Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria 

NET WORTH : $30 billion (1993 estimate; equivalent to $59 billion as of 2019)

was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Carte.

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the wealthiest criminal in history once responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine entering the U.S., was also believed to be the force behind the siege on Colombia’s Supreme Court on November 6, 1985.  The assault marks one of the deadliest conflicts between the Colombian government and revolutionary groups. By the end of the operation, 12 Supreme Court Justices had been killed, along with 48 Colombian soldiers. 35 members of the M-19 guerilla group and their leader also died; in total, over 100 lives were lost.

Escobar’s reach extended to government and politics, with his famous saying “plata o plomo” (silver or lead) when dealing with politicians and police: those who would not accept bribes would be eliminated. Escobar and the Medellin Cartel allegedly provided $2 million to the M-19 rebels to finance the siege. A class of assassins had developed in Colombia. They are called sicarios (hired assassins) in Spanish. These are kids, often street kids who were basically brought up in small gangs where they learned how to kill people. They were tested by being given a gun. They would go out and get on a motorcycle, ride up behind somebody, put their gun as near as they could to the back of someone’s head or the rear window of the car, and blast away. Or they would do that when the car was stopped at a light. If the car is not armored or does not have some armor plate, that’s goodbye to the victim. That’s the end of it.

Medellin had basically gone over to the narcotics traffickers. Ambassador Tom Boyatt [Ambassador to Colombia from 1980-1983] had closed our Consulates in Medellin and Cali. One of the arguments was that it was no longer safe

 to have U.S. Consulates in Medellin or Cali because the drug traffickers were so strong there. During the three years that I was in Colombia, I made two trips to Medellin but did not spend the night there. It wasn’t considered saFE.

The journalist stated that Escobar had financed the operation, which was committed by M-19; but she blamed the army for the killings of more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court magistrates, M-19 members, and employees of the cafeteria