Story:
Drug lord Pablo Escobar had so much cash that rats ate almost $1 billion of his money each year.
Analysis:
The message claims that the famous Drug lord Pablo Escobar had so much wealth in cash that rats used to eat almost $1 billion of his money every year. It is possibly a fact.
About Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist and a cocaine trafficker who was extremely rich. He started with petty street scams, and after entering the drug trade, he collaborated with other criminals and formed the famous Medellin Cartel – an organized network of drug suppliers and smugglers originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia.
The Medellin Drug Cartel operated in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, Canada, as well as the United States and Europe, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. There was a time when the Medellín cartel was smuggling 15 tons of cocaine a day into the United States – worth more than half a billion dollars, and controlled 80% of the global cocaine market. This is how Pablo Escobar became the most famous drug lord in history, also becoming one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Riches of Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Drug Cartel earned enormous wealth within a few years. According to reports, Roberto used to have ten accountants to keep a track of all the money, while only he and his brother Pablo knew where it was stashed and what it bought. Roberto talks about this experience in a book called ‘The Accountant’s Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel‘, which is written along with David Fisher (co-author).
According to Roberto, the amounts of money earned through the drug business were staggering, to the extent that it used to cost them $2,500 every month only to buy rubber bands for wrapping the stacks of cash. The biggest problem was of course to find a place to store all the illegal money; they used to hide it in secret compartments inside walls, beneath the swimming pools and warehouses. Roberto also writes that there was so much money that he would sometimes write off 10% as “spoilage,” which meant either rats had chewed up the bills, or dampness had ruined the cash.
To estimate exactly how much of money is wasted like this because of rats would be difficult – considering the fact that the wealth of the drug lord Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Cartel is illegal and not disclosed correctly. In 1989, Forbes magazine ranked Pablo among 227 billionaires in the world, estimating his personal net worth close to US $3 billion. Then, according to an article of Celebrity Networth in 2012, Pablo Escobar’s estimated networth was $30 Billion. So considering these available estimates of his wealth, and the 10% spoilage mentioned by his brother, it is possible that the famous drug lord Pablo Escobar had so much wealth that rats used to eat (spoilage) almost $1 billion of his money each year.
Nevertheless, like it happens with any criminal of his kind, Pablo Escobar was killed on December 2, 1993, after being hunted down by Colombian and U.S. government forces.
Hoax or Fact:
Possibly Fact.
References:
Pablo Escobar – Rise to Power
The 20 Richest Drug Dealers of All Time
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