0:00
you know it's almost unbelievable But at
0:02
his peak Pablo Escobar's Medelan cartel
0:05
was apparently shelling out something
0:08
like uh $1,000 a week just on rubber
0:13
$1,000 just for rubber band Yeah Wrap
0:15
your head around that a,000 bucks on
0:17
something so mundane just to keep their
0:19
mountains of cash bundled Okay so let's
0:22
dive into why they had that much cash in
0:24
the first place Right Today on the deep
0:27
dive we're plunging head first into the
0:29
well chaotic and pretty compelling story
0:32
of Pablo Escobar and the Medelan cartel
0:34
We've certainly got a rich collection of
0:36
material to explore We've sifted through
0:38
YouTube transcripts from Caracall
0:40
television which you know offer a really
0:42
vivid almost dramatic portrayal of
0:44
Escobar's world Kind of like a tel nolla
0:46
version a bit Yeah Then we have a more
0:48
analytical sort of chronological
0:50
perspective from the timeline world
0:52
history documentaries More
0:53
straightforward history Okay And finally
0:55
we've looked at an episode of Life of a
0:56
Gangster which provides a fascinating
0:58
point of comparison by focusing on his
1:00
main rivals the Cali Cartel Uh the Cali
1:04
Cartel Good comparison Exactly So our
1:07
aim today is to you know try and cut
1:10
through the sensationalism the myths
1:12
that have built up around Pablo Escobar
1:14
There are quite a few And really get to
1:16
grips with the complex web of historical
1:19
political and economic factors that
1:22
fueled his incredible rise and
1:24
ultimately led to his well spectacular
1:26
fall We're on the hunt for those aha
1:29
moments that help us understand the
1:30
bigger picture here Definitely So where
1:33
does this extraordinary and frankly dark
1:35
story actually begin it starts in
1:38
Rioenegro Colombia uh December 1st 1949
1:42
Pablo Emlio Escobar Gveria He was born
1:45
into a family of pretty modest means
1:47
Correct His father was a poor farmer and
1:48
his mother was a school teacher They had
1:50
a big family seven children in total and
1:52
Pablo was the third Seven kids Yeah And
1:55
not long after he was born the family
1:57
made the move to the uh rapidly growing
1:59
city of Medelan And Medela itself feels
2:01
almost like another character in this
2:02
story doesn't it it wasn't always the
2:04
you know sprawling city we might picture
2:06
today That's right I mean throughout the
2:08
late 19th and early 20th centuries Melan
2:11
was undergoing this massive
2:13
transformation into a major industrial
2:15
hub Its population just exploded Going
2:18
from around maybe 60,000 at the start of
2:21
the 20th century to well over a million
2:23
by the time Escobar was in his early 20s
2:25
Wow That's huge growth Massive But this
2:29
rapid expansion also brought significant
2:32
urban poverty you know and it was into
2:34
this environment of both opportunity and
2:37
hardship that the Escobar family moved
2:38
in the 1950s It sounds like a place
2:42
where something big was bound to happen
2:44
And for Pablo that something was crime
2:47
And it started pretty early on indeed
2:49
His mother apparently had high hopes for
2:51
his education but by his teenage years
2:53
he was already like deeply involved in
2:56
the petty criminal stuff that was
2:57
springing up in Melan amidst all the
2:59
poverty So like 14 Yeah By 14 he was
3:02
part of a gang got kicked out of school
3:04
eventually He also had these violent
3:05
run-ins with other gang members
3:07
including one time where he actually
3:08
shot a rival in the foot In the foot
3:10
Ouch Yeah And that incident led to his
3:13
first arrest apparently And stealing
3:15
gravestones and selling fake diplomas
3:18
Those are some of the more well bizarre
3:22
stories that pop up when you read about
3:23
his early life Were these just the
3:26
beginnings of the Escobar legends
3:27
starting to form it's tough You know
3:30
it's really hard to definitively
3:32
separate fact from fiction looking back
3:35
so many years later Some accounts
3:37
certainly suggest he was involved in
3:39
petty scams like Yeah stealing
3:41
gravestones sanding them down reselling
3:43
them Huh Resourceful I guess In a way
3:46
others claim he ran a business selling
3:48
fake high school and university diplomas
3:50
What's really interesting here is how
3:52
these early ventures whether they're
3:54
totally true or maybe a bit embellished
3:56
right they paint a picture of a young
3:57
man who was already comfortable
3:59
operating outside the law and was
4:01
actively looking for ways to make a
4:02
profit however illicit And all of this
4:05
is unfolding against a backdrop of
4:06
serious political instability in
4:08
Colombia right it wasn't exactly a
4:10
picture of uh peace and tranquility back
4:13
then Absolutely not The 20th century in
4:16
Colombia was marked by really
4:18
significant political turmoil You had
4:21
this long-standing and often violent
4:23
rivalry between the liberal and
4:25
conservative factions Okay Before
4:27
Escobar was even born the assassination
4:30
of a popular politician kicked off a
4:32
decade of intense civil conflict known
4:34
as Levincencia Lolencia right yeah A
4:37
period of brutal fighting between these
4:38
two parties that deeply scarred
4:40
Colombian society Even after a sort of
4:43
fragile coalition government was formed
4:46
left-leaning groups faced severe
4:47
crackdowns which eventually led to the
4:49
emergence of guerrilla organizations
4:51
like the FARC FARC yeah the
4:53
revolutionary armed forces of Colombia
4:54
and M19 the 19th of April movement in
4:57
the 1960s So you've got this really
4:59
volatile political situation maybe a bit
5:01
of a power vacuum in places and then you
5:03
layer on this exploding demand for
5:05
illegal drugs particularly in the US and
5:07
Europe It almost seems like a recipe for
5:09
disaster doesn't it precisely In the
5:12
1960s and '7s the demand for narcotics
5:15
well initially marijuana really took off
5:17
but it was cocaine you know derived from
5:19
the cocoa plant that became the real
5:21
engine of massive massive wealth right
5:23
the game changer Totally and Colombia's
5:26
geography its location the climate it
5:29
was all ideal for kokus cultivation Plus
5:32
the increasing lack of government
5:34
control in many rural areas just made it
5:36
a prime location for this burgeoning
5:38
industry And even groups like the FARC
5:40
got involved Yeah While they weren't
5:42
initially involved in the production
5:43
itself they started taxing the producers
5:46
So basically providing protection or
5:48
demanding payment which gave them a
5:50
crucial source of funding for their own
5:51
operations Okay So how does Escobar make
5:54
that leap from being involved in you
5:56
know petty crime stealing gravestones to
5:58
becoming a major player in this much
6:00
larger much more dangerous drug trade
6:02
well in the late 1960s he began working
6:05
with a guy named Oscar Bengu They were
6:08
engaging in activities like selling
6:09
contraband cigarettes grand theft auto
6:12
and even kidnappings for ransom So
6:14
escalating levels of crime Definitely By
6:16
the early 1970s he had moved into
6:18
smuggling marijuana And it was really
6:20
only a matter of time before he
6:21
transitioned to the far more profitable
6:24
cocaine trade And it's around this
6:26
period that his personal life starts to
6:28
take shape as well right he gets married
6:30
Yes He met Maria Victoria Hanau who was
6:33
just a teenager at the time actually Her
6:35
mother reportedly had serious
6:36
reservations about their relationship
6:38
apparently predicting a future filled
6:40
with prison visits for her daughter Wow
6:42
She called it Seems like it Despite
6:44
these warnings they married in 1976 and
6:47
went on to have two children Juan and
6:50
Manuela Interestingly it was also in the
6:52
mid 1970s just before his marriage that
6:55
he had his first significant foray into
6:57
the cocaine trade working with another
6:59
notorious figure Griselle Delanco
7:01
Griselle Delanco the infamous cocaine
7:03
godmother That's quite an early
7:04
association So he's making connections
7:06
He's learning the ropes How does he then
7:09
go on to build this like colossal
7:11
Medelan cartel initially uh back in the
7:14
mid1 1970s he was primarily involved in
7:17
just transporting cocoa to processing
7:19
labs but he quickly began to develop his
7:22
own independent operations finding ways
7:24
to smuggle cocaine directly into the
7:26
United States by air getting ambitious
7:28
fast Very And a really pivotal moment
7:31
and one that kind of foreshadows his
7:33
future approach to law enforcement came
7:36
in May 1976 when he was arrested with a
7:39
pretty significant quantity of cocoa
7:41
paste about 18 kilos Ah yes The arrest
7:44
where he famously tried to bribe his way
7:46
out of it That almost became his
7:47
trademark move didn't it plato pomo
7:50
Exactly Silver or lead When the attempts
7:52
at bribery failed he allegedly ordered
7:54
the murders of the arresting officers to
7:56
stop them from testifying against him
7:58
just like that and ultimately the case
7:59
was dropped This event really
8:02
underscores his early adoption of both
8:04
corruption and extreme violence as well
8:07
key tools for his business And who are
8:09
some of the crucial figures who helped
8:10
him build this empire we often hear
8:12
names like Carlos Later and George Young
8:15
thrown around Carlos Later a German
8:17
Colombian and George Young an American
8:20
were absolutely instrumental They were
8:22
key in establishing the crucial
8:24
smuggling routes through the Caribbean
8:27
particularly using Norman's K in the
8:29
Bahamas as a central distribution hub
8:31
Norman's K Yeah Young whose story is
8:34
told in the movie Blow had already been
8:36
involved in marijuana smuggling leader
8:39
who was maybe a more volatile and
8:40
ambitious character eventually pushed
8:43
Young out of the picture and essentially
8:45
transformed Norman's K into the cartel's
8:48
private airport in the Caribbean A
8:49
private airport pretty much the level of
8:52
organization required for this
8:53
coordinating flights bribing officials
8:56
It was a real sign of the cartel's
8:57
growing power and reach Norman's K It's
9:00
become this almost mythical location in
9:02
the you know the lore of the drug trade
9:04
It really did Large aircraft would fly
9:06
in massive shipments of cocaine from
9:08
Colia to Norman's K Then the drugs would
9:10
be transferred to smaller planes for
9:12
these undetected flights into the United
9:14
States How much are you talking at its
9:15
peak apparently hundreds of kilograms of
9:18
cocaine were passing through there every
9:20
single day Just staggering amounts And
9:22
then there's Barry Seal the pilot who
9:24
later turned informant That's a story
9:26
with a really dark ending isn't it oh
9:28
absolutely Barry Seal was an American
9:30
pilot who initially smuggled marijuana
9:33
but like Jung and later saw the immense
9:36
profits to be made in cocaine By 81 he
9:39
had connections with Escobar and was
9:41
piloting these low radar aircraft into
9:43
Louisiana Right However he was
9:46
eventually indicted and agreed to become
9:47
a DEA informant He provided extensive
9:50
really damaging information about
9:52
Escobar's entire operation That couldn't
9:55
have ended well for him No it ultimately
9:57
led to his assassination in Baton Rouge
9:59
in 1986 A very stark reminder of the
10:02
dangers of crossing Pablo Escobar So as
10:05
the money is just flooding in Escobar
10:07
starts living this incredibly lavish
10:09
lifestyle Hassendonopoulos is the stuff
10:11
of legend the sheer audacity of it all
10:13
Hiandopoulos Yeah Located near Porto
10:15
Trfo it was this sprawling estate
10:18
something like 20 square kilm It wasn't
10:19
just a house it was an entire complex It
10:22
included a Spanish colonial style
10:24
mansion an elaborate sculpture park and
10:26
an astonishing zoo filled with exotic
10:28
animals imported from all over the globe
10:31
Zebras hippos elephants you name it
10:33
Hippos Really yep Hippos He also amassed
10:36
this huge collection of vintage cars and
10:38
motorcycles built a go-kart track a bull
10:42
ring even his own airport for visitors
10:44
He reportedly even had plans to
10:46
construct a Greekstyle citadel there A
10:48
citadel The sheer scale of it wasn't
10:50
just about wealth It was a blatant
10:52
display of his power and you know his
10:54
dominance And that wasn't his only
10:56
extravagant property was it he also
10:58
owned that uh pink mansion in Miami
11:01
Beach incredibly registered in his own
11:03
name and an estate in the Caribbean
11:05
Exactly He acquired properties seemingly
11:07
everywhere often just used simply to
11:09
store the almost unimaginable amounts of
11:11
cash the cartel was generating One of
11:14
his mansions even featured a retractable
11:16
jacuzzi Wait a retractable jacuzzi yeah
11:18
but with a secret compartment underneath
11:20
designed specifically to hide millions
11:22
of dollars in cash It's just
11:24
mind-boggling to think about the sheer
11:25
volume of wealth they were dealing with
11:27
But this level of success and the you
11:30
know the accompanying notoriety
11:32
inevitably drew unwanted attention
11:35
especially that looming threat of
11:36
extradition to the United States That
11:38
must have been a major turning point
11:39
that shifted everything It was a
11:41
critical juncture Yeah A huge deal for
11:43
him In 1979 Colombia signed an
11:45
extradition treaty with the US which
11:47
went into effect in 1982 And for Escobar
11:49
for Escobar extradition to the United
11:51
States represented a near certain life
11:53
sentence in a prison system where his
11:56
vast wealth and influence would be
11:58
largely useless He couldn't bribe his
12:00
way out of an American supermax Right so
12:02
in direct response he and his associates
12:04
launched this brutal campaign of terror
12:08
kidnappings murders bombings
12:11
specifically targeting politicians
12:13
police officers judges anyone involved
12:16
in upholding that treaty It was a
12:18
desperate attempt to force the Colombian
12:20
government to enol it A massive
12:21
escalation a huge escalation in the
12:23
conflict Yeah And at the same time he's
12:24
actively cultivating this Robin Hood
12:27
image trying to build support among the
12:29
poorer population in Melan It's such a
12:31
bizarre and unsettling contrast isn't it
12:34
it is a deeply unsettling duality He
12:37
distributed vast sums of money in
12:39
Medellan funded the construction of
12:41
soccer stadiums parks other public
12:44
amenities He even opened the zoo at
12:47
Hosienda Naples to the public free of
12:49
charge and famously distributed
12:51
Christmas presents in impoverished
12:53
neighborhoods So people saw him as
12:55
helping them The perception at least
12:58
initially for some was that his criminal
13:00
activities primarily harmed people far
13:02
away in the United States a country may
13:04
be viewed with some suspicion by some
13:06
Colombians This carefully constructed
13:08
image provided him with a degree of
13:10
protection and popular support for a
13:12
time And then he takes this incredibly
13:14
audacious step of actually entering
13:16
Colombian politics himself It's almost
13:18
unbelievable Yeah In 1982 he ran for and
13:21
was elected as an alternate to the
13:23
Colombian Chamber of Representatives on
13:24
the Liberal Party ticket An actual
13:26
politician His political campaign
13:28
heavily focused on opposing the
13:30
extradition treaty Naturally however
13:32
while this move might have been intended
13:34
to provide him with a shield of
13:35
political immunity it actually backfired
13:38
It drew even more intense and unwanted
13:40
scrutiny How so it provoked the
13:42
established conservative political
13:44
powers particularly the newly elected
13:47
president Bellisario Bedanker who was
13:49
determined to bring him down And that's
13:51
when we see key figures like Justice
13:53
Minister Rodrigo Larabonia emerge as
13:56
really significant threats to Escobar's
13:59
operations Right Exactly President
14:01
Bunker appointed Larabonia as Minister
14:04
of Justice and gave him the explicit
14:06
task of actively prosecuting drug
14:08
traffickers Simultaneously a concerted
14:11
media campaign began led by newspapers
14:14
like Ellis Spectador exposing Escobar's
14:16
past criminal activities really
14:18
challenging that carefully crafted
14:20
public image That must have enraged
14:22
Escobar Oh absolutely This unwelcome
14:24
attention led Escobar to consider
14:26
violent retaliation against the media He
14:28
also reportedly tried to buy up all the
14:30
copies of the damaging newspaper
14:31
articles He was eventually forced to
14:33
resign from Congress in January 1984 And
14:36
then comes the moment when the conflict
14:37
explodes with the assassination of Lara
14:39
Bonia That feels like a real point of no
14:41
return It absolutely was April 30th 1984
14:45
Laura Bonia was assassinated in Bogota
14:48
This act widely understood to have been
14:50
ordered by Escobar was seen as a direct
14:53
declaration of war against the Colombian
14:55
state So the government's response
14:57
indirect response the government moved
14:58
to fully and rigorously implement the
15:01
extradition treaty Escobar fearing
15:03
immediate arrest and extradition to the
15:05
US temporarily fled the country He
15:07
sought refuge first in Panama and then
15:09
in Nicaragua for a while And upon his
15:11
return he forges this alliance with the
15:13
M19 guerilla group which culminates in
15:16
the horrific attack on the Palace of
15:17
Justice Just one act of violence after
15:20
another Yes Escobar provided significant
15:22
financial and logistical support to the
15:24
M19 this left-wing guerrilla group In
15:27
November 1985 M19 stormed the Palace of
15:30
Justice in Bogota taking hundreds of
15:33
hostages including many Supreme Court
15:35
justices What were their demands they
15:37
demanded the government renounced the
15:38
extradition treaty The military's
15:40
response to retake the palace was just a
15:42
catastrophic blood bath Nearly 100
15:44
people died including many of the
15:46
justices and Escobar's role While the
15:48
precise extent of his direct involvement
15:50
in planning the attack itself is still
15:52
debated his support for M19 clearly
15:55
played a significant role And in a grim
15:58
irony the firing chaos during the siege
16:01
also resulted in the destruction of
16:03
crucial legal documents Documents that
16:06
could have potentially been used against
16:07
him Exactly Potentially beneficial for
16:09
him that they were destroyed So while
16:11
he's locked in this deadly battle with
16:13
the government he's also engaged in this
16:15
incredibly brutal war with the Cali
16:17
cartel these were two very different
16:20
criminal organizations weren't they
16:22
different styles different approaches
16:24
Very distinct in their methods Yeah The
16:26
Cali cartel led by the Rodriguez Ora
16:28
brothers Jose Santa Cruz Londono and
16:30
Helmer Pacho Herrera was generally known
16:33
for favoring corruption and bribery over
16:35
the overt often indiscriminate violence
16:38
that characterized Escobar's Mellan
16:40
cartel The gentleman of Cali Right Right
16:42
Exactly They even earned that nickname
16:45
Their organizational structure also
16:47
differed Cali operated more like a um
16:51
collective board of directors with
16:53
decisions often made collaboratively
16:55
Medelan was much more centralized around
16:57
Escobar's individual authority and
16:59
frankly his impulsive decisions But
17:02
despite these fundamental differences in
17:04
how they operated there was an initial
17:06
period of some level of cooperation
17:08
wasn't there the Muerte Esquestra's
17:11
death to kidnappers group was a joint
17:13
effort That's correct In the early 1980s
17:16
when guerilla groups like M19 started
17:18
kidnapping relatives of drug traffickers
17:20
for ransom both the Cali and Medelan
17:22
cartels along with other criminal
17:24
organizations formed the MAS as a joint
17:26
retaliatory force But that didn't last
17:29
No that alliance was ultimately pretty
17:30
short-lived as tensions and competition
17:32
between the two cartels began to
17:34
escalate rapidly What were the key
17:36
factors that really ignited this open
17:38
warfare between them it became so
17:40
incredibly violent and destabilizing for
17:42
Colombia Well several factors
17:43
contributed There was fierce competition
17:45
for control of the incredibly lucrative
17:47
New York City cocaine market That was a
17:49
big one Okay Escobar reportedly tried to
17:52
form a unified super cartel basically
17:55
wanting to be the undisputed boss of
17:57
everyone but the Cali bosses strongly
17:59
resisted that idea They weren't having
18:01
it Not at all The Cali cartel also began
18:04
to strategically shift their smuggling
18:06
routes moving more through Mexico
18:08
bypassing the traditional Caribbean
18:10
routes that were largely controlled by
18:12
the Medelan cartel Smart move for them
18:14
And on top of all that a significant
18:16
personal conflict erupted between
18:18
Escobar and Pacho Verera over some
18:21
business dispute in New York which just
18:23
further fueled the animosity It got
18:25
personal And this war involved just
18:27
about everything imaginable car bombings
18:30
retaliatory assassinations even the Cali
18:33
cartel hiring British mercenaries in a
18:35
failed attempt to take out Escobar It
18:37
sounds like just utter chaos It was an
18:39
incredibly violent and destabilizing
18:41
time for the entire country That car
18:43
bomb that exploded at Escobar's Monaco
18:45
building in Melan in 1988 That was a
18:48
major escalation It really marked a
18:50
significant shift in the intensity of
18:52
the conflict And Escobar's response he
18:54
responded with a series of retaliatory
18:56
bombings targetingarmacies owned by the
18:58
Cali cartel Tit for tat but on a
19:00
horrific scale And yeah the Cali
19:02
cartel's attempt to use British
19:04
mercenaries Mercenaries seriously yes
19:07
Though it ultimately failed because
19:08
their helicopter crashed But it
19:10
highlights the extreme and frankly
19:12
unprecedented measures they were willing
19:14
to take to eliminate Escobar The war
19:16
resulted in countless deaths and further
19:19
entrenched this climate of fear and
19:21
lawlessness in Colombia And as all of
19:23
this interine warfare is raging the
19:25
pressure on Escobar from the Colombian
19:27
government is steadily increasing We see
19:30
President Cesar Gveria Trillo adopting a
19:32
much tougher stance Yes President Gveria
19:35
who took office in 1990 made it a top
19:37
priority to dismantle Escobar's
19:39
organization The government really
19:41
intensified its efforts And then you had
19:43
the adoption of the new Colombian
19:45
Constitution 1991 The one without the
19:47
extradition treaty Exactly which
19:50
controversially did not include the
19:52
reinstatement of the extradition treaty
19:54
This led to widespread suspicions of
19:56
bribery and corruption within the
19:58
political system You know that Escobar
20:00
had somehow bought that outcome which
20:02
seems plausible given his methods
20:04
Absolutely And then comes Escobar's
20:06
really surprising move negotiating his
20:09
surrender to the authorities and then
20:10
essentially building his own private
20:12
prison Lacatadrol It sounds like
20:15
something out of a movie The sheer
20:16
audacity of it it was unprecedented and
20:19
frankly yeah bizarre Escobar negotiated
20:22
specific terms with the Gria government
20:24
that allowed him to surrender to
20:26
authorities but be imprisoned in a
20:29
facility of his own design Ladron
20:31
overlooking Melan right overlooking his
20:33
stronghold of Medelan This so-called
20:35
prison had amenities that were uh far
20:37
from typical A football pitch a jacuzzi
20:39
a bar A bar in prison In reality it
20:42
functioned more as his personal
20:43
headquarters He effectively continued to
20:45
run his cartel operations from there
20:47
with very little interference Hotel
20:49
Escobar as it quickly became known But
20:52
this arrangement was never going to last
20:53
was it the government couldn't just let
20:55
him continue his criminal enterprise
20:56
from his luxury prison cell No it was an
20:59
untenable situation politically and
21:01
practically Reports soon emerged
21:03
detailing his continued control over his
21:06
drug trafficking operations the murders
21:08
he ordered from inside and the lavish
21:11
lifestyle he was enjoying within
21:13
Lacatrol So the government finally acted
21:16
When the government finally attempted to
21:18
transfer him to a more conventional and
21:20
secure prison in July 1992 Escobar
21:23
simply walked out He escaped Just walked
21:25
out which further embarrassed the
21:27
government and massively intensified the
21:29
efforts to capture him dead or alive And
21:31
that escape triggered this massive
21:33
intensified manhunt involving not only
21:35
the entire Colombian National Police but
21:37
also elite US special forces units and
21:40
this shadowy vengeful group known as Los
21:42
Pepes Exactly Escobar's escape ignited a
21:45
fullscale manhunt The US Joint Special
21:48
Operations Command including Navy Seals
21:50
Delta Force and the Colombian National
21:52
Police's dedicated search block were all
21:54
actively involved in tracking him down
21:56
and lost Pepis They also formed a tacit
21:59
sort of uneasy alliance with Las Pepe's
22:01
people persecuted by Pablo Escobar This
22:04
was a brutal vigilante group made up of
22:06
individuals who had been harmed by
22:08
Escobar and funded by his enemies Funded
22:10
in part by the Cali cartel and others
22:12
who wanted him gone Their objective was
22:14
clear Eliminate Escobar by any means
22:17
necessary They were just as brutal as he
22:19
was targeting his family lawyers
22:21
businesses A dirty war on all sides Very
22:24
much so And ultimately it was something
22:26
as relatively simple as his own
22:28
communication that led to his downfall
22:30
The tracking of his cell phone
22:31
transmissions in this high-tech world of
22:34
crime It was a basic phone call that
22:37
undid him Yes After nearly a year and a
22:40
half on the run constantly evading
22:41
capture moving safe house to safe house
22:43
Escobar was finally tracked down to a
22:45
relatively modest middle-ass safe house
22:47
in Medelan in December 1993 They
22:50
pinpointed him through his cell phone
22:51
calls He got careless or desperate maybe
22:54
a bit of both He was talking to his son
22:57
On December 2nd 1993 the day after his
23:00
44th birthday security forces raided the
23:03
residence Escobar attempted to flee
23:05
across the rooftops The famous rooftop
23:07
chase scene Exactly But he was shot and
23:10
killed during the ensuing confrontation
23:12
And even in his death there's still that
23:14
lingering element of controversy isn't
23:16
there was it suicide as his family has
23:19
always claimed or was it the Colombian
23:20
police who fired the fatal shot the very
23:22
end is still shrouded in some
23:24
uncertainty There are still conflicting
23:26
accounts Yeah Some including his family
23:28
strongly believe Escobar took his own
23:30
life A scenario His brother Roberto
23:32
later claimed Pablo had always said he
23:34
would choose rather than be captured or
23:37
extradited The fatal shot was to the
23:39
head which fuels that theory But the
23:41
official version the prevailing view and
23:43
the official account is that he was
23:45
killed by the Colombian police during
23:46
the shootout on the rooftop Photos seem
23:49
to show police celebrating over his body
23:51
Regardless of who fired the final shot
23:54
his death marked the definitive end of
23:55
his reign of terror and a significant
23:57
turning point but not the end of the
23:59
story Not the end of the Colombian drug
24:01
trade no So what were the immediate
24:03
consequences of Escobar's death did it
24:05
suddenly bring peace to Colombia and end
24:07
the flow of drugs not at all
24:10
Unfortunately in the immediate aftermath
24:12
the Cali cartel rose up to become the
24:14
dominant force in the global cocaine
24:16
trade They basically took over the
24:18
markets Escobar left behind So one
24:20
cartel falls another rises Pretty much
24:23
later the Norte Delva cartel emerged
24:25
after Cali Smuggling routes also
24:27
increasingly shifted through Mexico
24:29
which really established the foundation
24:31
for the powerful and incredibly violent
24:34
Mexican cartels we know today and Cali
24:36
While the Cali cartel was eventually
24:37
dismantled by authorities in the mid
24:39
1990s and violence in Middle did see a
24:42
significant decline over time the
24:44
underlying issues of drug production
24:46
trafficking corruption they persisted
24:48
And what about his properties lacatad
24:50
Hendonopoulos Those symbols of his power
24:53
underwent significant transformations
24:55
Lacatad his luxury prison eventually
24:58
became a Benedicting monastery Believe
25:00
it or not a monastery Wow and
25:02
Hassandonopoulos was confiscated by the
25:05
government and eventually converted into
25:07
a public theme park and tourist
25:09
attraction albeit one with the surreal
25:11
presence of his escaped hippos still
25:14
roaming the grounds They're actually a
25:15
bit of an ecological problem now Escaped
25:17
hippos only Escobar And how is Pablo
25:21
Escobar viewed and remembered in
25:24
Colombia and around the world today
25:26
what's his lasting legacy if you can
25:28
call it that his legacy is incredibly
25:30
complex and deeply divisive especially
25:32
within Colombia For some particularly
25:35
those in the poor barios of Melan who
25:37
directly benefited from his charitable
25:39
acts he is still remembered maybe
25:41
controversially as a sort of Colombian
25:43
Robin Hood figure But for most for the
25:46
vast majority of Colombians and
25:47
certainly for people around the world he
25:48
is rightly seen as a ruthless mass
25:50
murderer a narot terrorist whose actions
25:54
plunged Colombia into horrific levels of
25:56
violence corruption and instability that
25:58
had devastating longlasting consequences
26:01
The sheer scale of his brutality and the
26:03
suffering he inflicted you know it
26:05
really can't be overstated regardless of
26:07
any perceived acts of charity or
26:09
goodwill he might have performed So as
26:11
we conclude this deep dive it's clear
26:13
that Pablo Escobar's story is far more
26:15
than just a sensational tale of drugs
26:17
and violence It's deeply intertwined
26:19
with the complex history and volatile
26:21
politics of Colombia The powerful impact
26:24
of international demand for illegal
26:25
narcotics the hugely complicated issue
26:28
of extradition and the brutal often
26:30
chaotic dynamics of organized crime
26:33
operating on a massive global scale Yeah
26:36
What's truly striking when you examine
26:37
his life is how one individual could
26:39
accumulate such extraordinary almost
26:42
unchecked power and influence
26:44
effectively challenging the authority of
26:46
an entire nation for so long It really
26:48
raises a profound question for you the
26:50
listener to consider given the immense
26:52
wealth Escobar amass and even the social
26:54
programs he funded in certain areas Does
26:56
any amount of perceived good ever truly
26:59
excuse or justify the sheer scale of
27:02
violence terror and destruction that he
27:03
unleashed it's a chilling question to
27:05
ponder Definitely if you want to delve
27:08
even further into this dark and
27:10
fascinating chapter of history we'd
27:12
encourage you to explore the rise and
27:14
fall of the Cali cartel Their story is
27:16
just as compelling in its own way Or
27:18
look into the ongoing and evolving
27:20
impact of the drug trade across Latin
27:22
America or the complex and often
27:24
disturbing cultural phenomenon that's
27:26
sometimes called narco culture Yeah
27:28
there are so many more layers to unpack
27:30
beyond this initial deep dive Lots to