Blow

In the end, it was the Colombians who got him in December, 1993.

Using a system to trace Escobar’s cell phone (which he constantly used to talk with his family, especially his son Juan Pablo), Lt. Hugo Martinez, Jr. tracked the world’s most wanted fugitive to a Medellin house. Escobar immediately knew he’d been spotted.

Jumping from his window to an adjacent roof, the escaping kingpin was preceded by his bodyguard who was killed first. Wearing jeans and a dark blue shirt, Escobar was shot next. He died on the rooftop.

Both the Colombians and Americans were jubilant. Immediately after his death, authorities made videos of his palatial estate with its children’s zoo.

Mark Bowden, in his new book Killing Pablo, documents what happened as Escobar lived his final year. He reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed both Colombians and Americans to piece together the final, bloody moments.