Claim: Pablo Escobar used to smuggle.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria -LRB- -LSB- ˈpaβ̞lo eˈmiljo eskoˈβ̞aɾ ɣ̞aˈβ̞iɾja -RSB- ; 1 December 19492 December 1993 -RRB- was a Colombian drug lord and narco-terrorist . His cartel supplied an estimated 80 % of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career , turning over US $ 21.9 billion a year in personal income . He was often called `` The King of Cocaine '' and was the wealthiest criminal in history , with an estimated known net worth of US $ 30 billion by the early 1990s -LRB- equivalent to about $ billion as of -RRB- , making him one of the richest men in the world at his prime .   Escobar was born in Rionegro , Colombia and grew up in nearby Medellín . He studied briefly at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana of Medellin but left without a degree ; he began to engage in criminal activity that involved selling contraband cigarettes and fake lottery tickets , and he participated in motor vehicle theft . In the 1970s , he began to work for various contraband smugglers , often kidnapping and holding people for ransom before beginning to distribute powder cocaine himself , as well as establishing the first smuggling routes into the United States in 1975 . His infiltration to the drug market of the U.S. expanded exponentially due to the rising demand for cocaine and , by the 1980s , it was estimated that 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the U.S. on a monthly basis . His drug network was commonly known as the Medellín Cartel , which often competed with rival cartels domestically and abroad , resulting in massacres and the murders of police officers , judges , locals , and prominent politicians .   In 1982 , Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia as part of the Liberal Alternative movement . Through this , he was responsible for the construction of houses and football fields in western Colombia , which gained him notable popularity among the locals of the towns that he frequented . However , Colombia became the murder capital of the world , and Escobar was vilified by the Colombian and American governments . In 1993 , Escobar was shot and killed in his hometown by Colombian National Police , one day after his 44th birthday .