Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (/ˈɛskəbɑːr/, Spanish: [ˈpaβlo eˈmiljo eskoˈβaɾ ɣaˈβiɾja]; 1 December

1949 – 2 December 1993) was the best known Colombian drug lord by the time of his death. The
magnitude of Escobar's wealth is a matter of dispute, with his family scoffing at the idea he was a
billionaire; however, his financial resources enabled him to buy popularity and even local political
office. Escobar was targeted by American and Colombian governments and surrendered to
authorities in 1991. He escaped the next year and as a special police unit, Search Bloc, hunted him
he was suspected of ordering many killings, the DAS Building bombing and the destruction
of Avianca Flight 203 in retaliation. A shadowy death squad, Los Pepes linked with both the
government and his Medellín Cartel rivals, assassinated anyone associated with Escobar, thereby
isolating him from his support network. In 1993, Escobar was killed in his hometown by Colombian
National Police, a day after his 44th birthday. With Escobar having provided many amenities to the
region's poor, his funeral was attended by over 25,000 people.[2]

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was born on 1 December 1949, in Rionegro, in the Antioquia
Department of Colombia. He was the third of seven children of the farmer Abel de Jesús Dari
Escobar Echeverri (1910–2001),[3] with his wife Hemilda de los Dolores Gaviria Berrío (d. 2006),[4] an
elementary school teacher.[5] Raised in the nearby city of Medellín, Escobar is thought to have begun
his criminal career as a teenager, allegedly stealing gravestones and sanding them down for resale
to local smugglers. His brother, Roberto Escobar, denies this, instead claiming that the gravestones
came from cemetery owners whose clients had stopped paying for site care, and that he had a
relative who had a monuments business.[6] Escobar's son, Sebastián Marroquín, claims his father's
foray into crime began with a successful practice of selling counterfeit high school
diplomas,[7] generally counterfeiting those awarded by the Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of
Medellín. Escobar studied at the University for a short period, but left without obtaining a degree.[8]
Escobar eventually became involved in many criminal activities with Oscar Benel Aguirre, with the
duo running petty street scams, selling contraband cigarettes, fake lottery tickets, and stealing
cars.[9] In the early 1970s, prior to entering the drug trade, Escobar acted as a thief and bodyguard,
allegedly earning US$100,000 by kidnapping and holding a Medellín executive for
ransom.[10] Escobar began working for Alvaro Prieto, a contraband smuggler who operated around
Medellín, aiming to fulfill a childhood ambition to have COL $1 million by the time he was
22.[11] Escobar is known to have had a bank deposit of COL $100 million (more than US$3 million),
when he turned 26