definitely need to check out the 31 Outrageous Facts About Pablo Escobar, some of them sound downright insane.
1. Pablo Escobar Grew Up Poor
Pablo was born Dec 11th, 1949 to Abel de Jesús Dari Escobar, who was a farmer, and Hermilda Gaviria, an elementary school teacher. His mother had 7 children and at times money was hard to come by. Pablo saw the struggle that his mother had and at the mere age of 5 years old, Pablo told his mother “mom, wait until I grew up, I will give you everything.”
2. His Life of Crime Started in his Teens
As a teenager on the streets of Medellín, Colombia, Pablo started his criminal career by going to cemeteries and stealing gravestones. He would then sand them down and resell them to smugglers in Panama.
3. He Then Moved on to More Serious Crime
As he grew older, Escobar got involved in more serious criminal activities. These would include petty street scams, selling fake lottery tickets, selling contraband cigarettes and also stealing automobiles.
4. His First Big Payday Was a Kidnapping
Before he made the big step into the drug business, he kidnapped and ransomed a Medellín executive for $100,000.
5. At the Start of His Cocaine Operation, He Flew Drugs Into the United States Himself
With the drug operation just starting up, Escobar would fly planes himself between Colombia and Panama, along the drug smuggling routes into the United States. The first plane he used was decommissioned and he hung it above the gate to his ranch at Hacienda Napoles.
6. Drugs Were Brought Into The U.S. in Plane Tires
With Pablo increasing the amount of cocaine he brought into the United States, he started moving the drugs in the tires of planes. A pilot could have a major payday of $500,000 per flight, depending on how much coke he could bring into the country.
7. The First Time he got Arrested he Made the Case Disappear
The first time Pablo got arrested he unsuccessfully tried to bribe the Medellín judges who were building a case against him. After many months of legal wrangling, Pablo took matters into his own hands and had the two arresting officers killed and the case was dropped. This was the start of how Escobar dealt with the authorities. He would either bribe them or kill them.
where is the rest?
In Colombia, “plata” means “money”, people generally use the term “plata” over “dinero” even thought “plata” literally means silver. So “plata o plumo” means “take the money or take the bullet” not take the silver.