Pablo Escobar The King of Cocaine “Everyone had a price, the most important thing is to find out what it is.”

Background Born in 1949 in Colombia Mother was a school teacher and father was a farmer Grew up poor Grew up in La Violencia Was ambitious when he was young, had dreams of becoming rich Began criminal activity as a teenager by stealing tombstones Continued crime with grand theft auto, kidnapping, and stealing Entered the cocaine trade in the early 70’s Rose to power, setting up the Medellin Cartel Briefly tried to enter politics to gain support and power, once ran for president Labelled 7th richest man in the world by Forbes in 1989 Spent his money lavishly on mansions, private planes, zoos, etc La Violencia was the time of Colombian Civil War. There were riots and deaths on the daily. Def: stealing cars

Crimes Crime Date Vicitim(s) Punishment Stealing Tombstones Information not found The family members of those who's tombstones were taken Grand Theft Auto Those who's cars were stolen Kidnapping Those kidnapped Drug trafficking 1970’s-93 N/A (see next slide) Bombings Colombian citizens Assassination 3 Colombian presidential candidates, an attorney general, a justice minister, <200 judges, dozens of journalists, and <1,000 police officers Racketeering Murder Associates, those that got in his way or stole/lied to him Def: criminal activity that is performed to benefit an organization

La Catedral Prison Escobar spent a lot of time on the run from authorities, though eventually he made an agreement with the government stating that he would surrender and cease his criminal activities in exchange for him to be able to design and build his own personal prison. The “prison” ended up being more of a luxury home that he freely went in and out of anyway. The government was embarrassed by being outsmarted by Escobar, and upon hearing about him continuing his criminal activities while confined in the prison, they decided to move him to a more appropriate jail. Escobar was made aware of this through the grape vine days before it was going to happen, and was able to make a timely escape, putting him on the run for the rest of his life.

Most Recent Crime (1993) The continuation of drug trafficking, along with evading arrest. Def: running from the police

Evidence Against Criminal Documentation of evidence against him had been destroyed by him Anyone who stood against him would be targeted or assassinated He was on the run since La Catedral His phone lines had been tapped, and police would listen in on his conversations He was the most well known drug dealer and was responsible for 80% of the cocaine that was shipped to the U.S. in the 80’s

“Sentence” On December 2nd, 1993 his phone call to his son was tracked and he was gunned down by Colombian special police

Theory of Deviant Behavior Pablo Escobar’s deviant behavior is most likely categorized as Differential-Association. He was born in the time period of “La Violencia” (“The Violence”) which was a period of Civil War in Colombia. This time period gave Colombia the reputation for being the terror capitol of the world, as hundreds of thousands of people died for no real reason. Being raised in this period most definitely effected Escobar in how he dealt with his power later in life. He killed anyone who got in his way without mercy, and caused states of terror in the country multiple times with public attacks and bombings. He also grew up in a relatively poor family, which gave him the drive to succeed and become rich later in life. That, along with rolling with the wrong crowd as a teenager, influenced him to begin criminal activity. He began sandblasting the names off of headstones and selling them to smugglers for money. Once he became more involved in deviant behavior he quickly became aware that the cocaine trade was the best way to get rich. Through that, he began his rise to power.

Cultural References Books: Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden The Accountant’s Story by Roberto Escobar Movies: Escobar: Paradise Lost Pablo Escobar: King of Coke (Documentary) Music: Pablo Escobar by Soulja Boy