Organized Crime
Organized crime is a critical threat to the security of the citizens since it is a violation of human rights as well as undermining social development. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, organized crime is an illegal activity which is controlled or executed by a group of people which has organized structure and functions (US Federal Bureau of Investigations, nd).
Their main goal is to acquire money using illegal activities. Some of the illegal activities which are common to transnational organized crime includes drug trafficking, human trafficking and selling illegal firearms (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, nd). Most of the organized crime groups maintain their power through the use of violence and bribing corrupt government officials, police and even justice sector. Organized crime groups are often influential to a certain area or nation.
How does this definition apply to Pablo Escobar?
Pablo Escobar is known to be the wealthiest criminal in history having a net worth of $30 Billion. He is a drug lord from Columbia and is known to conduct trafficking of cocaine to other countries. The definition of organized crime apply to Pablo Escobar since he developed his own group which conducts operations regarding cocaine trafficking.
Escobar acquired his wealth through cocaine operations and acquired his influence through killing anyone who opposes him. He entered the Mendellin Drug Cartel which is a notorious organized crime group in 1970s. He became the leader of the organized crime group together with his brother Roberto Escobar. He also controlled the cocaine operations for two decades (Bowley, 2013).
Social Atmosphere and its contribution to Pablo Escobar’s ‘outlaw’ sense of social justice
Pablo Escobar as well as his brother Roberto Escobar was raised in Rionegro, Columbia. One of the factors that contribute to the ‘outlaw’ sense of social justice to Pablo Escobar was the social atmosphere of in the streets of Mendellin. Mendellin is considered as one of the major places of organized crime groups in the 1970s (Bowley, 2013). Most of them became famous to the citizens of Mendellin.
The formation of organized crime groups resulted to the increase cases of petty crimes for minors. Crime such as stealing and use of illegal drugs became common to the streets. Pablo Escobar was raised in a place where he could witness crimes. Pablo Escobar has been involved to crimes in the street at the early age such as stealing cars and selling illegal drugs (Bowden, 2002).
What did Pablo Escobar Really do?
Pablo Escobar was coined by his brother as a ‘Modern Day Robin Hood’. This was due to his helping the poor people in the municipality in which he grew up (Bowden, 2002). He built low-cost houses for them and provides them some of their necessities. However, what Pablo Escobar was really doing is he lead an organized crime group which mainly conduct cocaine trafficking. He led the Mandellin drug Cartel which controlled almost 80% of the cocaine which was delivered to the United States as well as to the other neighboring countries (Bowley, 2013). He is known to have ships, planes and even submarine which are used to smuggle large amounts of cocaine to neighboring countries every day.
Point of signing his death warrant with the DEA/CIA
The United States has been fighting against drugs using military combat until they realized the implications of political instability in Columbia (Becker, 2013). The Federal Bureau of Investigation has caught large shipments of cocaine at their Harbors and they have found out that it came from Columbia. It was the time of President Ronald Reagan when the government of the United States found out about the Mendellin drug cartel.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency has been investigating the activities of Pablo Escobar since then. Pablo Escobar signed his death warrant with the DEA/CIA when he testify and surrender all his illegal activities to the government of Columbia in order to reduce the sentence from his crimes.
How did DEA/CIA gather intelligence about Escobar’s weaknesses?
In 1992, the United States form teams for the manhunt for Pablo Escobar after his escaped in the La Catedral Prison (Bowley, 2013). The US Drug Enforcement Agency as well as the Central Intelligence Agency gathered intelligence about the weaknesses of Pablo Escobar through sharing of intelligence with Escobar’s enemies such as group called Los Pepes which means “People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar”. The DEA together with the CIA found out the weaknesses of Pablo Escobar through coordination with one of the leaders of the Los Pepes which happens to be a former associate of the Mendellin Drug Cartel (Becker, 2013).
Weaknesses of Pablo Escobar that makes him to have unstable decisions
One of the main weaknesses that pushed Pablo Escobar to make unstable decisions which resulted to his downfall was his family. He loved his family and he wanted to protect them from the Los Pepes and his other enemies. His wife and his son are planning to escape to London after the escape of Escobar to prison. His decisions became unstable because of his family which was under surveillance by the CIA and the DEA which was tasked to manhunt him (Kalan, 2009). However, Pablo Escobar made numerous calls to his son which made the police found where he is hiding. The Columbian police located the signal of the calls and Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993 (Kalan, 2009).
References
Becker, S. (2013). The Effects of the Drug Cartels in Mendellin and the Colombian State. Braindeis University. Retrieved from https://bir.brandeis.edu/bitstream/handle/10192/25053/BeckerThesis2013.pdf?sequence=1.
Bowden, M. (2002). Killing Pablo. New York: Penguin Books
Bowley, J. (2013). Robin Hood or Villain: The Social Constructions of Pablo Escobar. Honors College. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1108&context=honors
Kalan, H. (2009). Dangerous Drug Lords: Pablo Escobar. Retrieved from http://www.mensxp.com/health/addiction/10325-dangerous-drug-lords-pablo-escobar.html
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (nd). Organized Crime. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/organized-crime/index.html.
US Federal Bureau of Investigations. (nd). Glossary of Terms. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/glossary.
