El Chapo

Joaquin Guzman, known as “El Chapo,” is a criminal and the leader of the illegal drug smuggling Sinaloa cartel, responsible for an estimated 25% of the illegal drugs trafficked from Mexico into the U.S. Guzman is believed by drug experts to be spending more money to defend the cartel than in previous years due to stepped up enforcement efforts by the Mexican government, and has expanded cartel operations to Central America, particularly Guatemala. But authorities are closing in: December 2011 brought the arrest of a top Sinaloa lieutenant, quickly followed in February by the capture of the leader of the cartel’s armed wing. Circumstances must be less than cozy in the mountains where El Chapo hides out; in August, the drug lord reportedly sent his 22-year-old wife to Los Angeles County to give birth to the couple’s twin daughters.

Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera is a fugitive Mexican who heads the world’s largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization, the Sinaloa Cartel (sign me up dude) he is worth billion an organization named after the Mexican Pacific coast state of Sinolia where it was initially formed.

Known as “El Chapo Guzmán” (“Shorty Guzmán“) for his 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) stature, he became Mexico’s top drug kingpin in 2003 after the arrest of his rival, and is now considered “The most powerful drug trafficker in the world

Guzmán Loera has been ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful people in the world every year since 2009; ranking 41st, 60th and 55th respectively. He was also listed by Forbes as the 10th richest man in Mexico (1,140th in the world) in 2011.

Guzman smuggles multi-ton coke shipments from through Mexico to the United States, and has distribution cells throughout the U.S. The organization has also been involved in the production, smuggling and distribution of Mexican of all drugs. The U.S. offers a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Guzmán was born on April 4, 1957 to a poor family in the rancho of La Tuna, Mexico, where he sold oranges as a child. He had two sisters, Armida and Bernarda; and four brothers: Miguel Ángel, Aureliano, Arturo and Emilio. Little is known about Guzmán’s early years. His father was supposedly a cattle rancher, as were most in the area; it is believed, however, that he also grew  opium poppie wow see the vision

] Guzmán’s father had connections to higher-ups in the Avilés was a key player in the Sinaloa drug business, seen as a pioneer for finding new methods of transporting the rural produce to urban areas for shipment by way of airplanes. He is reportedly the first to use airplanes to smuggle cocaine to the US. By the time Guzmán was in his 20s his connection to Avilés would be his window of opportunity to start in the drug business and make his fortune.

His habit of moving from place to place allowed him to nurture contacts throughout the country. He was now operating in 17 out of 31 Mexican states. With his business expanding, he placed his trusted friend in charge of methamphetamine production; this way Guzmán could continue being the boss of bosses. Coronel Villarreal proved so reliable in the Guzmán business that he became known as “Crystal King

Arrest and escape

Guzmán was captured in Guatemala on June 9, 1993,[. He was jailed in the maximum security La Palma, The police say Guzmán carefully masterminded his escape plan, wielding influence over almost everyone in the prison, including the facility’s director. He allegedly had the prison guards on his payroll, smuggled contraband into the prison and received preferential treatment from the staff. In addition to the prison-employee accomplices, police were paid off to ensure he had at least 24 hours to get out of the state and stay ahead of the military manhunt. The story told to the guards being bribed was that Joaquín Guzmán was smuggling gold out of the prison, ostensibly extracted from rock at the inmate workshop. The

 

Raids

In the ensuing manhunt, authorities arrested many of Guzmán’s associates in Puebla, Toluca and Mexico City. The states of Sinaloa and Nayarit would also see a wave of arrests. In the summer of that year Esteban Quintero Mariscal, a hired killer and cousin of Guzmán’s, was arrested and imprisoned, Mexico’s highest-security prison. The following day El Chito, the prison guard most responsible for helping Guzmán escape, was captured and incarcerated

On September 7, 2001, authorities raided a stash house in the eastern Mexico City. Federal agents chased three people fleeing the house all the way to Taxquena in the southern part of the city. Among those arrested was Arturo “El Pollo” Guzman Loera, Guzmán’s younger brother. Guzmán reportedly considered suicide following his arrest. Authorities were led to Arturo by information from Quintero Mariscal.

In November 2001, military intelligence pinpointed Guzmán’s location, where they captured Miguel Angel Trillo Hernandez. Trillo had helped Guzmán in the aftermath of his escape from Puente Grande, renting houses so Guzmán could hide in them. They next discovered Guzmán was hiding out on a ranch outside Sante Fe, Nayarit. Mexican military deployed helicopters to close in, Guzmán to escape to the Sierra.

Despite the progress made in arresting others in the aftermath of Guzmán’s escape, including a handful of his top logistics and security men, the huge military and federal police manhunt failed to capture Guzmán himself. Since his escape, he has been Mexico’s most wanted man.

In March 2008 the Guatemalan government reported that Guzmán’s organization may have been tied to a gun battle in their country that left ten gunmen dead. Three days later the Honduran government reported that they were investigating whether he was hiding out in Honduras.

On April 18, 2009, , Roman Catholic Archbishop Héctor Gonzalez announced that the fugitive drug trafficker was “living nearby and everyone knows it except the authorities, who just don’t happen to see him for some reason.” A few days after that two military officers were found dead near a bullet-riddled car in the same area the archbishop claimed Guzmán lived. It is believed that the officers, who were dressed in civilian clothes, were working undercover in the area when they were abducted and executed. A message was left near them: “You’ll never get ‘El Chapo’, not the priests, not the government.”

Reports by mention that Guzmán Loera is protected at all times by a personal mercenary army composed of over 30 armed men, all of them in military uniform, whose only objective is to prevent his capture and/or killing by Mexican authorities

Family

In 1977 he married Alejandrina María Salazar Hernández in a small ceremony in the town of Jesús María, Sinaloa. With Alejandrina Guzmán he had three children: César, Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo. He set them up in a ranch home in Jesús María. In the mid-’80s Guzmán remarried, this time to Griselda López Pérez, with whom he had four more children: Édgar, Joaquín, Ovidio and Griselda Guadalupe.[2] Guzmán’s sons would follow him into the drug business. On February 15, 2005, his son Iván Archivaldo was arrested in Guadalajara.[41] He was sentenced to 5 years in a federal prison, but released in April 2008 after a Mexican federal judge ruled that the case was lacking in evidence. In June 2005 the (DEA) arrested his brother, two nephews and a niece. They also seized nine houses and six vehicles. Some of the arrests took place in US cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland.

In November 2007 Guzmán was married to 18-year-old beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro in Canelas, Durango.In August 2011, Coronel Aispuro, a citizen of the United States, gave birth to twin girls in a Los Angeles (California) County Hospital.[On May 2012 the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against Guzman’s sons Iván Guzmán Salazar and Ovidio Guzmán López  which prohibits people in the US from conducting businesses with them and freezes their US assets.Guzmán’s son, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, and ex-wife, María Alejandrina Salazar Hernández, were added to the sanction list on 7 June 2012 too.

On the night of 17 June 2012, Obied Cano Zepeda, a nephew of Guzmán, was gunned down by unknown assailants at his home in the state capital