Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

AP/Press Association Images
medellín

Legendary drug lord Pablo Escobar lost $2.1 billion in cash each year — and it didn't matter

He was earning $420 million every week.

AT THE PEAK of his power, infamous Medellín cartel boss Pablo Escobar brought in an estimated $420 million a week in revenue, easily making him one of the wealthiest drug lords in history.

Escobar, known as the “king of cocaine,” saw his wealth grow so immense that he stashed piles of cash in Colombian farming fields, dilapidated warehouses, and in the walls of cartel members’ homes, according to Roberto Escobar, the cartel’s chief accountant and the kingpin’s brother, in his book, “The Accountant’s Story: Inside the violent world of the Medellín cartel.”

Pablo was earning so much that each year we would write off 10% of the money because the rats would eat it in storage or it would be damaged by water or lost.

That would be about $2.1 billion, given how much money he was reportedly making.

Escobar simply had more money than he knew to do with, and therefore haphazardly losing money to rodents and mold wasn’t an issue.

In a 2009 interview with Don Juan magazine, Escobar’s only son, Juan Pablo Escobar — who has since changed his name to Sebastian Marroqui­n — claimed that his father once torched $2 million in crisp banknotes in order to keep his family warm while they were on the run.

While hiding or destroying the exorbitant amount of money was one issue, the brothers faced another much more elementary problem — neatly organizing the banknotes.

According to Roberto Escobar, the cartel spent an estimated $2,500 a month on rubber bands needed to hold stacks of bills together.

At the height of his power, Pablo Escobar’s cartel supplied 80% of the world’s cocaine and smuggled 15 tons of cocaine into the US per day.

Read: 10-year-old’s bomb threat shuts down airport

Read: Football in Colombia: what happened next when the drug money dried up?

Published with permission from
Business Insider
Your Voice
Readers Comments
59
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.