Scribd
Upload
39 views1 page

Cocaine Distribution: See Also:,, and

Pablo Escobar rose from obscurity to become one of the wealthiest men in the world through his cocaine operation between Colombia and Panama along smuggling routes into the United States in the 1970s. He started by flying small planes several times a month with only 30 pounds of cocaine paste on his first trip. As his operation grew, he purchased larger planes and helicopters to transport cocaine. When a friend died during a landing, Pablo displayed the wrecked plane above the gate of his ranch. After an early arrest, Pablo began dealing with authorities through bribery or murder to avoid prosecution for his drug trafficking activities.

Uploaded by

carl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
39 views1 page

Cocaine Distribution: See Also:,, and

Pablo Escobar rose from obscurity to become one of the wealthiest men in the world through his cocaine operation between Colombia and Panama along smuggling routes into the United States in the 1970s. He started by flying small planes several times a month with only 30 pounds of cocaine paste on his first trip. As his operation grew, he purchased larger planes and helicopters to transport cocaine. When a friend died during a landing, Pablo displayed the wrecked plane above the gate of his ranch. After an early arrest, Pablo began dealing with authorities through bribery or murder to avoid prosecution for his drug trafficking activities.

Uploaded by

carl
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Cocaine distribution

See also: Illegal drug trade in Colombia, Illegal drug trade in Panama, and Illegal drug trade in the
Bahamas

International drug routes.

In The Accountant's Story, Roberto Escobar discusses how Pablo rose from middle-class simplicity
and obscurity to one of the world's wealthiest men. Beginning in 1975, Pablo started developing his
cocaine operation, flying out planes several times, mainly between Colombia and Panama, along
smuggling routes into the United States. When he later bought fifteen bigger airplanes, including
a Learjet and six helicopters, according to his son, a dear friend of Pablo's died during the landing of
an airplane, and the plane was destroyed. Pablo reconstructed the airplane from the scrap parts that
were left and later hung it above the gate to his ranch at Hacienda Nápoles.
In May 1976, Escobar and several of his men were arrested and found in possession of 39 pounds
(18 kg) of white paste, attempting to return to Medellín with a heavy load from Ecuador. Initially,
Pablo tried to bribe the Medellín judges who were forming a case against him and was unsuccessful.
After many months of legal wrangling, he ordered the murder of the two arresting officers, and the
case was later dropped. Roberto Escobar details this as the point where Pablo began his pattern of
dealing with the authorities, by either bribery or murder. [22]
Roberto Escobar maintains Pablo fell into the drug business simply because other types of
contraband became too dangerous to traffic. As there were no drug cartels then, and only a few drug
barons, Pablo saw it as untapped territory he wished to make his own. In Peru, Pablo would buy the
cocaine paste, which would then be refined in a laboratory in a two-story house in Medellín. On his
first trip, Pablo bought a paltry 30 pounds (14 kg) of paste in what was noted as the first step
towards building his empire. At first, he smuggled the cocaine in old plane tires, and a pilot could
return as much as US$500,000 per flight, dependent on the quantity smuggled. [23]

You might also like