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Who is El Chapo?
JOAQUÍN Archivaldo Guzmán Loera was born in La Tuna, Mexico, the son of a poor, alcoholic farmer.
His nickname, El Chapo, means Shorty. Despite his fearsome reputation he’s only 5ft 6ins tall. Father to 13 children, El Chapo has been married four times. His current wife is former beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, 29.
What’s his criminal past?
STARTING out as a small time drugs dealer he went on to found the infamous Sinaloa Cartel in 1989. It became the biggest supplier of drugs to the US, with shipments often disguised in fire extinguishers or fake bananas.
By 2003 authorities had branded El Chapo as “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world”.
What about those murders?
HE’S reckoned to have ordered hundreds, having victims gunned down or butchered in execution rooms kitted out with plastic sheets and drains to catch the blood.
Targets were often beheaded and his henchman would upload the videos to YouTube. FACING LIFE BEHIND BARS: El Chapo held by Mexican security forces in 2014 ®
NOTORIOUS gangster El Chapo is finally facing justice in what’s been dubbed the trial of the century. The Mexican cartel boss stands accused of masterminding an international, multi-billion pound drugs trafficking racket, as well as the brutal murder of rivals. ®
But security is tight around the proceedings in New York, as the 61-year-old has become famous for his daring escapes. Here JAMES MOORE has put together the ultimate Q and A on the criminal kingpin…
How did he escape prison?
FIRST arrested in 1993 in Guatemala he was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. But in 2001 he escaped from a maximum security jail in Mexico, hiding in a laundry basket. Despite a $5million reward El Chapo wasn’t re-captured until 2014. He then escaped again through a mile long tunnel – which had been dug underneath the shower in his cell – on an adapted motorbike!
How was he finally snared?
AFTER a bizarre episode in which US
actor Sean Penn managed to interview El Chapo for a magazine in October 2015, the elusive drug baron was arrested the following January after a shoot-out with Mexican marines in Sinaloa. This time, to avoid mishaps, the Mexican government agreed to his extradition on drugs trafficking charges to the US.