Pablo Escobar was born on December 1, 1949, in Rionegro, Colombia, and grew up in Medellín. He began his criminal career in the early 1970s, engaging in petty crime and smuggling. Escobar quickly rose to prominence by establishing the Medellín Cartel, one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in history. The cartel was responsible for smuggling vast quantities of cocaine into the United States and other countries.
