When his family were hiding at a farm in the mountains surrounding Medellín, Escobar burned $2 million to save his daughter from the cold weather. Another trick was soaking jeans in liquid cocaine and exporting them legally to the US, then extracting the cocaine on arrival.
Pablo Escobar smuggled cocaine in plane tiresĪ pilot could reportedly earn as much as $500,000 depending on the amount he stashed. Columbian authorities were not allowed within 3 miles of the compound.
From La Catedral Escobar continued to run his operations, receive visitors, and enjoy a football pitch and barbecue pit. He was confined in a luxury prison, La Catedral, which he helped design. In 1991, Pablo Escobar agreed to surrender to the Columbian authorities. The utopia was built as a holiday getaway and included a pool, a bullring and a zoo housing hippos, giraffes and elephants. Pablo Escobar owned 5,000 acres of land in the small Colombian town of Puerto Triunofo. That's approximately the weight of two African elephants. At its peak, Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel smuggled 15 tonnes of cocaine per day to the United States. Over the Eighties the demand for cocaine skyrocketed. Countless familes destroyed to help a rich man could grow even richer. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of police officers were murdered on Escobar's orders simply for doing their job. Pablo Escobar's approach to authorities was known as "plata o plomo" (silver or lead). This marked the beginning of a policy that endured throughout his reign: a paid cop turns a blind eye. However he bribed the arresting officers and the case collapsed. In 1976 Pablo Escobar was captured by Colombian authorities in possession of drugs. Nobody was given much choice in the matter. The dead Restrepo's employees were informed that their new boss was Pablo Escobar. An early casualty was rival Medellín dealer Fabio Restrepo, most likely murdered by Escobar in 1975.