Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down", delivers a tour de force account of the notorious leader of the Medellin drug cartel, Pablo Escobar. His sharp account details the rise of Escobar by examining the economic, political and social conditions underlying the sharp rise in cocaine production (and that of the rival Cali cartel) during the 1980s. Bowden details the deep involvement of the US in the attempted crackdown on drug shipments as cocaine, and then crack, consumption in the US soared.



Escobar was a terrorist of the first order and the fear he sowed within Columbia through the brutal tactics that eliminated of enemies in the drug trade, those in the government, police, military and judiciary and even those in his inner circle whom he believed had betrayed him. The extravagance and sophistication of his operations that at one point made him one of the richest people in the world allowed him to buy off any obstacle in such an impoverished nation and engender loyalty among the masses because he used his dirty money to build infrastructure to provide schools, clean water and the like that the government had not proved capable of doing.



The mass corruption his cartel undertook is staggering and the control and fear exerted on Columbian society is mind boggling to consider. Escobar's original capture was done on his terms and his jail was lavishly built and run by his cronies so he could run his empire in luxury and surrounded by his closest confidants.



The final part of the book tracks the epic manhunt for Escobar by the Columbian military with strong clandestine and technological support from the US that culminated in the epic showdown and hail of gunfire that brought down the terrorist that traumatized Columbian society through the most pernicious, traumatic and violent means.