50 Fun Facts About Pablo Escobar

Escobar was the founder and leader of which trafficking organisation?

By the 1980s it was shipping an estimated 70 to 80 tons of cocaine a month into the United States.

By what nickname was Escobar widely known?

He monopolised the cocaine trade into the US through the 1980s.

In which town in Antioquia was Escobar born in December 1949?

He was the third of seven children and grew up in poverty in neighbouring Medellín.

What was Escobar's estimated net worth by the time of his death?

That made him one of the wealthiest conventional criminals in history.

What did the teenage Escobar and his gang steal, sandblast and resell to start his criminal career?

He also sold illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and later claimed his fortune began with a bicycle rental firm.

What did Escobar forge in order to enrol briefly at university?

He wanted to be a criminal lawyer, then a politician, then president, but ran out of money.

Escobar kidnap victim Diego Echavarría was killed in 1971 after his family paid what ransom?

Escobar's gang sometimes tore up ransom notes even after being paid.

When the DAS arrested Escobar in May 1976, where did agents find 39 kg of cocaine?

He got the first judge changed, bribed the second, and the arresting agent was murdered the following year.

Escobar's policy of bribing officials or killing those who refused was known by what phrase?

In Spanish, 'plata o plomo': money or death.

Which cartel co-founder developed the Bahamas trans-shipment island Norman's Cay with Escobar?

The island had an airstrip and a refrigerated warehouse for cocaine and was the main route from 1978 to 1982.

What was the name of Escobar's estate in Antioquia, complete with a zoo and private bullring?

It has since been turned into a theme park ringed by luxury hotels.

In 1982 Escobar was elected as an alternate member of Congress under which political banner?

The seat gave him parliamentary immunity and a diplomatic passport.

Because of his housing projects and football pitches for the poor, Escobar was nicknamed what?

Some in the city still pray to him for divine help.

Which justice minister accused Escobar of criminality in Congress and was murdered in 1984?

Escobar had announced his retirement from politics three months earlier.

Which Liberal leader expelled Escobar from the party, and was assassinated on his orders in August 1989?

Escobar held the grudge for years; the man's sons were later approached by Escobar's own son seeking forgiveness.

Which airline's Flight 203 did Escobar bomb in 1989, killing all 107 aboard?

The target had missed the flight; two Americans died, prompting direct US intervention.

Which future Colombian president, the airliner bombing's target, later negotiated Escobar's surrender?

The deal gave Escobar a reduced sentence and a prison of his own design.

What was the name of the luxurious prison Escobar built for himself after surrendering in 1991?

It had a football pitch, a giant dollhouse, a bar, a jacuzzi and a waterfall.

What did the new national Constitution of 1991 prohibit, shortly before Escobar gave himself up?

Escobar and other drug lords were suspected of influencing the Constituent Assembly.

What was the name of the group Escobar founded to fight the extradition treaty with the United States?

In 1986 the Supreme Court declared the treaty illegal on a technicality, but the next president promptly renewed it.

Which guerrilla group carried out the 1985 Palace of Justice siege that Escobar is said to have financed?

Ninety-eight people died, including nearly half of the Supreme Court's justices.

In what year did Escobar escape as the government tried to move him to a normal jail?

His influence let him learn of the plan in advance; he spent the rest of his life on the run.

Escobar was killed on 2 December 1993, the day after which birthday?

He was shot on a rooftop trying to flee, hit in the torso, feet and head; whether the final shot was his own is still debated.

How did the police locate Escobar on the day he died?

US-supplied technology traced the call to a house in a middle-class part of Medellín.

Which rival organisation dominated the cocaine market after Escobar's death?

Its leaders were killed or captured by the mid-1990s; it also extracted millions from Escobar's widow as reparations.

Roughly how many people attended Escobar's funeral?

He was buried at Monte Sacro Cemetery and exhumed in 2006 for a paternity DNA test.

How old was María Victoria Henao when the 26-year-old Escobar married her in 1976?

Her family thought him socially inferior, so the pair eloped.

In which country did Escobar's widow and children eventually settle under assumed names?

They passed through Mozambique and Brazil first; his son now writes as Sebastián Marroquín.

Which anchorwoman, Escobar's lover from 1983 to 1987, wrote Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar?

Her testimony helped reopen the Galán assassination case and inspired a 2017 film with Penélope Cruz.

How many hippos did Escobar keep at his estate, the ancestors of Colombia's wild herd?

By 2014 there were 40 around Puerto Triunfo, and in 2021 the government began chemically sterilising them.

What was the escaped hippo shot by hunters in 2009 after attacking people and cattle called?

National Geographic later made a documentary called Cocaine Hippos about the herd.

Which six-storey Escobar building, car-bombed in 1988, did Medellín demolish in 2019?

The mayor wanted a park honouring the cartels' victims, including several presidential candidates and some 500 police officers.

In which US city did Escobar own a pink waterfront mansion in his own name, seized in the 1980s?

A later owner hired treasure hunters before demolishing it; they found odd holes and a safe that vanished before it could be opened.

Which Brazilian actor played Escobar in the Netflix series Narcos?

The series premiered on 28 August 2015; the second season followed in September 2016.

Which Spanish actor played Escobar in the 2017 film Loving Pablo?

Penélope Cruz co-starred as the journalist whose memoir the film was based on.

Which Colombian actor starred as Escobar in the 2012 series Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal?

He has said he will not play the character again to avoid being typecast.

Who wrote the 2001 book Killing Pablo, about the hunt for Escobar?

It grew out of a 31-part Philadelphia Inquirer series; a film version with Christian Bale never got made.

Which Nobel laureate wrote News of a Kidnapping (1996), a non-fiction account of Escobar-era abductions?

It appeared in English in 1997.

ESPN's The Two Escobars pairs Pablo with which footballer, murdered after a 1994 World Cup own goal?

The two men were not related.

The Life of Pablo was named for three men sharing Escobar's first name. Which was another?

The third was the apostle Paul.

In the 2022 parody Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Escobar kidnaps whom to lure Weird Al to his birthday party?

Weird Al kills him instead; Arturo Castro played the drug lord.

In the 2001 film Blow, about smuggler George Jung, who played Escobar?

Jung was a member of Escobar's cartel.

The 2021 documentary Killing Escobar concerns a failed 1989 hit by mercenaries led by whom?

The mercenaries had been hired by his rivals in Cali.

Escobar told a priest, 'It's not important to be repentant, I am a' what?

Father Elkin described him as profoundly devout but led astray by ambition; Escobar even claimed a vision of Christ.

How much cocaine had Escobar's cartel shipped to the US by the end of 1978?

By the 1980s the flow was 70 to 80 tons a month.

Which armed group did Escobar hire to carry out bombings and assassinations against government targets?

He also kept up relations with Nicaragua's Sandinista government and allegedly with Cuba.

Under which law was Escobar's estate handed by the government to low-income families after his death?

The name means 'domain extinction'; the estate is now a theme park.

In which Medellin cemetery was Escobar buried?

His body was exhumed in 2006 for a DNA paternity test, and the video aired on RCN.

Through which two countries did Escobar's family flee before settling in Argentina in 1995?

His widow now lives in Buenos Aires as Maria Isabel Santos Caballero.

What is the title of the 2009 documentary in which Escobar's son seeks forgiveness from victims' families?

Nicolas Entel's film premiered on HBO in the US in October 2010 after showing at Sundance.