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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

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

6. 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

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

8. 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.

9. 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