When you type the name into a search engine, the results are a dizzying contradiction. You will see mugshots of a stocky, mustachioed man next to photos of him smiling with his family. You will read about a folk hero who built hospitals for the poor and a terrorist who blew up commercial airliners. You will find luxury mansions in the hills of Medellín and crumbling graves in a cemetery.
However, Escobar possessed a sharp mind for logistics and organization. In the early 1970s, he became involved in the nascent cocaine trade. At the time, the drug was largely a niche product in the United States. Escobar saw the potential for an industrial-scale operation. He began working for various smugglers, moving contraband, and eventually realized that the real money wasn't in transporting the product, but in controlling the supply chain. pablo escobar
