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Gustavo's Death

Gustavo Gaviria was Pablo Escobar’s cousin and right hand man. He died at the hands of the Colombian authorities or Elite Corp, as they were called at the time before they became the Search Bloc. It happened during a raid of one of the cartel’s luxury apartments. There is no known love affair between Gustavo and Marta Ochoa, so we sprinkled that in for more drama. Gustavo just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and died at the police shootout, although Escobar always believed otherwise. Given the state Gaviria was found in, it is believed he was captured and tortured by police before being shot in order to cover it up. A heartbroken Pablo couldn’t attend Gustavo’s funeral and had to listen to it on the radio.

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The Blow Must Go On

Javier Peña did indeed have to fly to Miami during the days in which Escobar was killed, but it wasn't to be investigated for his involvement with Los Pepes. As mentioned before, Peña represents all of the corrupt officers that aided them. Peña flew to Miami on a tip that Escobar had fled to the Magic City so he was there with intentions of hunting him down. But soon after the news of Escobar's death, the focus was shifted towards an even more powerful monster: the Cali Cartel.

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A Cursed Family

The luxurious lifestyle Pablo's family lived when he was their leader was flipped upside down into a miserable nightmare. Tata and her two children fled Colombia after having to hand all their money and assets to the Colombian authorities. They jumped around a couple countries until Argentina finally brokered a deal to grant them asylum, but their identities would eventually come out and make it even harder for them to survive. In 2000, Tata and her son Juan Pablo were arrested on money laundering charges. Juan Pablo later came out with a documentary in 2008 called Sins Of My Father in which he tries to ask for forgiveness from the political candidates that his father assassinated.

To discover more about his cursed family click here.

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Mourning The Loss

Pablo's death was met with mixed emotions for the Colombian community. As with most things in life, it's all about perspective. For the people terrorized by Escobar, his death came as a relief. For those that lived in Barrio Escobar or were given money by Pablo to live out their dreams, they mourned extensively. During his funeral, people surrounded his casket and took turns opening it to see the drug lord one last time. To this day, his grave is filled with flowers and people crying over him

To read a NY Times article about how Pablo was buried as a Folk Hero click here.

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Other Escobar Death Theories

We give a slight nod to Los Pepes and Don Berna as Murphy walks away from the scene of the crime. There are tons of DEA documents that show the connection between their cooperation with the U.S. intelligence agencies. Accounts from former Pepes members claim that Los Pepes got to the scene first using Israeli equipment provided by the CIA. They said it was Carlos Castaño himself who killed Escobar, but was told to flee the scene before the reporters arrived so it could appear to be a victory for the Colombian Police. Another version from Don Berna claims that it was his brother Rodolfo who shot Escobar down with an M-16, which would explain the accuracy. A 2003 confession from a former Pepes member corroborates this story claiming Hugo Aguilar arrived minutes later after the shooting and asked them to not be anywhere in sight of the media. Others claim that without the funding and help from the Cali Cartel that neither Los Pepes or the Search Bloc would have had the resources to hunt Escobar down. All version are of course denied as true by the Colombian National Police.

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The Photo Seen Round The World

A photographer was present after Escobar had been killed and members of the Search Bloc posed with Pablo's dead body as if he was a trophy. After all, it was a hunt and this was their wild animal. Steve Murphy arrived at the scene of the crime moments after Escobar's death. He wasn't involved in the raid as portrayed in this episode, but he was close to the violence. When he arrived, he took a photo holding Escobar's fatally wounded corpse up with a big smile. That photo would make headlines across Colombia because it suggested the Americans were responsible for killing Escobar and not the Colombian National Police. It blew over though. Most people were happy this nightmare was over. That picture still hangs in the office of many politicians in Washington as a symbol of an operation well executed.

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Search Bloc Celebrates

The Colombian National Police and Search Bloc celebrated in a big way after killing the man they hunted down for years. They started by shaving his moustache to look like Hitler. Then they passed around a bottle of whiskey around and started taking swigs from the bottle. Colonel Martinez however was not the type to celebrate. After all, this was a murder. He told everyone to clear out, but that night there were plenty of Cuban cigars being lit and bottles being drank.

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The Escobar Suicide Theory

Some family members refuse to believe that Pablo was killed by Search Bloc. His son, Juan Pablo Escobar Henao (who has changed his name to Sebastián Marroquín) has insisted that his father took his own life. In his book, “Pablo Escobar: My Father”, he claims his father told him numerous times that he would shoot himself in the right ear to avoid being captured alive. “My father always told us that the phone was synonymous with death because they could trace it easily and the day he died, he called us so many times it makes me think he wanted the police to come. It’s a way to commit suicide.

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Pablo Dies

Pablo was completely surrounded on that roof by Search Bloc members and was firing back with two pistols. He was shot once in the leg and another in the chest. The source of the third and final shot behind the ear is hot debated to this day. The most widely accepted is the one depicted in this scene. Search Bloc member Hugo Aguilar walked right up to Escobar and gave him the kill shot from close range. The autopsy report verifies that unless there was an incredible amount of marksmanship or luck, Pablo was indeeed shot after being down. After killing Pablo, he screamed into the radio transmitter, "Viva Colombia! We just killed Pablo Escobar!" The entire final death scene was recreated exactly how it happened on that day with painstaking detail.

To see a side-by-side picture comparison of our episode and real photos from that day click here.

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Squeeze My Lemon

When life gives you Limón, shoot him down. Search Bloc stormed in, there was no one on the first floor. The group of men went up the stairs where they saw Limón leaping out of the window onto an orange tile roof. One Search Bloc member had climbed up to the roof of another house for a better vantage point and that's when they shot Limón down. He fell instantly off the roof and onto the grass below.

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Open Up

Pablo and his bodyguard Limón were the only ones in the apartment at the time. His aunt and another cook went out to get food to make that night. Who knew a grocery run would save their life.

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Good Listener

After initially raiding the wrong location in Los Olivos, Hugo realized his mistake and moved to the right location. Miraculously, he looked out of the van and saw Pablo talking on the phone from the window. He was actually talking to his son Juan Pablo and not Tata during his last phone call although the content of the call were just as portrayed in the episode. Juan Pablo had a list of about forty questions from a journalist that Escobar was answering for him. He was trying to leverage the media one last time to get the government to meet his demands for surrender. Hugo called Colonel Martinez with full confirmation. This was not a drill. He was told to wait for backup before moving in.

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Like Father Like Son

Colonel Martinez's son Hugo was the expert as using the technology that pinpointed Escobar's location based on his radio frequency. It was 1993. No smartphones. No check-ins. This was an art and Hugo Martinez was the man although, the Search Bloc didn't feel that way. For over a year, there were many failed attempts at finding Escobar. Most of the police felt that Hugo was a joke and his location gadgets were useless. In fact, they started making fun of him to the point where his father assigned him back to being with a small crew in an unmarked white van driving the streets and listening for signals. Hugo's father was convinced the technology was the only way to catch Escobar so in an effort to give his son some confidence he sent him on a mission to listen in on another drug dealer, Juan Camilo Zapata. He was flamboyant and talked on the phone frequently. He didn't think he would have someone listening in with the Pablo hunt going on so catching him was relatively easy, but it was the confidence Hugo needed to continue. Shortly after that, Colonel Martinez's son was able to trace the calls Pablo was having with his own son. In the end, the hunt for Pablo came down to the children of the Search Bloc leader and drug kingpin.

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Eavesdropping

Search Bloc and Centra Spike were listening to more and more of Escobar's conversations. He was talking at length with his family. Every phone call was like a drill that Search Bloc used to hone their skill. They knew Pablo used a range of about 20 frequencies on his radio transmitter and he often times switched frequencies to keep the cops guessing, but he was getting sloppy. They basically heard his entire birthday conversation with Tata and pinned him to a town in Medellin called Los Olivos. The hunt was back on again.

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Blow Out The Candles

On December 1, 1993 Escobar celebrated his 44th birthday with a joint, a birthday cake and wine. He took the luxury of speaking on the phone with his family for longer that day. Pablo in general started violating his own rules for call length. His loneliness was getting to him and the call times allowed for Search Bloc to start zeroing in on his location. He woke up the next day around noon and called his wife to tell her he had a killer hangover. He then poured himself into a bowl of spaghetti. Pablo gained over 20 pounds during his time on the run because being on the run is kind of a misnomer. He mostly sat and slept and occassionally hired young prostitutes for company. Running was low on his list of priorities.

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No Money Mo Problems

During Pablo's last days, he really did only have one last friend. Alvaro 'El Limón' de Jesus Agudelo was his bodyguard and confidant after literally every sicario was killed by the police. We know that Pablo's money was going rotten. He lost about $2 million a year due to water damage or rats eating the bills.

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Degrieff's Blackmail

Gustavo De Grieff was very interested in arranging Escobar's surrender but the noose was tightening. He told Juan Pablo, Escobar's son, that if his father didn't surrender by November 26, then the protection on his family would be withdrawn and they would be treated like regular citizens. Juan Pablo was 17 at the time and not 10 as portrayed on the series. He was very much involved in the day-to-day decisions that went on with his family as he became the man of the house in a sense with his father in hiding. His father however wanted too many things before surrendering including getting his family out of the country, but to also allow 21 family visits a year. No way he was getting that.