Throughout the history of organized crime, criminals have bought legitimate businesses to use as a front, and as a means to launder money. This is also true of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar of the Medellin Cartel of Columbia.

According to Abadinsky (2004), Pablo Escobar is “the most notorious member of the (Medellin) cartel”. While Escobar presented a “Robin Hood” image, he was responsible for countless assignations of police officers and was responsible for the operation of the Medellin Cartel which focused it’s activities the manufacturing and distribution of cocaine. The Medillin Cartel is believed to have imported 58 tons of cocaine to the United States within a five year period (Thompson, 1987).

In 1980-81 Escobar purchased the “King’s Harbour” apartment complex in Plantation, Florida (Broward County Records, 1981) along with a $1.9 million dollar apartment complex on Biscayne Bay Island, a $480,910 ocean front mansion in Miami Beach, a ranch near Ocala, Florida, and a condo in affluent Bal Harbour, Florida. (Thompson, 1987; Abadinsky, 2004).

According to Thompson (1987) in January of 1987, “Federal marshalls seized $20 million in property, including a Plantation apartment complex, in a civil claim filed on Monday charging that the owners are Columbia’s billionaire cocaine traffickers.” Thompson (1987) also states that, “Pablo Escobar Gaviria, who the DEA called the No. 1 cocaine boss in Columbia, bought Kings Harbour Apartments at 3 Pine Island Road in Plantation, just south of Broward Boulevard, in March 1981.”

After the seizures, the tenants at Kings Harbour Apartments at 3 South Pine Island Road in Plantation, Florida were left with a new landlord, Uncle Sam. (Broward County Records, 1987) As such, the tenants were told by the U.S. Government that they would “appoint of hire a firm to keep the buildings up and collect rent” (Thompson, 1987) Apparently, government seizure of the apartment complex in which you are living is still not an excuse not to pay your rent.

Today the former Kings Harbour Apartments, still in existence has been renamed “The Atriums of Plantation” and is managed by the AIMCO apartment management company. The apartment complex was purchased from the U.S. Government at auction.

Pablo Escobar was killed on December 2, 1993 in a shootout with police officers in Columbia. (Abadinsky, 2004). Since Escobar’s death the Medellin Cartel is almost completely out of the picture. In it’s place several smaller cartels in Columbia and Mexico has taken over the lucrative cocaine trade.

References

Abadinsky, Howard. (2004). Organized Crime. Belmont, California: Thomson Wadsworth.

Thompson, Jean. (1997). $20 Million in Property Seized. The Sun-Sentinel. December 1, 1987.

Broward County Records. (1981).

APA Citation:
Smith, Nathan. M. (2006). 3 Pine Island Road.
Retrieved September 8, 2008, from http://www.computer-forensic-technician.com/wordpress/3-pine-island-rd/.