The most infamous cocaine kingpin of all time is getting his own TV show.
On Monday night, “Escobar, el Patron del Mal” (“Escobar, The Boss of Evil”) aired it's first episode on Canal Caracol in Colombia.
The show, which centers on the life of Pablo Escobar (Colombia's notorious drug baron) is based on the book “La Parábola de Pablo”, written by Alfonso Salazar, Medellín’s former mayor. From his horrid crimes to his extravagant life, the 63-episode series recounts the life of Escobar and his reign over the Colombian drug trade in the 1980s and early '90s.
As the boss of El Cartel de Medellín, the drug baron and leader of was reportedly responsible for more than 4,000 deaths.
One of the richest criminals of all time, Escobar had an estimated fortune of 9 billion dollars at the time of his death in 1993.
The show is written by Camilo Cano and Juana Uribe who suffered the drug lord's violence first-hand as they were the children of Escobar's victims.
Scriptwriter Cano is the son of Guillermo Cano, former editor of El Espectador, a Colombian daily newspaper, who was murdered in 1986 by order of the drug lord. Escobar also bombed the offices of El Espectador in September of 1989.
Juana Uribe is the niece of Luis Carlos Galan, a liberal politician who declared himself an adamant opponent of the "Cartel de Medellin", the organized network of drug smugglers and suppliers led by Escobar. Galan was murdered in 1989 while he campaigned for presidency by order of Escobar.
"The world knows his story and each one of us, directly or indirectly, has been reached by his shadow," the show's trailer says of the late drug lord.
As the boss one of the world's most powerful criminal organization, Escobar is known for some of the most sanguinary crimes in Colombian history, including the bombing of an Avianca local flight which left 109 dead, a bomb in el DAS (Colombia's Administrative Department of Security) which left 70 victims and over 45 car bombs throughout the country.
Escobar was killed in 1993 by policemen who shot him on the roof of a house where he was hiding in Medellín.
"Modern generations don't know who Pablo Escobar was, a person who permeated the life of Colombians for 20 years," Uribe told Efe according to Fox News Latino.
"Escobar, The Boss of Evil" is produced by the Colombian national television network, Canal Caracol. Over 1,300 actors and actresses participated in the series which was shot in 500 different locations including Miami, Bogota and Medellín. The total cost of the production was over $300 million Colombian pesos, making it the most expensive show to ever be produced on Canal Caracol.
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