A Brief History
On July 22, 1992, Drug Lord Pablo Escobar of Columbia escaped from his (luxury) prison. Escobar, probably the richest criminal of all time, had a net wealth of around a staggering $30 billion.
Digging Deeper
This kind of money can certainly buy a criminal his own special brand of justice, and it was after negotiations with the government in 1991 that Escobar agreed to surrender in return for a light sentence and special prison accommodations. While living in luxury in “prison” Escobar continued to run his criminal drug empire, which caused authorities to make the decision to move him to more secure confines. Fearing the government would go a step further and extradite him to the United States, Escobar moseyed out of the prison with no interference from the guards.
With the United States assisting the Columbian government, and rival drug cartels joining the fight to find and capture Escobar, the net closed around him fairly soon, and in 1993 Pablo Escobar was killed in a shootout with Columbian National Police.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bowden, Mark. Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw. Grove Press, 2015.
United States. The future of the Andean war on drugs after the escape of Pablo Escobar: Joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs and Task … Congress, second session, July 29, 1992. For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, 1993.
