Forbes magazine estimated Pablo Escobar was the seventh richest man in the world. His income was said to be around $18 billion a year. The Medellin cartel, which he controlled, had politicians, accountants, soldiers - even generals - customs agents, chemists, drivers, pilots, scientists and aircrew on its payroll. Thousands of people were working in jungle laboratories, some the size of small villages, processing cocaine.
The poor of Colombia loved him. Here Lies the King was inscribed on his tombstone, but the Government ordered it removed. He helped thousands of the poor by providing homes, food, medicines, school tuition and scores of football stadia and schools. Even the then president Virgilio Barco called the Medellin cartel "a great and powerful organisation the likes of which has never existed in the world".
He came from a very poor family, and first got into crime by contraband smuggling. Then he realised the potential of the drugs trade. He had a genius for organisation and built a vertical business model, controlling everything from production to delivery. In the beginning he was earning up to $2 million a week. That would soon be chickenfeed.
Overwhelmed by Cash
The cartel was delivering tons of cocaine weekly to 15 countries, even into the communist bloc. When he first started air deliveries one plane brought more than $70 million in cash back to Colombia from the US. Within two years Escobar was flying 15 planes.
Chemists working for him could break the cocaine down into its component parts and combine it with other materials like fibreglass. Other workers would then use the fibreglass as part of a speedboat which would be sent to other countries, where the process would be done in reverse.
The sheer volume of cash was overwhelming. His accountant would write off 10 per cent of his money because rats would eat it or it would be ruined by water and damp. He spent up to $2,500 a month on rubber bands to hold the notes together. It got to the point where he would have whole rooms filled with boxes of cash.
Escobar's cover story was that he was a real estate agent, and with his money he bought hundreds - literally - of properties. At one time he owned as many as 400 farms in Colombia. He had property in Spain, Florida, New York, Miami and Los Angeles. In 1982 he bought an entire block in Colombia and built about 40 houses.
Secret money caches
To hide the money he built caletas - hiding places or safes - in the walls of the houses, apartments and farmhouses that he owned. One caleta alone could hold up to $5 million. The location of the caletas was never written down. It was all in his, and his brother Roberto's, memory.
Roberto recounted that at one farm was a beautiful house with a swimming pool. The brothers built a second pool for the children. It was fibreglass and half below, half above ground. Known only to them, the pool was on hydraulic lifts and underneath were six large spaces with wooden cases containing millions of dollars.
On many of the farms they buried plastic garbage cans stuffed with money. While he was held in prison in 1991 - a prison he had built and controlled - more than $10 million was buried in different places.
And it was in the early 1990s that bloody war broke out between the different cocaine cartels and the government. The slaughter was indiscriminate and Colombia became for a while the most dangerous place in the world to live. People who had managed millions were murdered without telling anyone where the money was hidden.
Traffickers on the run
Escobar was the most high-profile of the drug traffickers. His competitors wanted him dead, as did the army, which was being helped by American special forces. Escobar was constantly on the run, staying for only one night at dozens of safe house and apartments.
He and his comrades at times had to flee into the jungle, occasionally staying at remote farmhouses while the army helicopters swept overhead. And in 1993 Pablo Escobar was shot dead. The knowledge of the hiding places died with him. His brother languishes in jail.
All over Colombia today people are living in houses, apartments and farms and don't have the faintest idea there are millions of dollars stashed in the walls or the backyard.The Lost Treasure of Cocaine King Pablo Escobar
The poor of Colombia loved him. Here Lies the King was inscribed on his tombstone, but the Government ordered it removed. He helped thousands of the poor by providing homes, food, medicines, school tuition and scores of football stadia and schools. Even the then president Virgilio Barco called the Medellin cartel "a great and powerful organisation the likes of which has never existed in the world".
He came from a very poor family, and first got into crime by contraband smuggling. Then he realised the potential of the drugs trade. He had a genius for organisation and built a vertical business model, controlling everything from production to delivery. In the beginning he was earning up to $2 million a week. That would soon be chickenfeed.
Overwhelmed by Cash
The cartel was delivering tons of cocaine weekly to 15 countries, even into the communist bloc. When he first started air deliveries one plane brought more than $70 million in cash back to Colombia from the US. Within two years Escobar was flying 15 planes.
Chemists working for him could break the cocaine down into its component parts and combine it with other materials like fibreglass. Other workers would then use the fibreglass as part of a speedboat which would be sent to other countries, where the process would be done in reverse.
The sheer volume of cash was overwhelming. His accountant would write off 10 per cent of his money because rats would eat it or it would be ruined by water and damp. He spent up to $2,500 a month on rubber bands to hold the notes together. It got to the point where he would have whole rooms filled with boxes of cash.
Escobar's cover story was that he was a real estate agent, and with his money he bought hundreds - literally - of properties. At one time he owned as many as 400 farms in Colombia. He had property in Spain, Florida, New York, Miami and Los Angeles. In 1982 he bought an entire block in Colombia and built about 40 houses.
Secret money caches
To hide the money he built caletas - hiding places or safes - in the walls of the houses, apartments and farmhouses that he owned. One caleta alone could hold up to $5 million. The location of the caletas was never written down. It was all in his, and his brother Roberto's, memory.
Roberto recounted that at one farm was a beautiful house with a swimming pool. The brothers built a second pool for the children. It was fibreglass and half below, half above ground. Known only to them, the pool was on hydraulic lifts and underneath were six large spaces with wooden cases containing millions of dollars.
On many of the farms they buried plastic garbage cans stuffed with money. While he was held in prison in 1991 - a prison he had built and controlled - more than $10 million was buried in different places.
And it was in the early 1990s that bloody war broke out between the different cocaine cartels and the government. The slaughter was indiscriminate and Colombia became for a while the most dangerous place in the world to live. People who had managed millions were murdered without telling anyone where the money was hidden.
Traffickers on the run
Escobar was the most high-profile of the drug traffickers. His competitors wanted him dead, as did the army, which was being helped by American special forces. Escobar was constantly on the run, staying for only one night at dozens of safe house and apartments.
He and his comrades at times had to flee into the jungle, occasionally staying at remote farmhouses while the army helicopters swept overhead. And in 1993 Pablo Escobar was shot dead. The knowledge of the hiding places died with him. His brother languishes in jail.
All over Colombia today people are living in houses, apartments and farms and don't have the faintest idea there are millions of dollars stashed in the walls or the backyard.The Lost Treasure of Cocaine King Pablo Escobar
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