Escobar's daughter. The criminal empire of Pablo Escobar

The largest drug lord in the history of mankind, Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born into a poor family in 1949. His teenage years were spent in poor neighborhoods of the city of Medellin, where ultra-left political views dominated and supported Cuban revolution. The influence of the street formed in the guy a hostile attitude towards the rich segments of the population, and it was then that a path began in his life, for which he and his close relatives would later have to pay harshly.

Theft

The most affordable money was tombstones from the city cemetery. Escobar erased the inscriptions on them and sold them to buyers from Panama. The income from such a trade was small, so in addition he began to sell marijuana. Possessing authority among those around him, he showed leadership abilities and created a group of like-minded people. The newly formed gang began to steal expensive cars, selling them for spare parts.

Colombian Robin Hood or Outlaw

Cocaine

Colombia was a poor country, but had an inexhaustible supply of vegetation containing cocaine. Cocaine bushes grew almost everywhere, and nearby there was an unlimited drug market - the USA.

In Colombia, the majority of the population lived below the poverty line, and in order to get rid of the feeling of hunger and find the strength to work, the local poor chewed the leaves of the Erythroxylum coca bush, which gave them strength for a while.

Escobar and his people decided to organize the sale of cocaine, acting as intermediaries in this matter. Buying cheap drugs from local manufacturers, they sold them at higher prices to American drug traffickers, and later they themselves began smuggling drugs into the United States.

Over the next 7 years of criminal activity, Escobar, teaming up with three other major drug traffickers, became the head of the most powerful Medellin cartel in the world. They used airplanes and even small submarines to distribute cocaine. A transshipment point was organized in the Bahamas, which included a pier, several gas stations and a hotel complex. His group was superior in numbers and weapons to the Colombian police. By 1979, the drug cartel was importing 80% of the cocaine into the United States. total number import Any other drug trafficker in Colombia could import drugs into the States at 35% of the cost.

Despite achieving unprecedented heights in the drug business and building the unshakable authority of the cocaine king, he continued to engage in charity work, which earned him the favor of the local population.

Family and love

At the beginning of building his empire, Pablo met a 15-year-old girl, Maria Victoria Henao Vallejo, with whom he began an affair. She subsequently became pregnant, but her parents were categorically against their marriage, wanting only happiness for their daughter and not seeing a happy future built on drugs and blood. In 1976, 3 months before the birth of the child, Escobar and Maria, despite their parents, got married. Born son named Juan Pablo Escobar. A little over 3 years later, a daughter was born - Manuela Escobar Henao, whom her father simply adored.

Despite numerous extramarital affairs and even a serious affair with another woman, family came first for the drug lord, and his wife always supported him. Escobar himself was a caring father and husband, always tried to fulfill any wishes of his wife and children, and also paid a lot of attention to raising his son.

In an interview with RT, the son of a Colombian drug lord said that he grew up in the very epicenter of the drug trade and any drugs were available to him. And although almost everyone around him and even his bodyguard used them, only the upbringing of his father, who was able to convincingly explain the harm and consequences of drugs from the position of fatherly love, helped him resist the temptation.

Another bright personality was Pablo’s mistress, Virginia Vallejo Garcia. They met in 1983 and developed a very close relationship. They were the same age, but belonged to different social classes. While Escobar grew up poor and later built a drug empire, Virginia came from a wealthy and respected family. Her grandfather was the Ministry of Finance of Colombia, and Vallejo received a prestigious education. Building her career, she rose from a simple journalist on local television to a board member of the ACL directors' association and subsequently got a job at the BBC. Under the patronage of her lover, she became the most popular TV star in the South American media industry.

According to unofficial data, Vallejo Garcia had an abortion. The motive for this was Pablo's promise to his daughter that she would be the only one.

Policy

Despite achieving unprecedented heights in the criminal business and building the absolute authority of the cocaine king, Pablo was engaged in charity work, which earned him favor local residents. Thanks to popular support, in 1982 he became a substitute congressman for Columbia. The drug lord's plans included taking the presidency, but he faced harsh condemnation and opposition from the Ministry of Justice of Lara Bonilla, who launched a campaign against investing “dirty” money in politics. As a result, the drug lord was expelled from Congress. Revenge was not long in coming, and 3 months later the minister was shot dead.

Terror

Even without access to the government, the drug lord's power in Colombia extended to all spheres of society. Officials, judges and police were bought, and those who tried to oppose were simply destroyed.

The situation worsened when the US President Reagan administration declared war on drugs. As a result, Colombia and the United States agreed to hand over drug lords to American justice. Police raids began across the country, many drug traffickers were detained, and some big bosses were handed over to American authorities. In response to this, the main Colombian drug lord created terrorist organization- Los Extraditables. Armed militants attacked police stations, set up ambushes, and shot officials and judges. As a result, Colombia's Supreme Court overturned the extradition agreement. But new president– Barco blocked the court’s decision, renewing the agreement. Then serious persecution began on the part of the Colombian authorities, and one of the baron’s close associates was arrested. He himself was forced to go into hiding, and in 1989 he agreed to surrender in exchange for guarantees that he would not be extradited to the United States.

After the government refused to agree to the cartel's terms, a new wave of terror began. In a matter of days, the killers killed the chief judge, a police colonel and a well-known politician who was distinguished by his intransigence towards drug dealers. On the eve of the presidential elections, 7 explosions took place in 10 days in Bagota alone, killing 37 people and injuring almost 400. The explosion of an airplane caused a huge stir. On the orders of Pablo Escobar, a bomb was planted in a passenger Boeing of local airlines. The explosion killed more than 100 people. Falling plane debris also killed several people on the ground.

The government's response was new raids - arrests, destruction of coca plantations and secret drug laboratories. The war between the drug cartel and the government became widespread and the next step was two attempts to kill the head of the secret police. During the second attempt, a bomb explosion killed more than 60 people.

The government decided to create a special unit of the best police, military and intelligence agencies aimed at capturing the drug cartel. The group's action turned out to be effective. The drug lord's associates were detained one after another, but he himself escaped thanks to connections in the government and the support of the peasants. The next move of the drug cartel was the mass kidnapping of the richest people, and through their relatives pressure was exerted on the government. As a result, the extradition was cancelled.

Arrest

Having achieved the cancellation of extradition, Pablo decided to voluntarily surrender, but shortly before that he took care of his maintenance and specially built a prison with all the amenities - “La Catedral”. The arrest took place in 1991. According to the agreement on voluntary surrender, concluded with the government, he admitted several minor crimes, and the rest was forgiven. The special unit was prohibited from approaching the prison closer than 3 km, and relatives and friends could visit him at any time.

La Catedral prison included a cultural and entertainment complex, a swimming pool, a sauna and a jacuzzi.

Being convicted, the baron often went to football matches and nightclubs, and the management of the drug business continued directly from prison. The government turned a blind eye, sighing with relief at the end of the terror. The showdown within the cartel, during which two of his companions who robbed him were brought to Pablo’s prison for reprisals, outraged President Cesar Gaviria. He ordered the prisoner to be transferred to a real prison. Having learned about this, the drug lord fled.

In "La Catedral" the cocaine king last time saw my family.

Bullying

A hunt was announced for Pablo. The Colombian authorities, together with the CIA, decided to eliminate the drug lord if possible upon arrest. In addition to the police, the military was involved in the case, as well as the rival Cali drug cartel. Los Pepes was also created, an organization that included people whose relatives suffered from the terrorist attacks. The organization burned estates that belonged to the drug lord and his relatives and terrorized everyone who had anything to do with his drug business.

Escobar's plans included declaring total war on all of Colombia and his enemies, but he was worried about the safety of his family. To free his hands, he decided to send them to Germany, but US intelligence agencies intervened and the plane with his relatives was turned around.

Death

In early December 1993, he made a telephone call to a family who were being held at the hotel as bait. Knowing that the intelligence services were waiting for this call, he continued the conversation for more than 5 minutes. As a result, the call was traced and the house was surrounded. During the shootout, the drug cartel was wounded by a sniper in the leg, the second shot was in the body, and the third was a control shot, the sniper fired in the head.

Funeral

Pablo Escobar is buried in the city of Itagui at the Monte Sacro cemetery. The funeral took place on December 3, 1993. More than 20 thousand Colombians came to the funeral, some to mourn and others to rejoice. During funeral procession the crowd tried to get closer to the coffin. As a result of the pandemonium that occurred, the coffin lid flew off, and thousands of hands reached out to touch the legend.

Family after the death of a drug lord

Escobar's wife and children now live in Argentina. The widow and children fled from persecution to Mozambique and wandered for some time in search of political asylum. Argentina sheltered them. The wife and children changed their surnames. Now their names are: wife - Maria Isabel Santos Caballero, daughter - Juan Manuela Marroquin Santos and son - Juan Sebastian Marroquin, although the drug cartel son recently returned to his real name. Fate did not bring peace to the family in Argentina either; everyone had to pay for the sins of their father. At first, life began to improve, but it changed a lot. There was no more luxury, and the children began to study in a regular school.

Escobar's death was most difficult for his daughter. According to her mother, the girl slept in her father’s shirt for many years and kept a piece of his beard under her pillow.

The calm did not last long. In 2000, the baron's widow and son were arrested. They were charged with laundering money received from members of the Medellin cartel. As a result, they spent 15 months behind bars, and the trials lasted a total of 7 years. As a result, the charges were dropped.

There was no information about the girl from 2000 until 2007, until Argentine journalist Jose Alejandro Castaño spoke about her. Arriving at the widow's house, he happened to see her several times. Manuela has completely closed herself off from society and does not communicate with anyone.

The drug lord's mistress, Virginia, completely abandoned her TV career a year after his death. In 2006, she came to America and made a loud statement in which she accused four Colombian presidents of corruption. She also testified against former Justice Minister A. Santofimio. Only 5 years later, on the basis of her testimony, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison for organizing 4 murders. She also published a memoir, “Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar,” in which she revealed a love story and many facts from the life of the drug cartel. The book became a bestseller, and a film was made based on it, which will soon be released.

The Life and Death of Pablo Escobar

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Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (Spanish) Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria), was born on December 1, 1949, in the town of Envigado, 40 km from Medellin and was shot dead on December 2, 1993, in the city of Bogota, in the Los Olibos region.
He was the third child in the family, his father was a poor peasant, his mother school teacher. Like most of his peers, Pablo loved to listen heroic stories about the legendary Colombian “banditos”, about how they robbed the rich and helped the needy. Already as a child, he decided that when he grew up, he would become the same “banditos”. Who would have thought then that the innocent romantic dreams of a fragile, gentle boy would take the form of a nightmare in a couple of decades.

At Pablo's school, among children from poorer families, the students were dominated by extreme leftists Political Views He and his new schoolmates openly supported the Cuban Revolution that had occurred several years earlier. He soon became addicted to marijuana and was kicked out of school at age 16. From this age, Pablo began to commit crimes.

Pablo began to spend most of his time in the criminal areas of Medellin, which was a real hotbed of crime. At first, he began stealing tombstones from a local cemetery and, erasing the inscriptions, resold them again. Soon he created a small criminal gang of like-minded people and began to engage in a more sophisticated criminal trade - the theft of expensive cars for sale for spare parts. Then Pablo Escobar came up with another “brilliant” idea - to offer his “protection” to potential victims of theft. Those who refused to pay his gang sooner or later lost their cars. This was already a real racket.

At 21, he already had quite a few followers. At the same time, Escobar's crimes became even more sophisticated and cruel. From ordinary car thefts and racketeering, he started kidnapping. In 1971, Pablo Escobar's men kidnapped the wealthy Colombian industrialist Diego Echevario, who was killed after prolonged torture. This murder was never solved. The murdered Diego Echevario aroused open hatred among the local poor peasantry, and Pablo Escobar openly declared his involvement in the kidnapping and murder. The poor people of Medellin celebrated the death of Diego Echevario, and as a sign of gratitude to Escobar, they began to respectfully call him “El Doctor.” Pablo Escobar began to “feed” the local poor by building them new cheap houses. He understood that sooner or later they would become something of a protective buffer between him and the authorities, and his popularity in Medellin grew day by day.

In 1972, Pablo Escobar was already Medellin's most famous crime boss. His criminal group was involved in car thefts, smuggling and kidnappings. Soon his gang expanded beyond Medellin.

Meanwhile, in the USA, the new generation of Americans of the 70s was no longer content with just marijuana, they needed a stronger high, and soon a new drug appeared on American streets - cocaine. On this Pablo Escobar began to build his criminal business. He first bought cocaine from manufacturers and resold it to smugglers, who then transported it to the United States. The absolute absence of any “brakes”, his willingness to torture and kill, put him beyond competition. When rumors reached him about some profitable criminal business, he, without unnecessary ceremony, simply seized it by force. Anyone who stood in his way or could in any way threaten him immediately disappeared without a trace. Soon Escobar controlled almost the entire cocaine industry in Colombia.

In March 1976, Pablo Escobar married his 15-year-old girlfriend, Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo, who had previously been in his circle. A month later their son Juan Pablo was born, and three and a half years later their daughter Manuella was born.

Pablo Escobar's drug business grew rapidly throughout South America. Soon he himself began smuggling cocaine into the United States. One of Escobar's close associates, a certain Carlos Leder, responsible for transporting cocaine, organized a real transshipment point in the Bahamas. The service was set to top level. A large pier, a number of gas stations and a modern hotel with all amenities were erected. Not a single drug trafficker could export cocaine outside of Colombia without the permission of Pablo Escobar. He removed the so-called 35% tax from each shipment of drugs and ensured its delivery. Escobar's criminal career was more than successful; he was literally swimming in dollars.

In the summer of 1977, he and three other major drug lords teamed up to create what became known as the Medellin cocaine cartel. He had the most powerful financial and cocaine empire, which no drug mafia in the world could dream of. To deliver cocaine, the cartel had a distribution network, airplanes, and even submarines. Pablo Escobar became the most indisputable authority in the cocaine world and the absolute leader of the Medellin cartel. He bought policemen, judges, politicians. If bribery did not work, then blackmail was used, but basically the cartel acted on the principle: “Pay or die.”

By 1979, the Medellin cartel already owned more than 80% of the US cocaine industry. 30-year-old Pablo Escobar became one of the richest people in the world, whose personal fortune amounted to billions of dollars. Escobar had 34 estates, 500 thousand hectares of land, 40 rare cars. On Escobar's estate, 20 artificial lakes, six swimming pools were dug, and even a small airport with a runway was built. At times it seemed that the cocaine drug lord simply did not know what to do with the money. Within his estate, Pablo Escobar ordered the construction of a safari zoo, to which the most exotic animals were brought from all over the world. The zoo had 120 antelopes, 30 buffaloes, 6 hippos, 3 elephants and 2 rhinoceroses. brought the most beautiful girls from Colombia and not only, and where sexual orgies were held. Having such colossal funds, in a part of his estate hidden from prying eyes, Pablo Escobar created a harem in which he took more than 400 mistresses, who could actually be considered concubines. For them, Escobar built a real closed small town. Each mistress, among whom were local winners of beauty contests, fashion models, and actresses, had her own cottage with a swimming pool, all kinds of gazebos, fountains and other delights, the design and decoration was unlike any other. In the town itself there were real parks with artificial lakes, beaches, porticoes, in the shade of which Escobar loved to indulge in lovemaking. The eye was delighted by the white and black swans floating on the lake, and the naked dancers, who seemed to form a separate caste in this paradise, entertaining the owner with their fiery body movements. The girls lived in a harem no worse than the eastern Gurias. Each had a lot of gold jewelry and a chic wardrobe from the most fashionable couturiers. For his beloved favorites, the godfather ordered cosmetologists, massage therapists and hairdressers from Paris and Milan.

To enlist the support of the population, he launched extensive construction in Medellin. He paved roads, built stadiums and erected free houses for the poor, which were popularly called “Barrio Pablo Escobar”. He himself explained his charity by the fact that it hurt him to see how the poor suffered. Escobar saw himself as a Colombian Robin Hood.

In the criminal world, he reached the pinnacle of power. Now he was looking for a way to make his business legal. In 1982, Pablo Escobar ran for the Colombian Congress. And eventually, at age 32, he became a substitute member of the Colombian Congress. That is, he replaced congressmen during their absence.

Having broken into Congress, Escobar dreamed of becoming president of Colombia. At the same time, once in Bogota, he noticed that his popularity did not extend beyond Medellin. In Bogota they naturally heard about him, but as a dubious person paving a cocaine road to the presidency. One of Colombia's most popular politicians, the main candidate for the presidency, Luis Carlos Galan, was the first to openly condemn the new congressman's connection with the cocaine business.

A few days later, Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonia launched a widespread campaign against the investment of dirty cocaine money in the election race. As a result, Pablo Escobar, in January 1984, was expelled from the Colombian Congress. Through the efforts of the Minister of Justice his political career disappeared once and for all. However, Escobar was not going to leave quietly and decided to take revenge on the minister.

On April 30, 1984, Bonia's ministerial Mercedes stopped at a traffic light on one of Bogota's busiest streets. At that moment, a motorcyclist approached at point-blank range with a machine gun, riddling the back of the Mercedes, where the Minister of Justice usually sat. An automatic burst literally blew off the head of Rodrigo Lara Bonia. This is the first time that bandits have killed such a high-ranking official in Colombia. From that day on, terror began to spread throughout Colombia.

In the mid-1980s, Escobar's cocaine empire controlled almost every aspect of Colombian society. However, a serious threat looms over him. The administration of US President Ronald Reagan declared its own war on the spread of drugs not only throughout the United States, but throughout the world. An agreement was reached between the United States and Colombia, according to which the Colombian government pledged to hand over to American justice the cocaine barons involved in trafficking drugs to the United States.

This was done because if drug traffickers were in any Colombian prison, they could, as before, continue to run their gangs without hindrance directly from their places of detention and would very soon be free. As for the United States, the drug traffickers understood that they could not buy their freedom. The drug lords responded to the authorities' attempts to extradite gang members to the United States with terrorism. They had their own motto, with which they bravely walked under bullets: “Better a tomb in Colombia than a prison cell in the USA.” Escobar also swore this oath to himself. But in September 1990, the country's new president, Cesar Gaviria, invited the drug lords to voluntarily surrender in exchange for a promise not to send them to the United States for trial. The situation for Escobar was then very tense. The government declared all-out war on the cartel and immediately received $65 million from the United States for this purpose. As a result of one single nationwide operation, 989 houses and farms, 367 aircraft, 73 boats, 710 cars, 4.7 tons of cocaine and 1,279 weapons were confiscated from Escobar (the zoo, by the way, was also confiscated). Every government strike was met with a counterattack by the cartel - Pablo Escobar created a terrorist group called “Los Extraditables”. Its fighters, trained by Colonel Paratrooper of the Israeli Army, Yair Klein, attacked officials, police, and anyone who opposed the drug trade. The reason for the terrorist attack could have been a major police operation or the extradition of another cocaine mafia boss to the United States. The confrontation turned massacres. Between 1988 and 1994, 25,211 political and 31,385 non-political murders occurred in Colombia during the fight against the mafia.

In November 1985, Escobar and other drug traffickers banded together to show the government that they could not be intimidated. Escobar hired large group leftist partisans to commit sabotage. Left partisans, armed with machine guns, grenades and portable rocket launchers unexpectedly appeared in the center of Bogota and captured the Palace of Justice while at least several hundred people were inside the building. The partisans refused to conduct any negotiations, and began to fire in all directions, without putting forward any demands. While they held the Palace of Justice in their hands, they destroyed all documents related to the extradition of criminals. Large army and police forces were brought into the capital of the country. After a full day of siege, assault battalions, supported by tanks and combat helicopters, stormed the Palace of Justice. The assault killed 97 people, including 11 of the 24 judges.

A year later, the Supreme Court overturned the agreement on the extradition of drug traffickers to the United States. However, just a few days later, the new President of Colombia, Versilio Barco, vetoed the decision Supreme Court and renewed this agreement. In February 1987, Escobar's closest assistant, Carlos Leider, was extradited to the United States, by that time he had fallen into the hands of the security forces.

Pablo Escobar was forced to build secret shelters throughout the country. Thanks to information from his people in the government, he managed to stay one step ahead law enforcement agencies. In addition, the peasants always warned him when suspicious people, a car with policemen or soldiers, or a helicopter appeared.

In 1989, Pablo Escobar again tried to make a deal with justice. He agreed to surrender to the police if the government would guarantee that he would not be extradited to the United States. The authorities refused. Escobar responded to this refusal with terror.

In August 1989, the terror reached its peak. On August 16, 1989, Supreme Court member Carlos Valencia died at the hands of Escobar's killers. The next day, police Colonel Waldemar Franklin Contero was killed. On August 18, 1989, at a pre-election rally, the famous Colombian politician Luis Carlos Galan was shot, who promised, if elected president of the country, to start an irreconcilable war against cocaine traffickers, to cleanse Colombia of drug lords by extraditing them to the United States.

Before the elections, the terror of the Medellin cartel acquired a special scope. Every day, cartel hitmen killed dozens of people. In Bogota alone, one of the terrorist drug mafia groups committed 7 explosions within two weeks, as a result of which 37 people were killed and about 400 were seriously injured.

On November 27, 1989, Pablo Escobar planted a bomb on a Colombian airliner, Avianaka, carrying 107 passengers and crew members. The successor of the deceased Luis Carlos Galan, the future president of Colombia, Cesar Gaviria, was supposed to fly on this plane. Three minutes after the airliner took off, a sound was heard on board. powerful explosion. The plane caught fire and crashed into the nearby hills. None of those on board survived. As it turned out later, Cezanne Gaviria at the last moment, for some reason, canceled his flight.

Massive raids swept across the country, during which chemical laboratories and coca plantations were destroyed. Dozens of drug cartel members are behind bars. In response to this, Pablo Escobar twice made 4 attempts on the life of the chief of the Colombian secret police, General Miguel Masa Marquez. In the second attempt, on December 6, 1989, a bomb explosion killed 62 people and injured 100 of varying degrees of severity.

By the early 90s, he was considered one of the richest people on the planet. His fortune was estimated at at least $3 billion. He topped the list of the most wanted drug traffickers in the United States. On his heels invariably followed the elite special forces, which set themselves the task of catching or destroying Pablo Escobar at any cost.

In 1990, just the mention of Pablo Escobar's name struck terror throughout Colombia. He was the most known criminal in the world. The government created a “Special Search Group” whose target was Pablo Escobar himself. The group included the best police officers from selected units, as well as people from the army, special services and the prosecutor's office.

The creation of the “Special Search Group,” headed by Colonel Martinez, immediately bore positive results: several people from Pablo Escobar’s inner circle ended up in the dungeons of the secret police, and in 1992, he was shot dead by the El Mexicano (Spanish) police. El Mexicano) – Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the organizers of the most high-profile crimes. Together with his son, they fired back for a long time, the Mexican shouted from the windows that he would rather die, but the “gringos” (Americans) would not surrender.
The remaining top of the cartel - Escobar himself, Luis Ochoa and his two brothers - began to insist on negotiations with the government. The deal proposed by the cartel was this: they surrender voluntarily, but at the same time they will be charged with only one crime and, of course, there can be no question of any extradition to the United States. Moreover, in Envigado, hometown Escobar, Medellin suburb, a private prison should be built for the cartel bosses. And in June 1991, El Doctor handed himself over to justice. Escobar agreed to plead guilty to several minor crimes, in exchange for all his past sins being forgiven.

The prison was called “La Catedral” and was built in the Envigado mountain range. “La Catedral” looked more like an expensive, prestigious country club than an ordinary prison. There was a disco, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and a sauna, and in the courtyard there was a large football field. Friends and women came to see him there. Escobar's family could visit him at any time. Colonel Martinez's "Special Search Group" did not have the right to approach La Catedral closer than 20 kilometers. Escobar came and went as he wanted. He attended football matches and nightclubs in Medellin.

During his imprisonment, Pablo Escobar continued to run his multi-billion dollar cocaine business. One day he learned that his associates in the cocaine cartel, taking advantage of his absence, robbed him. He immediately ordered his men to take them to La Catedral. He personally tortured them, drilling his victims' knees and tearing out their nails, and then ordered them to be killed and the corpses taken outside the prison. But on July 22, 1992, President Gaviria gave the order to transfer Pablo Escobar to a real prison. Escobar, upon learning of the president's decision, escaped from prison.

Now he was free, but he had enemies everywhere, except for the government, and he was hunted by competitors from the Cali cartel and the organization they created, Los PEPES. There were fewer and fewer places left in which he could find a safe refuge. The US and Colombian governments this time were determined to put an end to Escobar and his Medellin cocaine cartel. After his escape from prison, everything began to fall apart. His friends began to leave him. Pablo Escobar's main mistake was that he could not critically assess the current situation. He considered himself a more significant figure than he actually was. He continued to have enormous financial capabilities, but he no longer had real power. The only way to somehow improve the situation was to try to renew the agreement with the government. Escobar tried several times to re-enter into a deal with justice, but President Cesar Gaviria and the US government believed that this time it was not worth entering into any negotiations with the drug lord. It was decided to pursue him and, if possible, eliminate him during his arrest.

November 30, 1993, Pablo Escobar planted powerful bomb on one of the crowded streets of Bogota. The explosion occurred when there were a lot of people. Mostly these were parents with their children. As a result of this terrorist attack, 21 people were killed and more than 70 were seriously injured.

A group of Colombian citizens created the organization “Los PEPES” (Spanish “Los PEPES”), the abbreviation of which meant “The People Persecuting Pablo Escobar”. It included Colombian citizens whose relatives died because of Escobar.

The day after the attack, Los Pepes detonated bombs in front of Pablo Escobar's house. The estate that belonged to his mother was almost completely burned to the ground. Instead of pursuing Pablo Escobar himself, Los Pepes began to terrorize and hunt everyone who was in any way connected with him or his cocaine business. They were simply killed. In a short amount of time, they caused significant damage to his cocaine empire. They killed many of his people and persecuted his family. They burned his estates. Now Escobar was seriously worried, because Los Pepes, having discovered the family, would immediately destroy it to the last person, not even sparing his elderly mother and children. If his family were outside of Colombia, beyond the reach of Los Pepes, he could declare all-out war on the government and his enemies.

In the fall of 1993, the Medellin cocaine cartel collapsed. But Pablo Escobar himself was more worried about his family. For more than a year he had not seen his wife or children. He had not seen his loved ones for more than a year and was greatly missed. For Escobar this was intolerable. On December 1, 1993, Pablo Escobar turned 44 years old. He knew that he was under constant surveillance, so he tried to speak on the phone as briefly as possible so that he would not be detected by NSA agents. However, this time he finally lost his nerve.

The day after his birthday, December 2, 1993, he called his family. NSA agents had been waiting for this call for 24 hours. This time, while talking to his son Juan, he stayed on the line for about 5 minutes. After this, Escobar was spotted in the Medellin quarter of Los Olibos. Soon, the house in which Pablo Escobar was hiding was surrounded on all sides by special agents. The special forces knocked down the door and burst inside. At that moment, Escobar's bodyguard, El Limon, opened fire on the police who were trying to storm the house. He was wounded and fell to the ground. Immediately after this, with a pistol in his hands, Pablo Escobar himself leaned out of the same window. He opened random fire in all directions. He then climbed out the window and tried to escape his pursuers through the roof. There, a bullet fired by a sniper hit Escobar in the head and killed him on the spot.

On December 3, 1993, thousands of Colombians filled the streets of Medellin, some came to mourn him, others to rejoice. More than 20 thousand Colombians attended Escobar's funeral. When the coffin with the drug lord was carried through the streets of Medellin, a real Colombian Walk began - the comrades bearing the coffin were swept away by the crowd, the lid of the coffin was thrown off, and thousands of hands reached out to Pablo’s already frozen face with the sole purpose of touching the recently living legend for the last time. People's rumors played a cruel joke on Escobar's villa, claiming that the billionaire drug lord had a habit of hiding money and jewelry within the walls of his house.

After the death of the godfather in 1993, Colombian peasants dismantled the villa brick by brick in search of hiding places. Now Escobar's prison has been looted, his estates are overgrown with grass, and his cars are rusting in the garage. Escobar's widow and children live in Argentina; his brother is almost completely blind after a letter bomb was sent to his cell.
If today in the slums of Medellin you ask a question about who Pablo Escobar was, not one of the people interviewed will say a bad word about Escobar. Literally everyone speaks of him as a positive hero.

After the collapse of the Medellin cartel, competitors from Cali took over the leadership. True, already in 1995, the top of the cartel was arrested. But with Escobar leaving the scene, the drug mafia did not even think about curtailing their business. They drew conclusions from the mistakes of their predecessors. Today they want to be invisible. Colombian police don't even know their names. They no longer control the production of the drug, but simply buy finished cocaine and heroin from neighboring countries or from rebel and paramilitary groups. Within a few years, they founded large and well-guarded plantations in the jungle.

The life stories of Pablo's friends can be read in the second part - Medellin Cartel.

Today, Colombia's drug business is a free market with many contractors. Drug traffickers make deals with various groups, purchasing cocaine from them. To transport it, they turn to others; new heroes from

24 years ago, a sniper shot became fatal for one of the most powerful figures in the criminal business in the whole world. It's about about drug lord Pablo Escobar. The guy, who came from an ordinary family of a farmer and a teacher in Colombia, over the years of his life managed to become truly a master of evil, known throughout the world.

According to some reports, it claimed the lives of 10 thousand people. The gang created by Escobar managed to amass an unprecedented fortune thanks to the fact that it sold drugs. For his cruelty, Pablo is often compared to John Dillinger, a robber who also gained far from bright fame.

Pablo himself considered himself Robin Hood and spent part of his criminal money on helping the poor, for example, by building housing for them. In many neighborhoods you can still see his portraits on the streets with the caption “Saint Pablo.”

The biography of Pablo Escobar became fully known several decades after his death thanks to the photo archive that was created over the years by him former classmate Edgar Jimenez. He wasn't very successful wedding photographer until Pablo invited him to work. He then gained worldwide fame thanks to the protagonist of his reports and became known as El Chinno. Only several decades later did he open the drug lord’s family archive to the public.

Escobar's gangs

The drug lord began his “career” with stolen gravestones, from which he erased the names and sent them for resale. Then he began selling cigarettes and marijuana, and counterfeiting lottery tickets, which were then popular in Colombia.

The first small gang he created was involved in car theft. And later she got involved in racketeering, offering to pay the owners Vehicle for their safety. A couple of years later, the gang switched to kidnapping.

Drug lord Pablo Escobar

By the age of 22, Pablo had become the largest crime boss in the town of Medellin, where the gang did its business. It was at this time that Escobar’s activity became drugs, or rather cocaine, with which his entire future life was connected. Very quickly he managed to gain primacy in the cocaine industry throughout the country, and then throughout South America.

Already in his youth, drug lord Escobar controlled every shipment of drugs exported from the country. He removed the special tax and ensured delivery of the shipment. They even opened special laboratories for the production of cocaine in the jungles of the country.

Personal life

At the age of 27, Escobar married Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo. A year later, their son Juan was born and even later their daughter Manuela. The family made the criminal as vulnerable as any person. Hiding from the authorities in the forests in the north of the country, his wife and daughter froze to death, and the caring father burned almost 2 billion dollars to keep them warm. Now his children live in Argentina and do not bear their father's surname.

On the territory of the main estate, in addition to the nationally famous zoo, Pablo created an entire city for his mistresses, who, in fact, were concubines crime boss and his comrades.

More than 400 women living on the territory of the “mini-city” each had their own house with a unique design, many lakes in the area, gazebos, cozy places where they could hide from the heat in the summer heat and engage in lovemaking. For his closest lovers, Pablo brought fashion designers and cosmetologists from Europe.

The millionaire's most famous mistress, Virginia Vallejo, despite all her merits, became popular only after her connection with the drug lord. BBC journalist, she became sole representative press from Colombia at the wedding of Prince Charles and. She became the face of a popular brand of tights as a fashion model.

In 2011, Virginia’s memoirs, “Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar,” were published. This book, translated into English and becoming a bestseller, is both a love story and a biography of one of the most cruel people in the world. There are no plans to translate the book into Russian yet. IN this moment A film based on Virginia's book is being filmed. The film “Escobar” with and starring promises to be interesting.

Escobar's most famous mistress still lives in America, the state of Florida, where she was once granted political asylum.

State and football

In 1977, the baron created the Medillin Cocaine Cartel, which existed for 17 years and captured almost the entire cocaine market in the United States. The cartel had main principle: "Pay or die." A couple of years later, Forbes magazine estimated Escobar's fortune at $47 million.

With this dirty money, he built houses for the poor, trying to be known as the local Robin Hood, explaining that he was “just helping the poor.” In addition, Escobar had more than 500 thousand hectares of land, 30 estates and 40 rare cars.

Pablo laundered part of the money through sponsorship of the Atlético Nacional football team. Football became the criminal's next passion. He spent his fortune on building football fields and other infrastructure. His bodyguard said that “football was Pablo’s joy, his passion, his salvation.” But in this area of ​​life, Escobar left a trail of blood: one of his men was accused of murdering the referee of a match in which the drug lord’s team failed to win.

Death

Oddly enough, the cause of death of one of the most brutal criminals was his sentimentality and affection for his wife and children. Wanted Escobar more than a year did not communicate with family. After celebrating his 44th birthday, he called home the next day. The intelligence services had been waiting for this call for a very long time.

The five-minute conversation became the drug lord's fatal mistake. The house in which he was hiding was surrounded by representatives of the secret services. A shootout began, the door was broken down, and Pablo was shot in the head by a sniper. Later, Escobar's son Juan told the press that his father committed suicide, realizing that he would not be able to escape from the encirclement of the authorities. Be that as it may, photographs were taken with the body on the roof of the building as if it were a trophy. Later these pictures spread all over the world.

Dead body of Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar's funeral took place on December 3, 1993 and was attended by more than 20 thousand Colombians. Pallbearers were demolished by an uncontrollable crowd, everyone wanted to touch the frozen face of the legend for the last time.

Today, the Escobar Museum is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world.

Al Capone married 18-year-old Irishwoman May Josephine Coughlin at the age of 19, who gave birth to a son from the gangster even before the wedding. Capone infected his bride with syphilis, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. Their child was born with this disease and mastoid infection. The baby underwent brain surgery, remaining partially deaf for the rest of his life. Despite this, May Josephine loved her husband and remained faithful to the mafia until his death in 1947 - from a stroke and pneumonia, and not an enemy bullet.

May lived long life and died in 1986, at 89 years old. Albert Capone, as an adult, changed his last name to Brown, lived an almost law-abiding life (he served two years for petty theft), became the father of four daughters and died in 2004.

Alice Diamond

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Religious and modest Alice Diamond did not approve of the activities of her husband, gangster Jack Legs Diamond, but was devoted to him and forgave his infidelities. Alice prayed for her husband, and Jack had many sins on his conscience. He was one of the most famous bootleggers in New York and Philadelphia during Prohibition. Jack not only smuggled alcohol, but kidnapped and tortured people and dealt with competitors. There have been attempts on Diamond's life more than once. One day, a gangster was hit by 5 bullets, but he not only survived, but managed to leave his hotel room and call for help. For such survivability, the bandit was called unkillable, but he did not live up to the nickname. In 1931, Diamond was shot and killed by two unknown assailants in a New York hotel room. The mafia, the police, and even politicians were suspected of ordering the murder.

Two years after Jack's death, his widow, who lived quietly and had no contact with the mob, was shot dead in her Brooklyn apartment. Alice's killers were not found.

Maria Escobar

In 1976, aspiring Colombian drug lord, 27-year-old Pablo Escobar married 15-year-old Maria Victoria Henao Vallejo, who was expecting his first child. His wife always supported Escobar, despite his numerous infidelities (for example, in last years Pablo had a serious affair with journalist and model Virginia Vallejo). Maria Escobar was aware of her husband's affairs, so after Escobar's death in a shootout with police in 1993, the widow and children hid under false names. Escobar's family was eventually caught, and Maria spent a year and a half in prison, but authorities found no evidence of her illegal activities. Having freed herself, Maria changed her name and went into the shadows. Her daughter did the same. Escobar's 41-year-old son Juan Pablo is an architect and lives in Buenos Aires with his wife and daughter. He remembers his father with warmth, calling him a caring and sentimental family man. For example, once, while hiding from the government with his children, Escobar lit a fire of banknotes in the mountains and burned about two million dollars to warm the kids. In fact, it was attachment to the family that destroyed the cocaine king. At the time of his death, Escobar had been on the run for almost a year and had not seen his family, but in honor of his birthday, he decided to call home and talk to his son for 5 minutes. Based on this call, authorities located Escobar and eliminated him a few hours later.

Danubia Rangel

The wife of Brazilian drug lord Antonio Bonfim Lopez represented her husband's interests in freedom after his arrest in 2011, until she herself ended up behind bars. Danubia was arrested in 2017. By this time, she had managed to unleash one of the worst criminal wars in Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro. Now Danubia faces 28 years in prison for drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Emma Coronel Aispuro

Emma married Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera in 2007, when she was 18 years old. She became the fourth wife of 50-year-old El Chapo (Shorty) - the dangerous criminal peace (before his capture in 2016). In 2012, Emma gave birth to twin girls from Shorty. At that time, Joaquin Guzman headed Mexico's largest drug cartel, Sinaloa, and was included in the list of the most powerful and richest people in the world according to Forbes version. Vanity destroyed the drug lord. While hiding from the authorities, El Chapo communicated with Hollywood actors and producers, dreaming of having a film made about him. Thus, a meeting with Sean Penn helped the authorities track down the criminal, although he achieved his goal: in 2017, the series “El Chapo” was released.

Emma Coronel pays dearly for her love for El Chapo. In the summer of 2016, two of her nephews, ages 19 and 13, were shot and killed in Mexico.

Faina Commissioner

Vyacheslav Ivankov, nicknamed Yaponchik, left for the USA in the early 90s, where he led the Russian mafia. There, the thief in law met an immigrant from Kyiv, Faina Komissar. She waited for Ivankov when he was in an American prison, returned to Russia with her husband when Yaponchik was deported, and was by his side until his death. Ivankov was shot at on July 29, 2009 in Moscow; he died two months later in the hospital without regaining consciousness. After the death of the bandit, Faina Komissar did not communicate with the press, and a psychic began to lay claim to the title of Yaponchik’s widow.

"El Patron" was the boss of the most powerful drug cartel the world has ever seen. In 1989, according to Forbes magazine, he took 7th place in the ranking of the richest people on the planet, with a personal fortune of $25 billion.

However, for such fabulous money, the drug king’s family also paid a considerable price: his wife remained a widow, and their two children lost loving father at the ages of 15 and 8 years. And, despite the fact that Escobar was killed in December 1993, they are still paying with a powerful emotional burden and constant threats from people who directly or indirectly suffered at the hands of the notorious drug lord.

In addition, they lost almost all the money, which was confiscated and handed over to the Colombian authorities.

Family curse

A few months after Escobar's death, due to constant persecution and persecution, his widow and children were forced to flee Colombia, first to Mozambique, then to many other countries, whose governments one after another refused to grant them political asylum. Everything except .

It's been 24 years since the bloody drug lord's family fled their home country. What happened with them since then? Who is Escobar's family today?

Wife: Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo

In 1974, when Escobar was 24, he began dating a 13-year-old Maria Victoria Eneo Viejo(Spanish: Maria Victoria Henao Vellejo). Her family did not approve of their relationship and the couple fled to the city of Palmyra, and in March 1976 they got married.

Throughout his life, Escobar had great amount extramarital affairs, but, despite all her husband’s adventures, Maria Victoria supported him in everything, remaining with him until the very last day of his life. No one really knew about their relationship, but there was speculation that she was simply carried away by luxury.

Having fled to Argentina, the widow changed her name to Maria Isabel Santos Caballero(Spanish: Maria Isabel Santos Caballero). Together with their children, they lived the quiet life of an average family in a small apartment. This quiet life lasted only 5 years.

In 2000, Maria Isabel and her son were arrested on charges of falsification of documents, conspiracy and illegal money laundering. Allegedly, Escobar's wife received part of the money he earned from former members.

They were imprisoned in Argentina for 15 months (remarkably, they spent longer in prison than Pablo himself ever did), but were later released on the basis of insufficient evidence. A whole team of lawyers tried to incriminate them with many crimes, including drug trafficking, but in the end, due to lack of facts, they were forced to retreat.

Son: Juan Pablo Escobar Eneo

He inherited not only his father’s surname and first name, but also similar facial features. Quite a dangerous combination when trying to start life with clean slate. Fleeing with his family to Argentina, he became known as Juan Sebastian Marroquin Santos(Spanish: Juan Sebastian Marroquín Santos), but this did not help him hide his true identity from the eyes of the unwanted public for long.

Juan was born in 1977 in Medellin. He loved his father very much, in general, the two were always very close, but by nature he was a pacifist and never agreed with the cruelty and violence that Escobar professed. Until he was 12-13 years old, he had no idea what his father was doing.

Exactly according to telephone conversation between father and son on that fateful December evening, US and Colombian special agents figured out the location of Escobar’s hideout. Neglecting caution, father and son remained on the line for almost 5 minutes. In this conversation, the drug lord told Juan that he would surrender to the police for his sake.

Having moved to Argentina, the young man entered school, dreaming of becoming an architect. He enjoyed his new life, measured and free, where there was no shooting and constant fear. But, hiding and living a lie, he could never feel happy. None of his friends and classmates knew who Juan Marroquin really was, for him this was a great relief, but at the same time he felt guilty.

In 2009, in collaboration with Moroccan, as well as his mother and two victims of cartel terror, he was released documentary entitled " My Father's Sins"(Spanish: "Pecados de mi padre"). In this work, Juan addressed the victims of Pablo Escobar and the entire Colombian people to ask for forgiveness for the actions of his father.

Currently lives in Buenos Aires with his wife and daughter.

Daughter: Manuela Escobar Eneo

Daughter " Cocaine King", remained a more mysterious figure than her brother and mother. In contrast, Manuela has completely evaded the public eye. Today almost nothing is known about her, only what she was like as a child before Escobar's death.

She was born on October 6, 1984 in Brownsville (USA, Texas), i.e. I lost my father at the age of 8. According to the recollections of people close to the family, all this short time Manuela grew up as a very spoiled child, the center of attention, her father’s little princess.

One day she wanted a unicorn, Escobar bought a horse and ordered a cardboard cone in the shape of a horn to be stapled to her head. Also, wings were sewn to the horse's back, as a result of which it died from infection in the blood.

After his death, Manuela got used to life full of dangers and instability. At age 10, she moved with her family to Buenos Aires and changed her name to Juana Manuela Marroquin Santos(Spanish: Juana Manuela Marroquin Santos).

Since then, she has completely closed herself off from the public, pretending to be someone else. Since 2000 (when her mother and brother were arrested) practically nothing is known about her. We can only assume that 31-year-old Manuela Marroquín still lives in Buenos Aires, perhaps with a different name.

Parents

Father– Abel de Jesus Escobar Echeverri (Spanish: Abel de Jesus Escobar Echeverri), died in 2001 from pneumonia;

Mother– Hermilda Gaviria (Spanish: Hermilda Gaviria), died in 2006 at the age of 90, from diabetes.

The most successful terrorist in human history was born into the family of a simple farmer Abel de Jesus Escobar and a primary school teacher Hermilda Gaviria. The family had 7 children, the third of whom was Pablo. Their maternal grandfather Roberto Gaviria (Spanish: Roberto Gaviria Cobaleda) was a famous whiskey smuggler during Prohibition.

Brothers and sisters

Older brother: Roberto Escobar (Spanish)Robert Escobar Gaviria)

Born on January 11, 1947 in Rio Negro (Spanish: Rio Negro), Colombia. He was interested in studying chemistry and engineering and was actively involved in cycling. By the age of 18, he became a professional cyclist, winner of numerous national and international awards, and later coach of the Colombian youth cycling team. Eventually, he was drawn into a criminal lifestyle by his younger brother. Was " right hand» Escobar, and the chief accountant of the Medellin Cartel, bore the nickname El Osito.

Shortly before Pablo's death, he was imprisoned for 11 years in a maximum security colony. Having deep knowledge of the financial component of the cartel, in prison Roberto wrote the book “ Accountant's story: Cruel world Medellin cartel"(English: "The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel"), in which he spoke about the internal affairs of the drug empire.

In 1993, 16 days after the murder of his brother, while in prison, having received an anonymous explosive letter, he became blind in one eye and partially lost his hearing.

Since his release from prison in 2003, he has directed the Pablo Escobar Museum, which is located in the former estate of the drug lord Naples (Spanish: Nápoles).

According to Sebastian Marroquín, after Pablo Escobar's death, Roberto immediately betrayed the family by making a deal with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to lie about his brother.

Less is known about the others:

• older sister: Gloria Inés Escobar Gaviria (Spanish: Gloria Inés Escobar Gaviria);
• younger brother: Argemiro Escobar Gaviria (Spanish: Argemiro Escobar Gaviria);
• younger sister: Alba Marina Escobar Gaviria (Spanish: Alba Marina Escobar Gaviria);
• younger sister: Luz Maria Escobar Gaviria (Spanish: Luz María Escobar Gaviria);
• youngest brother: Luis Fernando Escobar Gaviria (Spanish: Luis Fernando Escobar Gaviria) (born in 1958 and died at the age of 19 in 1977).

For each of your reposts - thanks a lot! Gracias!

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