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50 free Pablo Escobar trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Pablo Escobar trivia covers a man who was, at once, a tombstone thief, an alternate congressman, a Robin Hood to Medellín's poor, the owner of a private zoo and bullring, and a narcoterrorist who blew up an airliner and put bounties on police. At his death he was worth an estimated $30 billion, and 25,000 people came to his funeral. This quiz follows the whole arc: Rionegro and the forged diploma, the 1976 arrest with 39 kilos in a spare tyre, the founding of the Medellín Cartel, Carlos Lehder and Norman's Cay, 'plata o plomo', the 1982 seat in Congress and the expulsion by Luis Carlos Galán, the Lara Bonilla and Galán assassinations, Avianca 203, Los Extraditables and the Palace of Justice, the surrender deal with César Gaviria and the jacuzzi prison La Catedral, the 1992 escape, the Search Bloc and the rooftop shootout on 2 December 1993. It also covers Virginia Vallejo, María Victoria Henao's exile in Argentina, the Miami Beach mansion, the cocaine hippos, the 2019 demolition of the Edificio Mónaco, and Wagner Moura, Javier Bardem and Narcos. Easy questions suit anyone who has watched the series; the expert tier is for people who know the ransom paid for Diego Echavarría. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on Escobar, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Escobar was the founder and leader of which trafficking organisation?
The Medellín Cartel
By the 1980s it was shipping an estimated 70 to 80 tons of cocaine a month into the United States.
Q 02By what nickname was Escobar widely known?
The King of Cocaine
He monopolised the cocaine trade into the US through the 1980s.
Q 03In which town in Antioquia was Escobar born in December 1949?
Rionegro
He was the third of seven children and grew up in poverty in neighbouring Medellín.
Q 04What was Escobar's estimated net worth by the time of his death?
US$30 billion
That made him one of the wealthiest conventional criminals in history.
Q 05What did the teenage Escobar and his gang steal, sandblast and resell to start his criminal career?
Tombstones
He also sold illegal cigarettes and fake lottery tickets, and later claimed his fortune began with a bicycle rental firm.
Q 06What did Escobar forge in order to enrol briefly at university?
A high school diploma
He wanted to be a criminal lawyer, then a politician, then president, but ran out of money.
Q 07Escobar kidnap victim Diego Echavarría was killed in 1971 after his family paid what ransom?
$50,000
Escobar's gang sometimes tore up ransom notes even after being paid.
Q 08When the DAS arrested Escobar in May 1976, where did agents find 39 kg of cocaine?
In his car's spare tyre
He got the first judge changed, bribed the second, and the arresting agent was murdered the following year.
Q 09Escobar's policy of bribing officials or killing those who refused was known by what phrase?
'Silver or lead'
In Spanish, 'plata o plomo': money or death.
Q 10Which cartel co-founder developed the Bahamas trans-shipment island Norman's Cay with Escobar?
Carlos Lehder
The island had an airstrip and a refrigerated warehouse for cocaine and was the main route from 1978 to 1982.
Q 11What was the name of Escobar's estate in Antioquia, complete with a zoo and private bullring?
Hacienda Nápoles
It has since been turned into a theme park ringed by luxury hotels.
Q 12In 1982 Escobar was elected as an alternate member of Congress under which political banner?
The Liberals
The seat gave him parliamentary immunity and a diplomatic passport.
Q 13Because of his housing projects and football pitches for the poor, Escobar was nicknamed what?
'Paisa Robin Hood'
Some in the city still pray to him for divine help.
Q 21Which guerrilla group carried out the 1985 Palace of Justice siege that Escobar is said to have financed?
M-19
Ninety-eight people died, including nearly half of the Supreme Court's justices.
Q 22In what year did Escobar escape as the government tried to move him to a normal jail?
1992
His influence let him learn of the plan in advance; he spent the rest of his life on the run.
Q 23Escobar was killed on 2 December 1993, the day after which birthday?
His 44th
He was shot on a rooftop trying to flee, hit in the torso, feet and head; whether the final shot was his own is still debated.
Q 14Which justice minister accused Escobar of criminality in Congress and was murdered in 1984?
Rodrigo Lara Bonilla
Escobar had announced his retirement from politics three months earlier.
Q 15Which Liberal leader expelled Escobar from the party, and was assassinated on his orders in August 1989?
Luis Carlos Galán
Escobar held the grudge for years; the man's sons were later approached by Escobar's own son seeking forgiveness.
Q 16Which airline's Flight 203 did Escobar bomb in 1989, killing all 107 aboard?
Avianca
The target had missed the flight; two Americans died, prompting direct US intervention.
Q 17Which future Colombian president, the airliner bombing's target, later negotiated Escobar's surrender?
César Gaviria
The deal gave Escobar a reduced sentence and a prison of his own design.
Q 18What was the name of the luxurious prison Escobar built for himself after surrendering in 1991?
La Catedral
It had a football pitch, a giant dollhouse, a bar, a jacuzzi and a waterfall.
Q 19What did the new national Constitution of 1991 prohibit, shortly before Escobar gave himself up?
Extradition of Colombian citizens
Escobar and other drug lords were suspected of influencing the Constituent Assembly.
Q 20What was the name of the group Escobar founded to fight the extradition treaty with the United States?
Los Extraditables
In 1986 the Supreme Court declared the treaty illegal on a technicality, but the next president promptly renewed it.
Q 24How did the police locate Escobar on the day he died?
Tracing a phone call to his family
US-supplied technology traced the call to a house in a middle-class part of Medellín.
Q 25Which rival organisation dominated the cocaine market after Escobar's death?
The Cali Cartel
Its leaders were killed or captured by the mid-1990s; it also extracted millions from Escobar's widow as reparations.
Q 26Roughly how many people attended Escobar's funeral?
Over 25,000
He was buried at Monte Sacro Cemetery and exhumed in 2006 for a paternity DNA test.
Q 27How old was María Victoria Henao when the 26-year-old Escobar married her in 1976?
15
Her family thought him socially inferior, so the pair eloped.
Q 28In which country did Escobar's widow and children eventually settle under assumed names?
Argentina
They passed through Mozambique and Brazil first; his son now writes as Sebastián Marroquín.
Q 29Which anchorwoman, Escobar's lover from 1983 to 1987, wrote Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar?
Virginia Vallejo
Her testimony helped reopen the Galán assassination case and inspired a 2017 film with Penélope Cruz.
Q 30How many hippos did Escobar keep at his estate, the ancestors of Colombia's wild herd?
Four
By 2014 there were 40 around Puerto Triunfo, and in 2021 the government began chemically sterilising them.