Pablo Escobar was a drug smuggler.
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria ( [ ˈpaβ̞lo eˈmiljo eskoˈβ̞aɾ ɣ̞aˈβ̞iɾja ] ; 1 December 19492 December 1993 ) was a Colombian drug lord and narco-terrorist . His cartel supplied an estimated 80 % of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career , turning over US $ 21.9 billion a year in personal income . His infiltration to the drug market of the U.S. expanded exponentially due to the rising demand for cocaine and , by the 1980s , it was estimated that 70 to 80 tons of cocaine were being shipped from Colombia to the U.S. on a monthly basis .