How El Chapo's Narcissism Led to His Capture: Fugitive Drug Lord Was Nabbed After Contacting Actors To Make Narcos-Style BIOPIC About His Rags-to-Riches Life...> As He Returns To Jail He Escaped From
- Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera was apprehended in a pre-dawn raid on a motel in Los Mochis, Mexico
- He was tracked down after he contacted producers and actors to make a Narcos-style biopic of his own life
- Hideout was around 1,300 miles from the jail he escaped from in July last year after fleeing through a tunnel
- El Chapo escaped from police through a sewer but was caught and arrested still wearing filthy tank top he fled in
- Five cartel gangsters were killed and six others arrested in the raid, which also left a Mexican marine injured
- Vast arsenal of weapons including rocket launchers, machine guns and armored vehicles was seized
- US drug enforcement officials and US Marshals helped capture El Chapo and his right-hand man El Cholo
- The drug lord had been on the run since July, when he staged a daring escape from Mexico's most secure prison
- Incredibly, he was sent back to Altiplano jail overnight after being bundled into a helicopter by Mexican soldiers
- El Chapo is also wanted in the U.S. for several drug trafficking charges but it is not clear if he will be extradited
Daily Mail UK, 9 January 2016
Notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has been sent back to the same prison he escaped from six months ago. Despite tunneling out of the maximum security facility in July, Mexican marines were set to drop off the cartel leader at the Altiplano jail overnight.
Three soldiers marched El Chapo (left and center), who was wearing a navy blue shirt and blue Adidas sweatpants, from a military vehicle to the Mexican attorney general's hangar at an airbase in New Mexico.
Mexican marines, with their faces covered, then bundled him into a helicopter (right) and set off towards the prison near Toluca.
El Chapo, which means 'the short one' in Spanish, was captured by marines during a raid in the town of Los Mochis, located in the kingpin's home state of Sinaloa, on Friday.
Notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has finally been recaptured and returned to the same maximum security jail he broke out from six months ago
after authorities were tipped off to his whereabouts when he tried to make a film of his own life, according to Mexico's attorney general.
The cartel leader's narcissism appears to have been his downfall after he began the process of making a biopic, similar to that of Netflix's popular Narcos show on the life of infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, following his escape from the Altiplano jail last July.
El Chapo, which means 'the short one' in Spanish, had even started to contact producers and actresses through intermediaries to tell his 'rags to riches' story, which was what finally helped police track him down. The names of the stars he approached have not yet been confirmed.
He was arrested on Friday after a 4am raid on a house in the town of Los Mochis, located in the kingpin's home state of Sinaloa, which saw him once again escape from the clutches of police.
The cartel leader and an accomplice fled from agents through a filthy sewer, before emerging into the street where they stole cars and took off. But authorities were able to catch up with them and the cartel leader was brought back to a nearby hotel while police waited for back up, Gómez said.
In a picture of his arrest at the hotel, El Chapo is stood still wearing the dirty tank top, which showed off several fresh scratches on his arms after his sewer escape.
Despite tunneling out in July, Mexican marines returned him to the Altiplano jail - considered to be the most secure prison in the entire country - earlier today. Until El Chapo, no-one had ever successfully escaped from the facility.
Washington, which requested his extradition last June before his escape from jail, is almost certain to seek extradition since his recapture. The drugs lord faces at least seven indictments in the United States.
Notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has been sent back to the same prison he escaped from six months ago. Pictured, soldiers - showing their faces in full sight - march the drug lord to the Mexican attorney general's hangar at an air base in New Mexico
Despite tunneling out of the maximum security facility in July, Mexican marines were set to drop off the cartel leader at the Altiplano jail overnight
Got him! Notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera has been recaptured six months since he escaped from Mexico's most secure prison
El Chapo showed little emotion as he was dragged across the runway in front of dozens of Press and government officials
The drug kingpin, who was wearing a blue tracksuit, was marched into the Mexican attorney general's office before being taken to jail
El Chapo was escorted into a helicopter by Mexican marines - who had their faces covered - who will take him to the prison he escaped from back in July 2015
A handcuffed El Chapo was led into the helicopter by marines as he was taken back to jail after six months on the run from the law
Journalists took pictures of the captured drug lord as he was paraded at a federal air base near New Mexico on Friday evening
Military action: El Chapo was apprehended in an early morning raid in the town of Los Mochis, in the drug kingpin's home state of Sinaloa and 1,300 miles away from the jail he escaped from
Five cartel gangsters were killed and another six were arrested in the raid, while one Mexican marine sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A vast arsenal of weapons was seized, including rocket launchers, machine guns and armored vehicles.
The raid also ended in the capture of El Chapo's right-hand man 'El Cholo', a hitman who was also on the run from the law.
El Chapo was later marched from a military vehicle by three soldiers - showing their faces in full sight - to the Mexican attorney general's hangar at an airbase in New Mexico.
After being briefly paraded in front of journalists, El Chapo was bundled into a helicopter by Mexican marines - who had their faces covered - and set off towards the prison near Toluca.
Attorney general Arely Gómez said that the vain drugs lord was caught after he tried to make a biopic of his life, similar to that of Netflix's popular Narcos show, based on the life of slain Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar.
'He established communication with actors and producers, which formed a new line of investigation,' Gómez said. She refused to confirm which stars had been approached for the film.
El Chapo may have fancied himself as Mexico's answer to the infamous, Colombian drugs lord who became one of the most powerful and violent criminals of all time.
Escobar's Medellin Cartel came to control more than 80 per cent of the cocaine shipped to the U.S. by the 1980s until he was finally killed in 1993.
The first of a series of four films based on El Chapo's life, called The Great Escape, was due to be released on January 15. But the millionaire may have been wanting to tell his life story in his own words before he was recaptured.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on his Twitter account on Friday: 'Mission accomplished: We have him.'
Arrest: El Chapo was apprehended while he was staying in the relatively isolated Hotel & Suites Doux in the town of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa
El Chapo was escorted to a SUV with a white towel over his head before being taken to an airport - but his destination is not known
Covered: Officials covered El Chapo's head with a white towel as they escorted him onto a small plane after his arrest Friday morning
Mexican officials revealed that a firefight at a house in Los Mochis earlier on Friday was related to the raid that saw fugitive El Chapo recaptured.
He is believed to have fled under the cover of gunfire from his henchmen before being arrested later at a motel alongside his most-trusted bodyguard.
In a picture of his arrest, El Chapo stands in a bedroom, where a photo of a scantily-clad woman hangs in the background - his hands shackled in handcuffs in front of him as he stares off to the side of the camera, still wearing the grey, filthy tank top he was caught fleeing in.
Online, many have mocked his appearance as a far cry from the multi-millionaire's glamorous lifestyle.
One commenter even tweeted: 'All that drug money and he hasn't got a clean vest to go out in?'
In the other photo, he sits in a car with his right-hand man, with his hand held up to his chin in thought.
The man seen slumped alongside el Chapo in the back of the police van is his chief hitman Orso Iván Gastélum Cruz, known as 'El Cholo' - a nickname commonly used to refer to young people in Mexican gangs.
LIke El Chapo he too was on the run, having escaped from prison in 2009.
His girlfriend, the winner of Miss Sinaloa 2012 was gunned down and killed by the army during a manhunt for him in 2012.
The Mexican Navy said in a statement that marines acting on a tip raided a motel in the town of Los Mochis around 4:30am. They were fired on from inside the structure.
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has been returned to Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico's maximum security prison which was considered to be most secure in the country until his escape last July
El Chapo had tunnelled out of his cell in the shower area (pictured) - one of the few places which is not covered by CCTV at the jail
The drugs lord used an adapted motorcycle, which sits on a rail in an underground tunnel, to make his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison
Authorities discovered the motorcycle, rigged on a special rail system with two metal carts in front of it, which he used to flee through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) long tunnel under the shower space of his prison cell
Accomplice: El Chapo's hitman Orso Iván Gastélum Cruz, known as 'El Cholo', after he was taken into custody following the shootout
Dead: Forensics officers carried a body out of the house where five of El Chapo's henchmen were shot dead during the raid on Friday
A Mexican law enforcement official said authorities located El Chapo several days ago, based on reports that he was in Los Mochis, which is 1,300 miles north west of the high security Altiplano prison he escaped from. The official says authorities even searched storm drains in the coastal city.
At an afternoon press conference, the Mexican president announced El Chapo's arrest and thanked those who spent months tracking down the criminal.
'Today, Mexico confirms that its institutions have the capabilities that are necessary to face and overcome anyone who threatens the tranquility of Mexican families,' Nieto said.
El Chapo's arrest 'demonstrates that when Mexicans work together, there is no adversity that can not be overcome', he added.
Nieto had earlier tweeted: 'My appreciation to the Security Cabinet of the Government of the Republic for this important achievement for the rule of law in Mexico.'
At the hideout, marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Photos of the arms seized suggested that Guzman and his associates had a fearsome arsenal at the non-descript white building in which he was hiding.
Two of the rifles seized were .50-caliber sniper guns, capable of penetrating most bullet-proof vests and cars. The grenade launcher was found loaded, with an extra round nearby. And an assault rifle had a .40 mm grenade launcher, and at least one grenade.
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'THE KING OF COCAINE': THE RUTHLESS DRUGS LORD PABLO ESCOBAR WHO INSPIRED NETFLIX SHOW NARCOS
Born in 1949, Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria started his criminal career on the streets of Medellin in Colombia as a teenager, selling contraband cigarettes and stealing cars.
When he was gunned down by Colombian National Police on December 2 1993 he was one of the wealthiest criminals in history, worth a staggering $30billion.
After working for a short time as a bodyguard in the early 1970s Escobar moved on to cocaine trafficking. His operation became so successful that he was able to buy 15 planes and six helicopters to help smuggle the drugs, mainly to the United States.
Notorious: Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel came to control more than 80 per cent of the cocaine shipped to the U.S. by the 1980s until he was finally killed in 1993
Escobar's life inspired the hit Netflix show Narcos, which stars Wagna Moura as the infamous Colombian drugs lord
Escobar amassed so much cash that he had to spend around $2500 a month on rubber bands to keep the piles of notes neatly stacked.
His Medellin Cartel inevitably attracted the attention of the authorities, but Escobar dealt with them mercilessly. He either bribed them or had them assassinated, which is where the likes of John Jairo Velasquez came in.
Escobar was eventually gunned down in 1993 by Colombian police, who found him in a middle-class home in Medellin, after a 15-month-long investigation.
He was shot while trying to escape across nearby roofs with his bodyguard, Alvaro de Jesus Agudelo, who was also shot and killed.
His life inspired the hit Netflix show Narcos tells the true story of the growth and spread of Escobar's cocaine drug cartels across the globe and the brutal and often bloody efforts to halt them, starring Wagner Moura as the kingpin and Steve Murphy (Holbrook), as a DEA agent sent to Colombia on a U.S. mission to capture and ultimately kill him.
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Magazine: At the building marines seized two armored vehicles, eight rifles, one handgun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher
Above, a view of a street in Los Mochis in the aftermath of the predawn shootout with Mexican marines
Man holes are opened in the Los Mochis street near where El Chapo was captured on Friday after he fled down a sewer
From the air: Helicopter circle around the neighborhood where El Chapo was taken into custody on Friday. El Chapo has a lot of supporters in his home state of Sinaloa
Lookout: Members of the Mexican military stand guard near the building where El Chapo was taken into custody on Friday
A Twitter account that has previously been linked to El Chapo, which uses the handle @ElChap0Guzman, posted two tweets two days before the drug lord's capture.
The first, translated from Mexican, said he was 'busy and happy' and enjoying life with his children. A second said he loved his family and valued people who loved them, but that 'everyone else can go f*** their mothers'.
Guzman faces multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the U.S. as well as Mexico, and was on the DEA's most-wanted list.
The DEA says it was 'extremely pleased' with El Chapo's recapture. On its Twitter account, the agency congratulated Mexico's government on catching Guzman, saying it saluted 'the bravery involved in his capture'.
After Guzman was arrested on February 22, 2014, the U.S. said it would file an extradition request, though it's not clear if that happened.
The Mexican government at the time vehemently denied the need to extradite Guzman, even as many expressed fears he would escape as he did in 2001 while serving a 20-year sentence in the country's other top-security prison, Puente Grande, in the western state of Jalisco.
It is unclear if the Mexican government will extradite El Chapo, given his most recent escape. El Chapo is wanted in the states of Arizona, California, Texas, Illinois, New York and Florida.
He is the first 'public enemy number one' since Al Capone in Chicago, where authorities have demanded he is handed over to the US.
J. R. Davis, president of the Chicago Crime Commission, said: 'The two escapes by Guzman demonstrate that even the most 'high security' Mexican prisons are not equipped to hold Guzman.'
The Justice Department had no immediate comment on whether it will push for extradition.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called El Chapo's recapture 'a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the United States, and a vindication of the rule of law in our countries'.
In a statement, Lynch said Guzman 'will now have to answer for his alleged crimes' and congratulated Mexico's government, but did not directly address the sticky issue of extradition.
Altiplano, considered the most secure of Mexico's federal prisons, also houses Zetas drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino, and Edgar Valdes Villarreal, known as 'La Barbie,' of the Beltran Leyva cartel.
Guzman dropped by ladder into a hole 30ft deep that connected with another 5ft-high tunnel, which was fully ventilated and had lighting.
Rich man: El Chapo's fortune was once estimated at $1billion. Above, a mugshot taken after El Chapo's last capture and imprisonment
Authorities also found tools, oxygen tanks and a motorcycle adapted to run on rails that they believe was used to carry dirt out and tools in during the construction.
The tunnel terminated in a half-built house in a farm field.
Guzman's cartel is known for building elaborate tunnels beneath the Mexico-U.S. border to transport cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana, with ventilation, lighting and even railcars to easily move products.
Since El Chapo broke out of jail in July, Mexican police and military have been desperately tracking the cartel boss.
In September, authorities thought El Chapo escaped the country to Costa Rica, after one of his sons posted a photo to Twitter tagging their location in the Central American country. But authorities were unsuccessful in finding him.
The next month, marines tracked El Chapo down to a mountainous region in Sinaloa.
Soldiers engaged in a shootout with El Chapo and his cartel thugs, and he got away yet again.
However, at the time it was reported that El Chapo appeared to have broken his leg fleeing from authorities.
This is the second time that El Chapo has been recaptured after using his influence to break out of prison.
He was first caught by authorities in Guatemala in 1993, extradited and sentenced to 20 years in prison on drug-trafficking-related charges.
He is believed to have escaped in 2001 in a laundry cart, although there have been several versions of how he got away. What is clear is that he had help from prison guards, who were prosecuted and convicted.
During his first stint as a fugitive, Guzman transformed himself into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world. His fortune was estimated at more than $1billion, according to Forbes magazine, which listed him among the 'World's Most Powerful People,' ranked above the presidents of France and Venezuela.
He was finally tracked down to a modest beachside high-rise in the Pacific Coast resort city of Mazatlan, where he had been hiding with his wife and twin daughters.
He was captured in the early morning of February 22, 2014, without a shot being fired.
Head down: El Chapo pictured above in February 2014, when he was captured the last time he broke out of jail
Before they reached him, security forces went on a several-day chase through Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state. They found houses where Guzman supposedly had been staying with steel-enforced doors and the same kind of lighted, ventilated escape tunnels.
Born 58 years ago, according to Interpol, he and his allies took control of the Sinaloa faction when a larger syndicate began to fall apart in 1989.
Even after his 2014 capture, Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel empire continues to stretch throughout North America and reaches as far as Europe and Australia.
The cartel has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last decade, taking an estimated 100,000 lives or more.
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HOW DID HE DO IT LAST TIME? JOAQUIN 'EL CHAPO' GUZMAN'S GREAT ESCAPE FROM PRISON IN JULY 2015
The billionaire leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel began his escape at 8.52pm on Saturday, when he entered the showers at the Altiplano maximum-security prison, 50 miles outside of Mexico City.
The drug kingpin prised open a 50cm by 50cm grill in the shower floor, and climbed down a 32ft shaft into the complex tunnel system that his henchmen had spent the last year digging underneath the feet of the prison guards.
Inside the tunnel was electric lighting, a ventilation system and a motorbike waiting to carry him to freedom.
The 0.9mile tunnel led directly from underneath the prison showers to the Santa Juana construction site, just outside of the prison perimeters.
Waiting for him here was a ramshackle building, with just two bedrooms, a cellar, and a change of clothes for the crime lord.
Prison break: A motorcycle adapted to a rail sits in the tunnel under the half-built house where El Chapo made his escape from the Altiplano maximum security prison in July
Slipped away: A composite handout picture taken from a video shows the escape of El Chapo through the tunnel
And El Chapo had everything he needed to disappear into the Mexican countryside once again, for the second time in 15 years.
But the plan took incredibly detailed, exact planning from the group of four highly-skilled engineers, trusted with the liberation of their leader.
They had acquired blueprints of the prison, and worked a gruelling 10 hour a day schedule for almost an entire year before the tunnel was complete.
The tunnel was no small feat of engineering. It was 0.9miles long, 5ft6in high, and 2ft3in wide.
Overall, the team had to shift more than 3,250 tonnes of earth from under the very noses of the prison officials.
The operation would have required 379 dump trucks in total, carrying tens of thousands of bags of earth.
But incredibly, nothing was ever reported.
A couple who live next to the end of El Chapo's escape tunnel have revealed how a mysterious neighbour who called himself 'El Pastor' moved into the area six months ago and claimed he was building a house.
Lorenzo Esquivel and Maria Esther Salgado, live a mile from the Altiplano jail in the town of Almoloya de Juarez.
The couple told how the man moved into the grey, brink building at the start of this year, before embarking on a series of building works.
They said the man – who they described as tall, portly and in his 50s – would often ferry material to and from the site in his red 4x4 and a white pick-up truck.
The man introduced himself as El Pastor – meaning the Shepherd – the couple told MailOnline.
'He definitely wasn't from around here but he was always very friendly,' they said.
'He told us he was building a new house on the property but we never saw any exterior changes.'
On Saturday, the day El Chapo made his escape, the couple described seeing two 'very luxury black 4x4s' also arrive at the property.
They saw the cars drive away again the following morning, along with El Pastor's two vehicles.
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