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Born
Born in Rionegro and raised in Medellín, Escobar studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellín but left without graduating; he instead began engaging in criminal activity, selling illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, as well as participating in motor vehicle theft. In the early 1970s, he began to work for various drug smugglers, often kidnapping and holding people for ransom.. -
Personal life
In March 1976, the 26-year-old Escobar married María Victoria Henao, who was 15. The relationship was discouraged by the Henao family, who considered Escobar socially inferior; the pair eloped.[72] They had two children: Juan Pablo (now Sebastián Marroquín) and Manuela. In 2007, the journalist Virginia Vallejo published her memoir Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), in which she describes her romantic relationsh. -
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Cartel
In 1976, Escobar founded the Medellín Cartel, which distributed powder cocaine, and established the first smuggling routes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, through Colombia and eventually into the United States. Escobar's infiltration into the U.S. created exponential demand for cocaine and by the 1980s it was estimated Escobar led monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine into the country from Colombia. -
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Criminal career
Escobar started his criminal career with his gang by stealing tombstones, sandblasting their inscriptions, and reselling them.After dropping out of school, Escobar began to join gangs to steal cars.Escobar soon became involved in violent crime, employing criminals to kidnap people who owed him money and demand ransoms,sometimes tearing up ransom notes even when Escobar had received the ransom. His most famous kidnapping victim was businessman Diego Echavarria. -
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After Death
Soon after Escobar's death and the subsequent fragmentation of the Medellín Cartel, the cocaine market became dominated by the rival Cali Cartel until the mid-1990s when its leaders were either killed or captured by the Colombian government.The Robin Hood image that Escobar had cultivated maintained a lasting influence in Medellín.Many there,especially many of the city's poor whom Escobar had aided while he was alive, mourned his death, and over 25,000 people attended his funeral. -
Death
Escobar faced threats from the Colombian police
On 2 December 1993,Escobar was found in a house in a middle-class residential area of Medellín by Colombian special forces,using technology provided by the United States which allowed them to trace Escobar's location after he made a call to his family. Police tried to arrest Escobar but the situation quickly escalated to an exchange of gunfire.Escobar was shot and killed while trying to escape from the roof, along with a bodyguard who was also shot