12. Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar, born on December 1, 1949, in Rionegro, Colombia, was the son of Abel de Jesús Escobar, a farmer, and Hermilda Gaviria, a schoolteacher. Raised in a modest rural setting, Escobar’s early life was marked by poverty. He began his criminal career with petty thefts and gradually escalated to more serious offenses, eventually becoming the leader of the Medellín Cartel. Under his leadership, the cartel dominated the cocaine trade in the 1980s, leading to widespread violence and instability in Colombia (biography.com).
