Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw Reviews

• Intriguing, but full of holes

  
  By A1MS3NGW49TR91 on 2001-06-24
  This is an interesting text, the first book-length approach to the greatest Colombian criminal in history. As a Colombian, I am impressed by the amount of information of which I was heretofore unaware. If only it were true...

  In reality the book is full of mistakes, some of which would have been quite easy to detect and fix. These are just a few I found in a quick reading:

  (1) Simon Bolivar did not try to join Colombia with Peru and Venezuela to form the "Gran Colombia" (p. 16)(the "Gran Colombia" included Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela); (2) The Rojas Pinilla dictatorship did not last five years (p. 18) (it lasted four years:1953-1957); (3) Carlos Lehder and Jose Rodriguez Gacha were not "Antioquia Crime Bosses" (p. 29) (Lehder was from Quindio and Rodriguez was from Cundinamarca); (4) President Alfonso Lopez Michelsen was not a founder of the Liberal Party (p. 62) (the Liberal Party dates back to mid-nineteenth century and thus could not have been founded by President Lopez Michelsen, who is still alive); (5) President Cesar Gaviria Trujillo was never part of Bogota's elite (p. 122) (Gaviria comes from an upper-middle class family in the provincial town of Pereira); (6) Marina Montoya was not a slender woman (p. 127) (Miss Montoya was a heavy-set woman); (7) Father Garcia Herreros was not named Fernando (p. 130) (his name was Gabriel); (8) The "Procuraduria General de la Nacion" is not "a kind of internal-affairs unit for the government" (p. 189) (the Procurador General is a constitutional level state official appointed by Congress and not part of the government); (9) The government owned radio and television station is not called Intravision (it's named Inravision); (10) Natives of Medellin are not called Medellinos (p. 280) (they are called medellinenses or just paisas).

  The book is full of mistakes in names and dates as well (we do like our names to be properly spelled, if it's not too much trouble), and it relies altogether too much on a self-serving account published by Escobar's cousin, Roberto. The author's lack of familiarity with Colombian history and language is obvious, and pervasive. This makes it a bit hard to trust some of the more sensational revelations.

  As semi-fiction it's quite fun, though.
  
  

• Explosive!

  
  By A19O103MOTG4GU on 2001-05-03
  Killing Pablo is a hard-hitting book that truly represents the brutal reality of the war in Colombia. As a Special Forces Master Sergeant with multiple tours in Colombia I can honestly say that Mark Bowden has done a masterful job of encapsulating this conflagration by describing the events that led to the rise and fall of one of its most notorious figures-Pablo Escobar. Bowden starts off by giving a brief history of the war in Colombia, starting with La Violencia, and then of course the current Narco war that is currently consuming Colombia. The events are taken from various sources and Mr. Bowden does a superb job of describing, in detail, what lengths the US and Colombia went through to take down one of the largest criminal empires in history. The book ends with questions that we as American should be asking ourselves. Is it worth the effort - in the name of National Security- to selectively target foreign citizens for assassination? My conclusion is incomplete. However, I will say that the removal of Pablo Escobar was nothing more than a tactical victory in a war Colombia and the United States are losing strategically. This book is a must for Special Operations Soldiers, Latin American Historians, Law Enforcement Officers, and anyone who is involved in the policy decisions concerning the US war on drugs.
  
  

• A Serious Account of the Grim Realities of the Drug War

  
  By A27WFYW9ZJ5DN1 on 2001-05-30
  Bowden has done it again. This is not quite the work of genius that Black Hawk Down was but this is a very engrossing and serious account of a manhunt that came to symbolize many of the challenges we face in the drug war. Pablo Escobar was the richest and most powerful cocaine dealer in the world. He acquired pretensions to enter politics and turn Colombia into a personal fiefdom. The United States government allied with the Colombian government in what became a multi-year campaign that was far harder and far more dangerous than any one would have believed when it began.

  In the end Pablo was dead but the drug trade was as powerful and as profitable as ever. Its center of activity had moved from Medellin to Cali and the newer generation of drug lords had learned a lot from watching (and in fact participating in) the campaign against Pablo. In many ways the Cali cartel became the ally of the Colombian and American governments jointly seeking to get rid of Escobar.

  This book raises serious questions about the nature of American involvement in the third world. When combined with Black Hawk Down you get a realistic pair of assessments of the limitations of American power and the nature of the grim realities we are trying to change in much of the third world.

  This is a very helpful but sobering book for anyone interested in the drug war, in America's role in the world or in a recent skirmish with fascinating ramifications.
  
  

• Reveals US Sources & Methods, Weaknesses

  
  By A1S8AJIUIO6M9K on 2001-07-25
  

  I remember being shocked when a book published by a former prisoner of war revealed all of the CIA's sources and methods for secret writing--one reason terrorists and others make photo-copies of incoming and outgoing correspondence these days....

  This book provides an excellent overview of sensitive sources and methods used by the U.S. military to intercept and locate electronic transmissions. It specifically "blows" a cover company, two specific kinds of aircraft, and several U.S. Special Operations Forces standard operating procedures. I suspect that NSA and the CIA Centers dealing with terrorism and with crime and narcotics are having the same difficulties recovering from this book that NSA had when President Reagan inadvertently revealed in public that he was receiving transcripts of Politburo cell phone conversations made while in transit, from their car phones.

  Having said that, I find that the author has performed very responsibly as an investigative journalist, and that his story is superior in every respect. I even find that he has withheld some key information out of respect for his sources,and that there are many lessons to be learned from this book about how we might improve our transnational campaign against non-state forces that have vastly more money, ruthlessness, and sheer people power than we do.

  I like and recommend this book--it is a real-world story, well-researched and well-told.

  
  
  

• Informative, yet unfulfilling

  
  By A2EENLV6OQ3DYM on 2001-05-16
  For a straight journalistic account of how the U.S. Government joined forces with elements of the Colombian government to hunt down and kill Pablo Escobar, "Killing Pablo" brings the goods. The years long pursuit of the man many considered to be the world's most notorious outlaw was punctuated by epic corruption and fantastic levels of sickening violence. All of this author Mark Bowdon scrupulously documents. The problem with the book is that Bowden has no sources who were truly on the inside of Escobar's empire. This is not surprising given that most of his associates were killed. But without first hand accounts of many of the violent incidents, they become a blur of facts that eventually become mind numbing. By all accounts, Escobar was a cunning and ruthless man, but without first hand accounts, the reader really doesn't get to know him. As a result, Bowden's narrative tends to drag after awhile.

  Bowden does an excellent job of humanizing the men, both American and Colombian, who were reponsible for Escobar's downfall. But their stories are just not as interesting. Ultimately, at the end of the book Bowden shows just how futile the drug war has been to date. It would be nice to think that the book might help America rethink its drug startegy. But I think that's being overly optomistic.
  
  

• One of Summer's Better Reads
  By AFK948SCCAPK8 on 2001-05-20
  I purchased "Killing Pablo" solely on the strength of Mark Bowden's previous stellar work, "Black Hawk Down." While "Pablo" isn't quite up to the standard of "Black Hawk" (one of the best books I've read in the past five years), it is nevertheless an engaging read that is at once informative and entertaining.

  "Pablo" is Pablo Escobar, the ruthless Colombian drup kingpin who, by the late 1980s, had amassed one of the world's largest -- and certainly most illicit -- fortunes. Mr. Bowden recounts the story of how the notorious international narco-gangster was finally brought to heel by a combination of Colombian law enforcement agencies, the U.S. DEA and Army Delta Force (which provided critical training and surveillance technology), and importantly, Escobar's rivals in the cocaine cartel. The vigilante terrorism visited upon the infrastructure of Escobar's empire by his cocaine cartel rivals (equally as vicious as Pablo himself) -- with the tacit sanction of the Colombian government -- was the critical factor in the eventual tracking down and killing of Pablo following an off-and-on-again three-year manhunt.

  This book is included in the "Wall Street Journal's" review (Friday, May 18) of the better reads of the Summer of 2001. That judgment gets no quarrel from this reader.
  
  

• Well researched, good tale, poorly written
  By A3AUIB7QQVI4E2 on 2003-05-17
  Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo" is a very well researched law enforcement tale that makes for an enjoyable read. I use the term "law enforcement" loosely because Bowden's main thesis seems to be that the killing of Pablo Escobar was successful only because of the efforts of extralegal vigilante groups that terrorized Escobar's associates and who were helped--at least indirectly--by the U.S. military, DEA, and CIA. Also, capturing the fugitive Escobar was never an option, the understanding was that he would be killed when he was found.

  Bowden does a great job of outlining how deep U.S. involvement was in this affair. An incredible amount of money was spent by the U.S. on killing Escobar despite the fact they knew it wouldn't have any appreciable effect on the cocaine supply available to the States. The other subtext of the book is how corrupt and violent Colombia was, and likely still is. If you ever have a chance to interact with Colombians, you will no doubt find them to be the most cultured and worldly Latin Americans there are; it's sad that just below the surface their country is so lawless.

  Overall I would recommend the book. I would warn, however, that it is poorly written and certainly poorly edited. There are run-on sentences and many subject confusions that make you have to stop and re-read a paragraph to figure out who Bowden is talking about. If you're a stickler for good prose, it may drive you nuts.
  
  

• Just Ok
  By A2ORDVE96GL3Q7 on 2001-11-25
  Bowden's 1999 book, "Black Hawk Down", was a brilliant account of the battle in Somalia that killed eighteen American soldiers. He followed that book with this one, the story of the hunt for mega-narco-trafficker Pablo Escobar. "Killing Pablo" fails to measure up to the previous book.

  Pablo Escobar was the leader of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel, brutal and uncultured, he was responsible for literally thousands of murders including senior Colombian politicians, judges, and hundreds of police officers. He ordered a commercial airliner blown out of the air and an armed assault on the Supreme Court. There was no crime he would not commit. Bowden's book tracks his rise to power, his casual and ham-fisted use of violence and terror, even where more subtle means would have been more effective, and his bloody demise.

  The problem is, at bottom, Escobar is a scuzzy little murdering drug pusher. He's not an interesting man, and after just a few pages the awful spectacle of his cocaine empire begins to seem squalid and boring. Bowden does a fair job of putting the reader in Medellin during the final hunt for Escobar in 1993, when a vigilante group called "Los Pepes", perhaps supported by the U.S. slaughtered hundreds of Escobar's people. We see Colombian police and U.S. officials track Escobar to his final hideout. But there is none of the minute-to-minute drama of "Black Hawk Down" that grabbed the reader by the throat. This is just a story of a police operation, larger than most, but ultimately it's about cops and criminals, diverting but not particularly interesting or enlightening.
  
  

• Mixed Feelings on this Book
  By A3OD0QYKR53TYW on 2001-05-09
  I would have to agree with Rudiger's review.

  Rating this book mainly depends on viewpoint: * Buy just to have something to read? * Buy to learn and reference? * Buy to know and find out what happened.

  Whereas BLACK HAWK DOWN excelled in all three, "Killing Pablo" excels in the top bullet and less with each one below. Mainly because no one really knew what happened as Rudiger pointed out...and no one involved is really telling.

  Although Rudiger bought the Audio CD, I bought the book mainly for the first bullet...something to read.

  First off, for me "Killing Pablo" was hard to put down. I kept reading just to see what happened. It fulfilled the first bullet perfectly. However, if I were to tell someone what happened when and the people involved where and when, it would be hard because of so many names, events, and people.

  The shortcomings of this book are minor but they do stand out, so much so they make reading, understanding, and learning difficult. Like BLACK HAWK DOWN, there are SO MANY names in "Killing Pablo" that it's easy to get confused and tangled and see who's important and who isn't. All the names in BLACK HAWK DOWN wasn't so bad but I felt "Killing Pablo" was. After all, with all the killings and kidnappings, it's hard to keep track or who's who and who done what. For example: "Joe replaced Jon who was killed and who replaced John who replaced Joey who kidnapped who replaced Bob who was missing who replaced Jose." After a while, you get so confused that names are not important but they are.

  Another example: Colonel Hugo Martinez lead the Search Party. But his son is also named Hugo Martinez and his rank is lieutenant. Mark uses "Hugo" many times in the book.

  It gets to the point that it seems everyone involved wants their name in the book as to what they did, no matter how big or how small. But Mark doesn't follow up on the event history of everyone so is that person important or significant to the hunt or not? And the name is there but not what they really did because they're not really telling.

  I felt the book could use three things: * A timeline graph of events, killings and bombings by week, month, and year * A flowchart of who replaced whom * A list of the names in the book and briefly what they did * A glossary. With so many Spanish terms, not all defined in English, it's hard to know what the term means. * More maps like in BLACK HAWK DOWN.

  The telling of the events also jumps around a lot in time. Too many "flashbacks." In one paragraph a bomb blew up. The paragraph below: two hours before the explosion John called Frank. Next paragraph..while Frank was speaking to John, Jim in the US was talking to Kris. Next paragraph, one hour before the bomb blew, Jose was speaking with Hugo. All this took place before the bomb blew but the reader already read that the bomb blew and has to read the "flashbacks" to catch up on events (people involved and what they did) before the bomb blew.

  "Killing Pablo" is a good subject but perhaps not worth the price of hardcover due to the difficulty reading it. Again, it all depends on the viewpoint you're buying it for.
  
  

• Delta Force: Just takin out the trash.....
  By AE2D8BPIT6NGU on 2006-05-07
  "Killing Pablo" by Mark Bowden
  
  Bowden is a damn good non-fiction author. I read "Blackhawk Down" first, so reading "Killing Pablo" was a forgone conclusion. In a world where politically correctness dictates that in confronting Evil, we should fold our hands, bow our head and say "God Bless You" or worse, go read some academic study, Bowden gives an account of confronting Evil with the tools and methods that Evil merits.
  
  Bowden gives a thorough background on Colombia, then explains the drug cartels and how Pablo rose to the top by the sheer volume of cocaine he shipped, and thereafter, nearly brought down an entire nation through terror.
  
  It is a chilling account of terror to read of Pablo's car bombings and the murder and maiming of innocents. I now understand how the vigilante group, Los Pepes was forced to begin assassinating all the supporting personnel in Pablo's organization. Whether lawyers, real estate agents, etc....Los Pepes eliminated them. At least somebody in the world isn't so dang dumb they can't find their own hind end with a mirror and a six-cell flashlight. Los Pepes did it, and did it righteously.
  
  America's Delta Force was involved, so if you found them interesting in "Black Hawk Down" you will enjoy reading about their role here also.
  
  There's good info on the U.S. State Department, and how diplomatic relations affected methods, procedures, and involvement of various Nations and entities. A great read. You will enjoy it.
  
  One reviewer suggested that Mark Bowden could have told the entire story in 100 pages or less, and that the book is boring because of the many "WE-ALMOST-GOT-HIM" stories. I suggest the following, in answer to that charge.
  
  Except that the "we almost got him stories" are interspersed with the accounts of the Los Pepes assassinations of anyone doing business with Pablo.
  
  Except that the "we almost got him stories" were interspersed with the accounts of tracking down Pablo's paid spies in the Colombian military forces, police, and government.
  
  Except that the "we almost got him stories" are interspersed with the accounts of Delta Force's technology and methods, which are compelling.
  
  Except that the "we almost got him stories" are interspersed with the accounts of the difficulties in getting the Columbian military to actually have the guts to take action and go get this guy.
  
  Except that Mark Bowden takes the time to educate the reader about the unique history of the Colombian cities and countryside, which are as distinctly different as a modern European city and the wild west badlands.
  
  Except that Mark Bowden takes the time to inform the reader about the human elements involved in the story: the government officials (honest & dishonest), the wealthy, the poor, the communist rebels in the countryside, the bandits, the drug culture, and tells how Pablo nearly controlled the entire government of a modern democratic nation.
  
  ******************************** But there's more about author Mark Bowden that I must mention. Bowden has philosophical depth, and it comes out in brief and brilliant paragraphs, here and there throughout his book. Bowden can show the blind stupidity, the refusal to act when action is called for, the cowardice, the greed, the political torpidity that stifles men of action, and do so with an acute description.
  
  
  
  
• More top quality journalism from Bowden
  By A2W4O6YQGPKX5P on 2001-05-01
  In Black Hawk Down, Bowden retold in no-nonsense fashion the story of the failed Somalia mission against Aideed. In Killing Pablo, he does the same for the (successful) mission to kill Pablo Escobar. Bowden's just-the-facts narrative is uncluttered and concise, and he does a great job of not letting the reader get confused by the intricacies of Colombian politics or history or the Byzantine structure of the Medellin cartel. The clarity of his narration is also important because the story of Pablo Escobar is so fantastic and surreal that it requires a skilled story-teller just to make it plausible.

  A fascinating and important story very well told.
  
  

• Reasonably fun while it lasts
  By A2LLIGROQR9V98 on 2001-04-30
  Bowden's post-mortem of the war against the Medellin cocaine cartels of the 1980s and early to mid-1990s is written (and, in this case, read) in a similar style as his gripping 1999 book BLACK HAWK DOWN. While I highly recommend the latter for its thoroughness, attention to detail, and relative even-handedness, I was not quite as happy with KILLING PABLO. It did serve as a good introduction to the world of Columbian drug lords, with Pablo Escobar standing out as the most violent and capricious among them. The author's focus on U.S. involvement in the efforts to hunt Escobar down (and, it is asserted, kill him rather than deliver him to the corrupt Colombian justice system) benefits from some of the same techniques Bowden employed in his previous book: lots of interviews with people involved, coupled with plenty of historical and social background without overloading the reader/listener.

  Where KILLING PABLO comes up short, at least in comparison to BLACK HAWK DOWN, is that I don't sense the same bond developed between the author and his subjects: the portrayals of these Colombians and their American advisors/adversaries are not quite fleshed out to the same degree as his sympathetic, all-too-human depictions of the Army Rangers and Somali fighters. This could be simply due to the CD abridgement, but I suspect it may also be due to Bowden's finding these subjects much tougher nuts to crack, culturally speaking. (The BLACK HAWK DOWN audio CD does not have the same shortcoming.)

  Still, his portrayal of Escobar as a complex, very flawed and probably not-quite-sane individual wins points, and the climactic scenes of the chase leading to Escobar's death approach the kind of high drama Bowden best exhibited in his previous work. It's good stuff, but if you had to choose between the two, I recommend going with BLACK HAWK DOWN.
  
  

• Good story but not Bowden's best
  By A2EWCVGOTTPFAZ on 2001-05-29
  As many have and will, I bought this book simply because of how much I loved Bowden's "Black Hawk Down." But while this book had a fairly interesting topic, Bowden was unable to make it into the dramatic thriller that Black Hawk was.

  While I was generally familiar with the hunt for Pablo Escobar, there was some information in this book that was new to me. The book is entertaining at first, as Bowden recounts Pablo Escobar's rise to power, and his subsequent reign of terror as head of the Medellin drug cartel. But after Escobar "escapes" from the lavish prison he had built for himself, and goes into hiding, Bowden's story falls off. Ultimately the chase for Escobar settles down into a simple, predictable, manhunt for a highly wanted criminal. For anyone who is completely unfamiliar with the United States' efforts to fight drug cartels in Colombia, this book will be more captivating. But for the reader who has some familiarity with the subject this book will be a bit of a letdown.
  
  

• Excellent Book, Well Researched, Raises Important Questions
  By on 2001-08-04
  While Bowden's latest book is not quite the page turner that his previous work, Black Hawk Down, was it is nonetheless a worthwhile read. Bowden has done a fantastic research job, and presents a well detailed and balanced look at how the U.S. Government set about to destroy the leader of what was then Columbia's largest drug cartel. Most importantly Bowden raises the question "do the ends justify the means." After reading the book it becomes clear that U.S. Embassy officials in Bogota had a pretty good idea that the men they were training in the Columbian Police's Search Bloc unit, were moonlighting as a Death Squad known as Los Pepes. In other words U.S. officials had strong indications that they were facilitating the training of a Death Squad. As long as the Death Squad was killing bad guys, however, U.S. officials seemed content to pretend to hear no evil and see no evil. Of course there was also information to indicate that the Death Squad (Los Pepes) was being paid by Escobar's rivals in the Cali Cartel to eliminate their competition. In essence Search Bloc members moonlighting as Los Pepes were being used as a tool of the Cali Cartel, all with the tacit backing of the U.S. Embassy. Although Searc Bloc and Los Pepes ultimately proved effective in destroying the Medellin Cartel it came with a price tag; the beginnning of the end of the rule of law and the rise of the Cali Cartel. Bowden effectively lays bare the essential question of the whole affair: what did the U.S. achieve by backing one group of thugs to kill another group of thugs? How has this helped with the mission of nation building in Columbia? What does this say about the lip service the U.S. pays to human rights? Do they really care, or only when it is convenient? One has to wonder if the events described in Bowden's book have not played themselves out many more time in many other parts of the world. As to the question of the ultimate effectiveness of the U.S. approach one only need look at the billion plus dollar price tag attached to Plan Columbia, some ten years after the "sucess" against Ecobar. In the end only the former DEA Country Attache, Joe Toft, seems to have realized that their efforts ultimately did more harm than good, quipping "I hope the moral of this story is not that the ends justify the means." Will this scenario repeat itself again? Sadly the answer seems to be yes. So long as callow U.S. counterdrug officials convince themselves that short run "victory" outweighs the long run importance of instilling the rule of law, the notion that countries should be ruled by powerful laws and not by powerful men, many, many, more Escobars will be killed/murdered. Equally as sad, the drugs will continue to flow, and the only casualty will be the cause of Democracy and the Rule of Law.
  
  
• Where are the interesting details?
  By A3SVC6GH12XMCL on 2001-09-01
  At the risk of echoing every other reviewer, this book falls far short of Bowden's previous effort, Black Hawk Down. Whereas that book provided a unique and thrilling look into a world most of us will never experience firsthand, this book squanders a chance to do the same.

  The book begins with a brief history of Columbia and the cocaine trade, including the rise of Pablo Escobar. The bulk of the story concerns the efforts of the Colombian government, with the assistance of the United States, to bring Escobar to justice or kill him. There are tantalizing hints that US covert forces were involved in more than an advisory role, but Bowden does no more than hint. In fact, we barely get to meet the soldiers who are involved with the operation, whereas in Black Hawk Down, we knew them intimately. Ultimately, this is the failing of the book; we want to know in greater detail what risks the soldiers faced in their daily hunt for Escobar. We want to be in their shoes as they go on failed missions and finally succeed, but all we get is the same bare facts that could be gleaned from newspaper accounts.
  
  

• You can't beat supply and demand
  By A26T16EHVHIJ8O on 2002-01-02
  Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo tells the appalling tale of Columbian druglord, Pablo Escobar, the infamies he perpetrated on the Columbian government, and his rise and fall from power.

  Escobar and his soulless sicarios killed hundreds of government officials, police, soldiers and innocent civilians with assassination and bombing campaigns. Perhaps his biggest crime of all was his pride and egocentrism. Escobar had fully convinced himself and those in his employ that he was a hero of the people, using a great deal of his drug money to support Colombia's impoverished masses in an effort to subvert the government.

  The United States became involved in the effort to remove Escobar and his ilk during the 1980s. Killing Pablo also tells the story of Centra Spike, the CIA, Delta Force, the DEA and other U.S. agencies that took part in the manhunt and the dangerous line they tread to maintain the depth of their involvement.

  You can't help but admire the bravery of the Columbian citizens who stood up against Escobar despite the daily threats on their lives: President Gaviria, Eduardo Mendoza, Col. Hugo Martinez, and many other intractable Columbians who wouldn't sell their souls to the narco kings.

  Despite their victory over Escobar, you can't help but feel that little has changed in Columbia. Just the faces are different. The export of cocaine was little affected by the removal of the narcos who took power in the 70s and made billions selling cocaine to insatiable American narcotics consumers. While I found the narcos themselves to be barbaric and reprehensible, I feel shame that so many Americans make it possible for this type of criminal to exist because of their addiction to illegal drugs.

  Killing Pablo is an eye opener. That a fragile democracy like Colombia's was able to survive the ordeal that Escobar and the other narcos put it through is a testament to democracy and the resiliency of the Colombian government. In the end, they got their man, but as many of Bowden's interviewees observed, you have to wonder how much of the country's soul was sold to get the job done.

  Mark Bowden is an excellent investigative reporter and writes a terrific narrative. His Black Hawk Down, just recently made into a movie, was even better but both books are amazing journalistic works, showing us a side of the world that's unpleasant, but hard to look away from, too.
  
  

• Pablo and Osama?
  By A2VF3BXFXXTEPL on 2002-04-24
  In Mark Bowden's latest book he recreates the hunt for Pablo Escobar, the ruthless leader of the infamous Medellin cocaine cartel. It is an amazing story of murder, theft, and a few good guys who were not blinded by greed and did not give into the numerous bribe attempts.

  Bowden starts with Pablo's childhood in Rionegro, a well to do neighborhood of farmers near Medellin, and in gripping detail chronicles his rise to power, his foray into politics and his stunning fall from grace.

  Bowden explains that Pablo saw himself as a champion for the poor people of Columbia. For a long time they were the only people in Columbia who did not consider Pablo an outright terrorist, but after a particularly bad series of car-bombings and murders, the poor people turned their back on Pablo and Columbia declared him public enemy number 1. This is the point in which Pablo became an outlaw, moving from hideout to hideout daily and only communicating with his closest confidantes. He bribed everyone in Columbia with millions of dollars to ensure his protection and killed those who did not agree with him. If it were not for the actions of a few honest and very brave men, Pablo may never have been brought to justice.

  The true heroes in this story are the men in the Columbian government who refused to be bribed and risked their life and the lives of their families to eradicate Pablo.

  Pablo's eventual downfall was his family, after a long conversation with his son, the authorities were able to triangulate his radio signal and his exact location was discovered out of dumb luck.

  After reading Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo, I look forward to any books that Bowden may write in the future. Killing Pablo is well researched, but not overly detailed. Bowden does a great job of keeping the story moving and in the days before Pablo is caught, you will not be able to put the book down. I highly recommend this book for anyone that likes a fast-paced real life drama.

  As an aside, this book is especially interesting because at the height of Pablo-mania he was the most wanted man in the world. He was a terrorist who killed people in car-bombings and is known to have blown up at least one airplane. Pablo's methods and tactics are eerily similar to several used by the current most wanted man in the world, Osama bin Laden. The resources and manpower that the US committed to the hunt for Pablo probably pale in comparison to those currently being used to find Osama. Personally, I hope that Osama meets the same fate as Pablo did.
  
  

• Great story, but something missing
  By A2ISPZN5ZXJNJ9 on 2003-01-03
  Bowden tells an amazing story, no doubt about it. His story of the rise and fall of the Escobar cocaine cartel is a fascinating narrative with stories of murder and terror that seem larger than life. With Killing Pablo, Bowden takes the reader into the a world of drug lords, CIA agents, and a Columbian police force and government that seemed wrapped around Pablo's finger. All the elements are there for a great book, and Bowden, in his usual style, delivers a well written compelling story.

  My one criticism is that Bowden barely gives the reader a larger perspective of his story other than "on the ground" accounts of the hunt for Escobar. Bowden does not give the reader a perspective of Pablo's place in the drug industry, who his competition was, the impact his cocaine had on the streets of America, and whether his pursuit and death had any measurable benefit to anyone but the other cocaine cartels. I always found that I wanted more information when I was reading this book. It is also clear that Bowden did not have sources who were close to the internal dealings of the Escobar cartel, which is a noticable hole in the book.

  Its a good book, fun to read, highly enlightening, but also limited in scope to the actuals events on the ground in taking down Pablo. I think I was looking for something closer to the movie "Traffic" that looked at the drug trade and Escobar in a wider context.
  
  

• very good, but lacking that intensity of Black Hawk Down
  By A2FEGRJQNU51P9 on 2003-03-17
  Killing Pablo chronicles the life of Drug Lord Pablo Escobar and the long hunt to capture and kill him. It was written by Mark Bowden, the author of the exceptional book: Black Hawk Down . Since this book was advertised as "the manhunt for Pablo Escobar", I went into the book expecting a kind of adventure story dealing with the killing of Pablo. Instead, what I got was a well crafted story detailing the early life (as much as is known) of Pablo Escobar and his rise to power in Columbia through the drug trade, how Escobar became such an international target, the many years of failed attempts to capture and kill Escobar, his many escapes, and finally how Escobar was tracked down and killed.

  Having read this book after Black Hawk Down , I expected the level of detail that Bowden presents, and if the story is less gripping than that of his other book, the story is no less interesting. We know how it ends, but we don't know how it all went down. The story of Pablo Escobar may not be very well known, but Mark Bowden wrote an excellent book that deserves to be read.
  
  

• Killing the Spanish language
  By on 2001-07-13
  As a native Colombian, it has been a horrible experience to listen to Mr. Bowden's Spanish on the CD edition. It is painful. If he felt the need to read his own book, why not invest in learning the correct pronunciation of basic words and names he uses? I have only listened to one CD so far, and am tempted to stop at this point. The level of ignorance in the correct pronunciation of such basic names makes me wonder how accurate his research might be.
  
  
• A gripping story of manhunt meeting espionage
  By A3C1VFCKWJE3S9 on 2002-04-25
  Mark Bowden has once again produced a gripping peice of journalism. While not the tale of close combat portrayed in "Black Hawk Down," "Killing Pablo" is just as good a book. It is, perhaps, superior.

  Beginning with a brief description of Pablo Escobar's rise to power as a ruthless Colombian mafioso, a man who kidnapped and murdered his way from petty street crime into becoming the world's leading narco gangster, Bowden goes on to deliver a page turning account that is the core of this book: Escobar's war on the Colombian state, his compromise "incarceration," his escape, and ultimately his assassination by the Colombian police.

  The account of Escobar's war on the Colombian government (indeed, the Colombian nation) should be an eye-opening experience for anyone not familiar with how "law and order" really works for most of the world. Escobar's drug empire was so fantastically lucrative that it made the Medellin Cartel a state within a state. His ability to bribe even the highest public officials, murder those who would not accept bribes (up to Presidential candidates), and commit acts of rampant terrorism should shock and horrify the reader. The Medellin Cartel was able to wage a campaign that traditionally is associated only with strong revolutionary movements. The reader should walk away with an understanding of what living in a Third World country (granted, at its worst) can be like.

  The story of the struggle against Escobar takes two general categories. One is an interesting expose on US covert operations. Those familiar with "Black Hawk Down" should find this account of what General Garrison and the Delta Force do when they aren't shooting at people to be fascinating. The book details a major US covert operation involving the military, CIA, DEA and State Department, and employs everything from the most sophisticated electronic surveillance to good old fashioned, shoe leather police work.

  The other side is the activities of the Colombian special paramilitary police force that was detailed to combat Escobar. The story of the implacable Colonel Martinez is a gripping morality play. On the one side, it shows how the grit and determination of one man really can make a difference in this world. On the other, it shows the degenerative effects of being at war, surrounded by corruption, with death lurking around every corner. Martinez's story is both one of courage in the face of a nakedly evil monster, but also of a test of morals that the Colonel does not completely pass.

  I found the book to be a page turner in every sense of the word, particularly after I reached Escobar's escape from his luxurious "prison." I was unable to put it down from that point forward. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in covert activities, true crime, modern history, or who just likes to read a good yarn.
  
  

• Killing Pablo
  By A1X9KPJEICVQ62 on 2002-05-23
  Mark Bowden is probably best known for his documentary (which is now a major motion picture) Blackhawk Down. However, his newest book, Killing Pablo deserves the same recognition as its predecessor. Killing Pablo gives one of the most detailed and well-researched accounts of the war on drugs ever written. The book focuses on the leader of the Medellin Cartel, Pablo Escobar, whose Colombian cocaine empire infiltrated deeper into the United States than any other. At its height, Pablo's empire supplied 80% of all the cocaine in the United States. Pablo was mercilessly hunted by both US and Colombian military forces, but the focus on the book is not on the military actions against Pablo Escobar, but on the Pablo himself. Bowden discusses Pablo's social stature, influence, but above all his beliefs and justifications for his less than law-abiding acts. The book also introduces Pablo's opposition and their attempts to silence him. The book, however, does not limit itself to the more publicized military events that composed the war on drugs, but also the political reasoning and personal motivations for eliminating the powerful drug lord.

  In Bowden's book, he recalls Escobar's rise to power, his fall, and the hunt for him that would make the Mexican outlaw Pancho Villa proud. Killing Pablo reads like a Clancy novel. Not once did Bowden lose my interest or waste my time with events that were not important to the story. Bowden writes non-fiction like a novelist, always working to a well developed end. I believe this is what makes Killing Pablo so entertaining. Despite the frequent accounts of scenes that would make action movie producers cringe, Bowden is still able to tell a story that is not only accurate, but worth hearing.
  
  Bowden managed to keep my attention, fulfill my needs for action, and satisfy me intellectually. I have not been so satisfied with a non-fiction book since his last, and I hope he continues to publish works of this caliber. It is my opinion that Bowden has constructed one of the greatest works in non-fiction of all time.
  
  

• Real World Ruthless Justice
  By A23SB6VGGB9E8U on 2003-03-12
  Although others have tried, fiction is never as good as the real tale. Killing Pablo is the story of the rise and violent fall of the Colombian cocaine cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. Although others, such as Tom Clancy, have attempted to tell the tale as fiction, nothing compares to this intense sixteen month manhunt.

  Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, draws on his access with soldiers, field agents and officials as well as secret documents and telephone transcripts of Escobar's intercepted telephone conversations to detail how U. S. operatives and their Columbian allies covertly lead this 16 month manhunt for Pablo Escobar.

  Although Bowden details Escobar's rise to his position as the world's most powerful criminal, he devotes most of the book to detailing the time from July 22nd when Escobar walked out of a luxuriously prison he built for himself and disappeared into the jungle.

  Over the next days and months, the U. S. would launch a joint military and intelligence operation, equipped with the latest tracking technology, and with the Columbian government track down this ruthless "doper" from Medellin. This time, however, they had no intention of capturing him. They planned to kill him.

  This spell binding tale is a great read about ruthless justice in the real world
  
  

• Coca Killer
  By AGKPTMTR3UX1R on 2005-03-27
  KILLING PABLO is the story of the rise, hunt, fall and death of Pablo Escobar, the chief of the Medellin Cocaine Cartel. Mark Bowden (BLACK HAWK DOWN) is gifted in bringing essentially unknown tales into the public eye, and here he does it again, dramatically. His ability to take the hidden and twisted threads of covert operations and weave a complete story from them is impressive.
  
  Pablo, as Bowden refers to him throughout, was a small-time hood who rose to true if notorious greatness on a ladder stained with blood. At the peak of his influence he had a net worth of billions of dollars.
  
  Pablo cultivated a jolly demeanor and, in truth, lacked couth, though he could be personally disarming. In dress, he preferred white velcro-strap Nike sneakers and blue jeans. He was short and plump. He was hardly the image of the "Don Pablo" he wanted to be. He was easy to underestimate, as the world discovered.
  
  At his zenith, he had all but convinced the ruling oligarchy of Colombia that coca cultivation and processing was a growth industry, even if frowned upon by staid norteamericanos with no taste for trend.
  
  In 1983 Pablo was elected a Congressional alternate from his state of Antioquia, ruled Medellin with an iron fist, and was a serious contender for the Presidency of his nation. Ten years later he was dead.
  
  Pablo Escobar was a study in contradictions. He was 'the most Wanted man in the world' who spent most of his criminal life in the open. A sociopathic megalomaniac, he saw nothing bizarre in blowing up planes and buildings and killing hundreds in the course of targeting one man. He was a devoted husband and father with a penchant for seducing teenage girls.
  
  Unlike some other crimelords who habitually restrained themselves from killing 'noncombatants,' Pablo gloried in taking the lives of his enemies' friends and relatives no matter how uninvolved they were in the drug trade. As a result, no one in Colombia was beyond his reach, and even the U.S. Ambassador had to live in a special security vault while Pablo was at large.
  
  A man who victimized others constantly, he saw himself as a victim of the State. A man on the outside he always wished to be on the inside and bought, bribed and murdered his way into positions of authority. A compleat robber baron, he spoke the rhetoric of Che Guevara, and spent hundreds of millions to rebuild Medellin into a major metropolis and made its citizens into some of the most fortunate of Colombianos. To this day, Pablo is lauded in certain quarters of Colombia as a Robin Hood-type character, but Bowden makes clear that Pablo's hero image was carefully constructed and disseminated through his vast public relations apparatus to insure his own protection.
  
  Pablo was a man incapable of restraint who ultimately overreached himself. Although he had most of Colombia's government in his pocket, he failed to appreciate the need for subtlety in his game of control. For Pablo, the government, the police, and ultimately the United States were just rival cartels to be bossed and intimidated. Never realizing how badly he had outmatched himself, he became the instrument of his own destruction.
  
  His fall came when he simply walked out of the prison he himself had built and staffed after reaching a ridiculously one-sided plea bargain with the Colombian government to stop intra-Cartel violence. Once Pablo escaped, the government of Colombia was virtually forced into a "hunter-killer" mode of operations against him, based on his own untrustworthiness.
  
  Aided by the United States, Colombia hunted Pablo, at first with a notable lack of zeal. Too many ranking Colombians were beholden to him. But as Pablo retaliated by attacking innocent civilians throughout the country, his public support waned and his Cartel associates faded away. Pablo soon found himself hunted by Colombian and American Special Ops troops, and a terrifying vigilante group "Los Pepes," made up of people who had been victimized by him, Cali Cartel competitors, and other shadowy individuals. As Bowden cynically says, we need to "surmise" who they were.
  
  Pablo's fall changed nothing. Cali became the new cocaine epicenter and the government's ties to the drug kingpins were, if anything, even stronger. But Pablo was a clear target. Moreover, he was a man who simply couldn't stop himself from killing. It was decided at the highest levels that, like a mad dog, Pablo needed to be destroyed.
  
  Pablo died ignominiously, shot by a government-backed Death Squad, with his overhanging belly on prominent display in the cover photograph of the book. His hunters shaved his moustache into a Hitlerian brush for fun. Their smiles are both bitter and mocking. That one photograph, hanging in many government offices, Colombian and American, is Pablo's legacy.
  
  Bowden obviously has no love for Pablo Escobar, but he is also clearly equivocal about the methods and results of killing Pablo. The vast energy put into finding and eliminating this one man certainly never blunted the drug culture, but it did rid the world of one of the most powerful and amoral figures in modern history.
  
  There's a lesson here for the post-9/11 world.
  
  
• Hard to put down (in either sense)
  By A3D1NSB3FMPTMM on 2005-09-06
  What makes this a good story is that the prospects for good to prevail seem utterly, desperately hopeless. To couch it in elementary terms, there are good guys, bad guys, and other bad guys. The bad guys are at odds with each other, and the good guys take full advantage of that. This could be the ultimate case study in expediency and fighting fire with fire. It's a quick read anyway, but once the first ray of hope comes, it becomes absolutely riveting!
  
  This book chronicles the rise and fall of a slimy, duplicitous little two-bit car thief who bullied his way into cocaine trafficking and amassed wealth beyond his wildest dreams by being in the right place after murdering any potential competitors. It is also a heartbreaking account of how he held a nation hostage with a terror campaign.
  
  There is a lot of insight into electronic surveillance (it's positively creepy what they can do now) and the United States government vis-a-vis the intelligence community. What overstepping of legal bounds there was is described in detail.
  
  The title hints of violence and the book delivers that in spades without even trying, so beware if you are easily upset. There is a photo of Escobar's fully-bearded corpse that resembles a pudgy werewolf.
  
  There is no happy ending to this bloody affair. I consider this essential reading for anyone commenting on South American politics and the rebel groups (FARC and ELN) because they are intertwined with the cocaine trade. There are many insights into "how things are down there," plus inspiring accounts of a few incredibly brave, principled Colombians, almost all dead now, who dared to stand up to Escobar's staggeringly pervasive organization.
  
  Tidbits: (1) Bowden stops just shy of making this connection, but I believe Fidel Castro had everything to do with Jorge Gaitan's assassination in 1948. (2) There is a brilliant paragraph on page 42 characterizing the transition of cocaine's socially obligatory status among elite/"hip" Americans in the 1970's to becoming the outcast scum crack in the 1980's.
  
  I hold authors to high standards of English and journalism and after approaching this book critically, I must recommend it. Will be reading more Bowden. (Although, regarding the History Channel video, I found his mis-pronunciation Spanish names and words annoying.)
  
  PABLO ESCOBAR WAS NOT A HERO or a legend, as some of the poor around Medellin believe, but a killer of toddlers.
  
  
• Past is present
  By AUDZ1P5FHLRKG on 2001-10-06
  I agree with the review that made the analogy between the events in this book and our present state of the world. As we get further away from Sept. 11, 2001, some of the similarities between the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terrorism" are downright frightening. However, Bin Laden's a great deal more culpable and vile than the "Robin Hood"/Tony Montana-esque character that Bowden makes Escobar seem. The stakes are clearly higher now than what's set forth in this book.
  
  This book and Bowden's excellent predecessor (and equally relevant) "Black Hawk Down" are required reading for a better understanding of where we may be going, and how we're going to get there.
  
  
• Keeps you in the chase!
  By A1FU09ZBNTA8XU on 2001-11-30
  The hunt and eventual "capture" of the world's greatest outlaw would necessarily make for some great reading, and this book did not disappoint. I have no doubt that Mark Bowden had meant for this to be an exciting and quick read, and that was exactly what I was looking for.

  Keep in mind that this operation involved many different agencies from different countries, and spanned years. There were innumerable failures and frustrations, and many of those years were without any sort of mentionable progress at all. Somehow, Mr. Bowden has managed to piece together the most exciting highlights of this chase and made it into a coherent and high-adrenaline account that reads like a thrilling novel. The only people who would be disappointed with this book are those who are looking for research material and minute historical details.

  I appreciated the fact that Mr. Bowden tells the story from both the Colombian and American agencies involved in the hunt, for both parties were just as crucial as the other in its eventual success. If this book had been written by one of the American Delta Force or CIA members involved in this operation, it would probably have lacked the fairness in giving credit to the Colombian efforts. Sometimes it takes an outsider to give a better overall picture.

  This is going to be a quick and entertaining read. Having read this as well as "Black Hawk Down", I can't wait to see what topic Mr. Bowden decides to tackle next!
  
  

• Very Intriguing
  By AI2G535VVDNGA on 2002-03-11
  This book is an accurate account of the rise and fall of the most successful drug trafficker in history. This book tells of Pablo Escobar�s ruthless ways that led to his ascension as a drug lord who amassed over 4 billion dollars. This book details the effects of Pablo's business on Colombia and how he was revered as a Robin Hood for the poor. Bowden also tells of the bloody fate of Escobar. Overall a very entertaining and interesting read.
  
  
• Columbian Justice
  By AOLEN4I2TRU6A on 2002-07-22
  Mark Bowden has done it again. Like in his previous novel, "Black Hawk Down," Bowden takes his readers on another detailed, behind-the-scenes account of American Military Operations in a foreign country. Bowden skillfully documents the rise and fall of the one of the 20th century's vilest criminals, Columbian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.

  The book starts with showing how Escobar rose to power, and the societal and cultural factors that allowed Escobar to become the monster he was in Columbia. It is an eye-opening look at the instability, greed, and corruption that plagues many democratic countries. Then, one learns of the first manhunt for Escobar, which resulted in his "imprisonment" in a luxury jail that he unbelievably was able to build for himself in perhaps the ultimate definetion of a country-club prison. But different factors lead to Pablo's "escape" from this prison and a second manhunt is called that ultimately leads to Pablo's demise.

  This a just a thumbnail sketch of the book, but what makes this book unique is Bowden's ability to get access and information from all the key players in the Escobar saga. From the Columbian President to disgraced government ministers, Escobar associates,DEA agents, Special Ops guys and the US Ambassodor, Bowden gets the story straight from the people who were there, both behind the scenes and actively out fighting gun-battles on the street.

  This book reads like the best fiction thrillers, but unfortunately it is a true story.
  
  

• Interesting
  By A3LX907XPL6JJ6 on 2002-12-03
  This book is interesting for the same reason "The Sopranos" is interesting: a book about a topic that is cloaked in secretive, violent, and exciting imagery. But the actual accounts are vague, told from the standpoint of second, third, fourth-hand accounts. After all, a lot of people died in the cartel wars.
  At one point in the book, Bowden does basically say that the book was spawned from his researching the ordeal in Somalia that led to "Black Hawk Down." The same people doing surveillence in Africa were that same that were in Medellin watching Escobar. That leads me to believe this topic was an afterthought, and Bowden is milking the agents who were working both Medellin and Somalia for all the books they are worth.
  But, this book is entertaining, but as for historical accuracy, only Escobar would be able to tell us the truth, and he's not talking.
  
  

• Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire
• Drug Lords: The Rise and Fall of the Cali Cartel
• Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
• Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam
• BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All