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How Pablo Escobar Built a $30 Billion Empire Then Lost Everything
Oct 3, 2025
Medellín, Colombia, 1989. A man stands on the rooftop of his luxury prison—a prison he built himself, with guards he hired. Within two years, Pablo Escobar will be running through these same streets, barefoot and desperate, hunted like an animal. Discover how a small-time bicycle thief built a $30 billion cocaine empire, making $420 million per week at his peak. This documentary reveals the full story of Pablo Escobar—from his rise as the “Robin Hood” of Medellín’s slums to becoming the world’s most wanted man. Learn how he controlled 80% of the global cocaine trade, owned 800 luxury properties, and spent $2,500 monthly just on rubber bands to wrap his cash. Yet the same man who bombed airplanes also built hospitals for the poor, creating a legacy of contradiction that persists today. Was Escobar a genius entrepreneur or simply a mass murderer with business acumen? Could his empire exist in today’s world? Share your thoughts below and subscribe for more stories about history’s most powerful criminal empires. -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- ⚠️ Content Disclaimer: This video is created for educational and informational purposes only. We do NOT glorify, promote, or encourage any form of criminal activity. All visuals, audio, and materials used in this video are either: ✔ Created using AI tools, or ✔ Sourced from royalty-free platforms with valid licenses. No copyrighted content belonging to others has been used without permission. ❤️ Support the Channel: If you enjoy learning about real-life crime stories, history, and social issues, don't forget to: ✔ Like the video ✔ Subscribe to the channel ✔ Share your thoughts in the comments
View Video Transcript
0:00
Medelin, Colombia, 1989.
0:04
A man stands on the rooftop of his
0:06
luxury prison, watching the city lights
0:08
below. He built this prison himself,
0:11
hired his own guards, and comes and goes
0:14
as he pleases. The government calls it
0:16
justice. He calls it another business
0:19
expense. But within 2 years, Pablo
0:22
Escobar will be running through these
0:24
same streets, barefoot and desperate,
0:27
hunted like an animal. How does someone
0:30
go from sleeping on dirt floors to
0:32
making $420 million per week? How does a
0:35
small-time bicycle thief build a
0:37
criminal empire worth $30 billion,
0:40
making him richer than entire countries?
0:43
At his peak, Pablo Escobar controlled
0:45
80% of the world's cocaine trade, owned
0:48
800 luxury properties, and had so much
0:51
cash he spent $2,500
0:54
monthly just on rubber bands to wrap the
0:57
bills. But here's the contradiction that
1:00
defined him. The man who bombed
1:02
airplanes and assassinated presidential
1:05
candidates also built 500 houses for the
1:08
poor. The drug lord who ordered the
1:11
deaths of thousands, also constructed
1:13
hospitals and soccer fields. He was
1:16
Robin Hood to some, the devil incarnate
1:19
to others. And by 1993, he would be dead
1:23
on a rooftop, his empire in ruins, his
1:26
family in exile. So get ready to dive
1:30
into the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar,
1:33
the man who turned white powder into an
1:36
empire and proved that all the money in
1:38
the world can't buy you a peaceful
1:41
death. Act one, from nothing to
1:44
everything.
1:46
The truth is we don't know much about
1:48
Pablo Escobar's early life because he
1:51
rewrote his own history as he gained
1:53
power. Born December 1st, 1949 in
1:58
Rioenegro, Colombia, Pablo Alio Escobar
2:01
Givera grew up in a country where
2:04
violence was currency and poverty was
2:07
law. His father Abel was a farmer who
2:11
barely scraped by. His mother, Hermilda,
2:14
was a school teacher who dreamed of more
2:16
for her seven children. The family moved
2:19
to Envigardo, a suburb of Medelene when
2:22
Pablo was young. Here, in the shadow of
2:26
Colombia's second largest city, he
2:28
learned his first lessons about power.
2:31
The rich lived in pen houses. The poor
2:33
lived in shacks. There was no middle
2:36
ground, but there was opportunity for
2:39
those willing to take it. By age 10,
2:43
Escobar was selling cigarettes and
2:45
lottery tickets on the streets. By 15,
2:49
he was stealing tombstones, sand
2:51
blasting off the names and reselling
2:54
them. His criminal philosophy formed
2:56
early. Why work for pennies when you
2:59
could steal for dollars? Yet something
3:02
set him apart from other street thugs.
3:05
Escobar understood people. He knew when
3:08
to charm, when to threaten, when to
3:11
disappear. His real education came from
3:14
his cousin, Gustavo Gavilia. Together,
3:18
they graduated from petty theft to
3:20
stealing cars, then to kidnapping. In
3:23
1971, they kidnapped Diego Echavaria, a
3:27
Medeline executive, and collected a
3:30
$50,000 ransom. But Escobar learned a
3:34
crucial lesson when Etchavaria was
3:36
killed despite the payment. Dead men
3:39
tell no tales, but they also create
3:42
vendettas.
3:44
The turning point came in 1975
3:47
when Escobar was arrested for stealing
3:50
cars. He tried to bribe the judges, a
3:53
common practice in Colombia. When that
3:56
failed, he had the arresting officers
3:58
killed. The charges were dropped. This
4:01
became his template. Silver or lead.
4:04
Take the bribe or take the bullet. But
4:07
there was a problem. Car theft and
4:10
kidnapping was small time. Escobar
4:13
wanted an empire. He found it in a white
4:17
powder that Americans couldn't get
4:19
enough of. Cocaine. In the mid 1970s,
4:23
cocaine was just beginning its
4:25
transformation from a rich person's drug
4:27
to a middle class epidemic. Colombian
4:30
smugglers were already moving product,
4:33
but in small amounts, hidden in luggage
4:36
or swallowed in condoms. Esscobar saw
4:40
inefficiency. He envisioned an
4:43
industrial operation. Act two, the
4:46
cocaine revolution. In 1976,
4:50
Escobar made his first cocaine run to
4:52
Ecuador. Returning with a paste that
4:54
would be refined into powder. He
4:57
personally flew the drugs to the United
5:00
States, earning $100,000 profit. Most
5:04
men would have been satisfied.
5:06
Escobar saw it as seed money for
5:09
something bigger. But he wasn't the only
5:11
one with ambition. The OOA brothers,
5:14
Fabio, Juan Davided, and Hy Luis were
5:17
already established traffickers. Carlos
5:19
Leer controlled roots through the
5:21
Bahamas. Joseé Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha
5:23
ran operations in Mexico. Instead of
5:26
fighting them, Escobar proposed
5:27
something revolutionary. A cartel. It
5:29
would cooperate, not compete. Share
5:31
routes, split territories, fixed prices.
5:34
It was OPEC for cocaine. The Medelin
5:36
cartel was born. But Escobar quickly
5:39
emerged as first among equals through a
5:42
combination of vision and violence.
5:46
While others smuggled kilos, he thought
5:49
in tons. He bought fleets of planes,
5:52
including uh Leojet specifically for
5:55
cash transport. He purchased Norman's
5:58
Kai, a Bohemian island, as a refueling
6:01
stop. He even bought two submarines from
6:04
the Colombian Navy. By 1982, Escobar was
6:09
moving 70 80 tons of cocaine monthly
6:12
into the United States. At $60,000 per
6:16
kilo wholesale, that meant 4.2 2 billion
6:20
in revenue per month. After expenses and
6:23
payments to partners, Escobar personally
6:26
cleared about $420 million weekly.
6:30
That's $22 billion annually in 1980s.
6:35
The money created its own problems.
6:37
Escobar couldn't deposit it in banks
6:40
without raising suspicions. So, he
6:42
buried it literally in fields, in walls,
6:46
in underground vaults. Investigators
6:49
later found that 10% of his cash was
6:52
lost to rats and water damage. About
6:56
$2.1 billion simply rotted away. He
7:00
spent $2,500
7:02
monthly on rubber bands to bundle bills.
7:06
When his daughter was cold, he burned $2
7:09
million in cash to keep her warm. Yet
7:12
Escobar understood that money without
7:15
power was vulnerability. So he entered
7:18
politics. In 1982, he was elected as an
7:22
alternate member of Colombia's Congress.
7:25
He campaigned as a man of the people,
7:28
building soccer fields and housing
7:30
projects in poor neighborhoods. He
7:33
handed out cash at rallies, paid for
7:36
medical procedures, sponsored youth
7:39
soccer teams. In the slums of Medelene,
7:43
he was Don Pablo, the patron who
7:45
remembered where he came from. But
7:48
legitimate power brought scrutiny.
7:50
Justice Minister Rodrigo Larabanila
7:54
began investigating Escobar's wealth.
7:57
Newspapers published photos of him with
7:59
drug dealers. The US Embassy pressured
8:02
Colombia to act. Escobar offered Lara $1
8:07
million to back off. When the minister
8:10
refused, Escobar had him assassinated on
8:13
April 30th, 1984.
8:16
The killer rode a motorcycle alongside
8:19
Lara's car and fired through the window.
8:22
This murder changed everything.
8:25
President Bellisario Betangur declared
8:28
war on the cartels. For the first time,
8:32
Colombia agreed to extradite drug
8:34
traffickers to the United States.
8:36
Escobar's greatest fear, dying in an
8:39
American prison, suddenly seemed
8:42
possible. Therefore, he declared war
8:45
right back. The violence was
8:47
unprecedented.
8:49
Escobar formed a group called Los
8:51
Extraitabl.
8:53
The extraditables with the motto, "We
8:56
prefer a grave in Colombia to a prison
8:59
in the United States." He offered
9:02
bounties. $1,000 for each police officer
9:06
killed, $5,000 for judges, $10,000 for
9:11
prosecutors.
9:12
Medelin became a war zone. In 1988
9:16
alone, 3,000 people were murdered in the
9:19
city. But Escobar's most shocking attack
9:23
came on November 27th, 1989.
9:27
Avianka flight 203
9:30
exploded in midair, killing all 107
9:34
people aboard. Escobar had ordered the
9:37
bombing to kill presidential candidate
9:40
Cesar Gveria Trujillo. Gveria wasn't
9:44
even on the plane. The callousness
9:46
shocked even hardened criminals. Killing
9:49
enemies was business. Killing innocents
9:52
was bad for business. Nevertheless,
9:55
Escobar's strategy worked partially. The
9:59
Colombian government, exhausted by
10:01
violence, offered a deal, surrender, and
10:04
receive reduced sentences with no
10:07
extradition.
10:08
Escobar negotiated further. He would
10:11
build his own prison, staff it with his
10:14
own guards, and continue running his
10:16
empire from inside. The government,
10:20
desperate for peace, agreed. On June
10:23
19th, 1991,
10:25
Pablo Escobar surrendered and entered
10:28
Lacatadral, the cathedral, his
10:31
customuilt prison overlooking Medeline.
10:34
It had a soccer field, a bar, a jacuzzi,
10:38
and telephone lines to continue his
10:40
business. Guards were on his payroll.
10:43
Politicians visited for parties. He even
10:46
had enemies brought to the prison to be
10:48
tortured and killed. But Escobar had
10:51
miscalculated. His brazen behavior
10:54
embarrassed the government. When they
10:56
tried to move him to a real prison in
10:58
July 1992, he escaped, walking out
11:02
through a back door he'd installed for
11:04
exactly this purpose. Now he was a
11:07
fugitive in his own city, hunted by a
11:10
new coalition that included the
11:12
Colombian police, the DEA, and his
11:15
former cartel rivals. Act three, the
11:19
hunter becomes the hunted.
11:21
Escobar's escape marked the beginning of
11:24
the end. The government formed a special
11:26
unit called the search block, dedicated
11:29
solely to finding him. The United States
11:32
sent Delta Force advisers and
11:34
sophisticated tracking equipment. But
11:37
the deadliest threat came from Los
11:39
Pepes, Persigos poor Pablo Escobar.
11:43
people persecuted by Pablo Escobar, a
11:46
vigilante group funded by the Ki cartel
11:50
and composed of his former associates.
11:52
The hunter had become the hunter. Los
11:54
Pepees used Escobar's own tactics
11:56
against him. They killed his lawyers,
11:58
his accountants, his cousins. They
12:00
burned his properties, including his
12:02
prized collection of antique cars. They
12:05
even killed his animals at
12:07
Hassiendapoles, his seven 400 acre
12:09
estate, complete with a private zoo. The
12:12
message was clear. Surrender or watch
12:15
everything you love die. Escobar
12:18
responded with desperate violence. He
12:21
set off car bombs in Bogotaar, killing
12:24
hundreds. He offered $1,000 bounties for
12:28
police officers, causing officers to
12:30
travel in groups and wear masks. But his
12:33
network was crumbling. Associates
12:36
defected or died. His fortune, once
12:40
seemingly infinite, dwindled as he paid
12:43
for protection and revenge. By late
12:47
1993, Escobar was reduced to moving
12:50
between safe houses in Medeline,
12:52
communicating through notes passed by
12:54
teenage messengers. The man who once
12:57
owned 800 properties now slept in
13:00
different beds each night. His family,
13:03
wife Maria Victoria and children Juan
13:05
Pablo and Manuela were refused asylum by
13:09
country after country. Trapped in
13:12
Colombia as human bait. The end came
13:16
through technology and betrayal.
13:19
American surveillance planes tracked his
13:21
radio calls to his family. Informants
13:25
motivated by the $6 million reward
13:28
provided tips about his movements. On
13:31
December 2nd, 1993,
13:34
Colombian electronic surveillance
13:36
specialists traced a call between
13:38
Escobar and his son to a middleclass
13:41
neighborhood in Medilene. The search
13:44
block moved in. Escobar was in a
13:47
twostory house with just one bodyguard.
13:51
As police surrounded the building, he
13:53
tried to escape across the rooftops
13:55
barefoot, wearing jeans and a blue
13:58
jacket. He'd gone from custom Italian
14:01
suits to running like the street
14:04
criminal he'd once been. The official
14:06
report states that Escobar died in a
14:09
shootout, hit by three bullets, one in
14:12
the leg, one in the back, and one behind
14:15
the ear, but questions remain. The
14:18
precision of the earshot suggested
14:20
execution. Some witnesses claimed he
14:23
shot himself rather than be captured.
14:26
Others insisted Los Pepe's members were
14:28
present. seeking personal revenge.
14:31
What's certain is that at 3:15 p.m. on
14:34
December 2nd, 1993, Pablo Emilio Escobar
14:39
Guira was dead. The man who'd built a
14:42
$30 billion empire, who' declared war on
14:46
a nation, who'd been simultaneously
14:48
loved and hated by millions, lay dead on
14:52
a rooftop in the city he'd once ruled.
14:55
His death brought celebration and
14:58
mourning. In wealthy neighborhoods,
15:01
people cheered. In the slums, they wept
15:04
for Don Pablo. At his funeral, 25,000
15:08
people came to pay respects. His grave
15:12
became a shrine decorated with flowers
15:14
and photos by those who remembered his
15:17
generosity, not his violence. But
15:21
Escobar's legacy extended far beyond his
15:24
death. The cocaine trade continued. The
15:27
Cali cartel immediately filled the void.
15:31
The corruption he'd fostered infected
15:33
Colombian institutions for decades. The
15:36
culture of violence he'd normalized made
15:39
Colombia synonymous with drug warfare.
15:42
Yet he also exposed the hypocrisy of the
15:44
drug war. Demand in rich countries
15:47
fueled supply in poor ones. His family
15:51
paid the highest price. They lived in
15:54
exile under assumed names, forever
15:57
marked by his crimes. His son, who
16:00
changed his name to Sebastian Maraken,
16:03
became an architect and peace advocate,
16:06
apologizing to his father's victims. His
16:10
wife lived quietly, avoiding publicity.
16:13
The billions Escobar accumulated
16:15
vanished, seized by governments, stolen
16:18
by associates, or still buried in fields
16:21
known only to dead men. Today, Escobar
16:25
remains a contradiction. Netflix series
16:28
portray him as an anti-hero.
16:31
Tourists take selfies at his grave.
16:34
T-shirts bear his image. He's been
16:37
transformed from terrorist to pop
16:38
culture icon. His violence sanitized by
16:42
time and distance. But for those who
16:45
lived through his reign, who lost family
16:48
to his bombs and bullets, he remains
16:50
what he always was. Proof that evil can
16:54
wear a charitable face. The numbers tell
16:58
one story. $30 billion earned, 80% of
17:02
the cocaine trade controlled, thousands
17:05
killed. But they don't capture the full
17:07
truth that Pablo Escobar was both
17:11
product and producer of a system that
17:14
turns prohibition into profit, poverty
17:17
into violence, and ambition into
17:19
atrocity. He didn't invent the drug
17:22
trade, but he perfected it,
17:24
industrialized it, and ultimately died
17:27
for it. So, what do you think? Was Pablo
17:30
Escobar a genius who saw opportunity
17:33
where others saw crime? Or simply a mass
17:36
murderer who happened to be good at
17:38
business? Could someone build his kind
17:41
of empire today? Or have technology and
17:44
international cooperation made another
17:46
Escobar impossible?
17:48
Drop your theory in the comments. I read
17:51
every single one. And if you want more
17:54
stories about how ambition and violence
17:57
intersect to create criminal empires,
18:00
hit subscribe and ring that notification
18:03
bell. Because understanding monsters
18:06
requires looking at the systems that
18:08
create