Pablo Escobar, king of the Medellin Cartel in Columbia, was the world's richest cocaine baron, with an estimated personal fortune of $5 billion. His forces of hit men became small armies, he had a payroll of judges, politicians, generals and presidents. But Escobar was a wanted man, and nothing could prevent his assassination at the hands of the Columbian police in December 1993. This work paints a complex picture of a man who, although totally ruthless in business, firmly believed that he was working for the good of his country, twice offering to pay off its national debt. Using Escobar's life as a lens through which to focus on the cocaine trade in general, this work examines the corruption behind the legimitate facades of governmental and financial institutions both in columbia and the West.