The Memory of Pablo Escobar

The extraordinary story of the richest and most violent gangster in history from his youth, his bid for political power, his domination of the worlds cocaine trade, his campaign against the Colombian state during which thousands died, his imprisonment in a luxurious private jail, his escape, through to his eventual capture and shooting is told in hundreds of photographs gathered by photographer James Mollison in Colombia. Exhaustively researched, this visual biography includes photographs from Escobar family albums, pictures by Escobars bodyguards, pictures from police files (both shot by the police and taken in raids on Escobars premises), and snapshots by the Federal Drug Administration officer who helped hunt Escobar down. The books illuminating text draws on new interviews with family members, other gangsters, Colombian police and judges and other survivors of Escobars killing sprees, supplemented by contemporary photographs by Mollison of Escobars fleet of planes, his private zoo, arms caches captured by the police and even Escobars prison jukebox. A compelling picture story and a landmark in visual journalism. This is the original follow-up to James Mollisons James and Other Apes (Chris Boot, 2004). Born in Kenya, of British origin, Mollison now lives in Venice. He works as an advertising and editorial photographer, and his work has been widely published throughout the world including in Colors, the New York Times magazine, the Guardian magazine and Le Monde.