Pablo Escobar started his life of crime in his hometown of Mendellin, Colombia. Like many do, he first engaged in petty crimes and steadily moved up to more serious offenses. His first crimes were theft, including tombstones that he polished and resold. In the early 1970s Escobar had a slew of crimes he was executing such as car theft, kidnappings, and illegal gun sales (Yarbro). It was in the late 1970s that Escobar moved on to bigger things and started to become a big player in the burgeoning cocaine trade.

He started his cartel, the Mendellin cartel, taking low-level dealers and forming them into the very large, intricate, and well-known group that would supply, at one time, 80% of the cocaine consumed in

Engaging in the type of business that he did, Escobar had many enemies and problems. He dealt with these obstacles in his life often in one way, murder. Escobar employed a private army of up to 1,000 gunmen (Watson). During his reign as the king of the cocaine trade Escobar killed many, many of those who got in his way. He did not discriminate when it came to his ordered executions. Rival gangsters, friends who betrayed the cartel, prosecutors, judges, politicians, good Samaritans, journalists, and police officers all shed blood by way of Escobar’s bullets. It is estimated that Escobar and his men killed upwards of 400 people and his men are also suspected of downing a Columbian airliner carrying 107 passengers (Watson). Escobar’s blood lust made him a fugitive and an even higher priority to US officials who worked tirelessly to get Escobar extradited to the United States.

Escobar offered to surrender again after his escape, but only under the same terms dictating his previous surrender. The government of Columbia declined Escobar’s offer and he was now officially on the run. US officials then started aggressively searching for Escobar and they estimate he spent $1 million dollars a day trying to stay a free man (Watson). Escobar’s days were numbered as not only law enforcement officials were on the hunt, but rival drug cartel operators wanted Escobar’s head as well.

The death of Pablo Escobar was a victory for the Columbian government that had been embarrassed by the Mendellin Cartel and Escobar for over a decade. Yet despite his death it was painfully obvious that the drug trade coming out of Columbia was only going to get bigger. Now that Escobar was out of the picture new faces could get in the game and the colossal Mendellin cartel already had a successor, the Cali cartel. Regardless of whom you take out there will always be supply, demand, and the desire to make money from it. The massive amounts

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