Full Coverage: The saga of ‘El Chapo,’ one of the world’s biggest drug kingpins
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, one of the world’s biggest drug kingpins, gained folklore status during his decade-plus on the lam, evading authorities thanks to his skill at building secret tunnels from his assorted mountain hide-outs, urban safe houses and seaside apartments — as well as his ability to bribe, cajole and kill.
He was captured in February of 2014, a major victory for Mexican government and law enforcement. Sometime on July 11, Guzman broke out of a maximum-security prison for the second time, making his way through another tunnel, a mile-long passageway to an empty house under construction 50 miles west of the capital.
Then on Jan. 8, 2016, he was recaptured.
On Feb. 12, 2019, Guzman was found guilty on 10 counts in his international narcotics smuggling trial in a capstone triumph for the U.S. Justice Department. He will almost certainly spend the rest of his life behind bars in the U.S.
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Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo,” was found guilty Tuesday in an international narcotics smuggling trial that marked a triumph for the U.S.
Feb. 12, 2019
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On the fifth day of deliberations, at least one juror in the federal case against Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman appears confused about how to handle the complex set of charges against the Mexican drug kingpin.
Feb. 11, 2019
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With two notorious prison breaks under his belt, a diamond-encrusted pistol on his hip, and a self-aggrandizing interview with Rolling Stone, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman seems to have done a pretty good job convincing people across the globe that he’s one of the most powerful drug kingpins in modern history.
Feb. 11, 2019
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Jurors deliberating the federal case against Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in Brooklyn came to a decision Thursday: They were done — for the week.
Feb. 7, 2019
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It could just be the long, hard hours of a grueling case taking their toll, but on Wednesday afternoon, there was something in the faces of the assistant U.S. attorneys who’ve spent months prosecuting Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in federal court in Brooklyn.
Feb. 6, 2019
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From the moment they were called to serve in early November, jurors in the trial of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman have been subject to extraordinary precautions, a response to what federal court Judge Brian Cogan called “strong and credible reasons to believe the jury needs protection.”
Feb. 4, 2019
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Federal prosecutors have spent months painting Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman as the most ruthless, brilliant and powerful trafficker who ever lived, marshaling reels of clandestine tape, mountains of interdicted drugs and a jury box worth of convicted felons to try the man they say was the Napoleon of a vast narco-empire.
Ene. 29, 2019
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In any other context, the nine-figure bribe former Sinaloa cartel secretary Alex Cifuentes told New York jurors he arranged for a Mexican president-elect would defy belief.
Ene. 22, 2019
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Two months before he became the president of Mexico in 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto accepted a $100-million bribe from Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a witness in the U.S. trial of the drug kingpin testified Tuesday.
Ene. 15, 2019
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A who’s who of former Sinaloa cartel chiefs have become cooperating witnesses in the sprawling drug-trafficking case against Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Ene. 14, 2019
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The trial of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has featured chilling details of brutal cartel warfare and dizzying revelations about the inner workings of the multibillion-dollar Sinaloa network’s dealings.
Ene. 10, 2019
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The prosecution’s recipe for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s downfall was on full display in federal court Wednesday: turncoats, technology — and the notorious drug kingpin’s own paranoia.
Ene. 9, 2019
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Bringing Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to American soil could take years, but once the process starts, it will probably be lightning quick and as scripted as it has been for other extradited drug lords, terrorists and fugitives.
May. 23, 2016
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The Mexican government on Friday formally approved a U.S. request to transfer Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to California and Texas for prosecution, opening the way for the infamous cartel leader’s extradition to the United States.
May. 20, 2016
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A federal judge has ruled that the extradition of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman can move ahead, Mexico’s Judicial Council said Monday.
May. 9, 2016
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Mexico’s most notorious inmate and prison escape artist has a new home: a cell in Ciudad Juarez, the city across the Rio Grande from Texas that has long been a hub for cross-border drug trafficking and human smuggling.
May. 7, 2016
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Fernando Montiel was sound asleep in his home in Mexico when the manhunt for Joaquin Guzman Loera -- “El Chapo” -- exploded in gunfire on his block.
Abr. 28, 2016
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Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman managed twice to evade border security and sneak into California to visit relatives after his escape from prison, according to his daughter.
Mar. 5, 2016
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Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is willing to accept extradition and plead guilty to charges in a United States court if he can negotiate an “unelevated” prison sentence in a medium security prison, his lawyer has told reporters here.
Feb. 26, 2016
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She sweeps into the restaurant dressed elegantly in black slacks and a sleeveless, pale pink blouse, a white ribbon tied demurely at the neck.
Feb. 21, 2016
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Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s fashion sense has catapulted a Los Angeles men’s clothing company to new heights after the Mexican drug lord was photographed wearing two of the firm’s shirts in an interview with Sean Penn for Rolling Stone magazine.
Ene. 27, 2016
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A massive drug empire spanning North and South America that delivered untold tons of heroin and cocaine from Colombia to the U.S. over two decades via sophisticated cross-border tunnels, private 747s and submarines.
Ene. 20, 2016
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Actor Sean Penn’s clandestine visit with a notorious drug kingpin in the Mexican jungle last fall for a Rolling Stone magazine interview has raised some journalistic questions but is unlikely to land him in criminal trouble in the U.S., experts said Sunday.
Ene. 10, 2016
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He had billions of dollars, a fleet of aircraft at his disposal and an endless supply of resources.
Ene. 10, 2016
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A senior White House official described as “maddening” Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s boasts about sending illegal narcotics to America, but he declined to say Sunday if actor Sean Penn faced potential legal liability for meeting with the fugitive drug kingpin.
Ene. 10, 2016
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Mexican film and TV actress Kate del Castillo has long been a household name in her home country, known for playing tough female roles and speaking out on social issues.
Ene. 10, 2016
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Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, one of the world’s most powerful drug kingpins, gained folklore status during his decade-plus on the lam, evading authorities thanks to his skill at building secret tunnels from his assorted mountain hideouts, urban safe h
Ene. 10, 2016
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Drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman, the billionaire fugitive captured in a shootout Friday in Mexico, met with actor Sean Penn for a secret interview for Rolling Stone magazine in the months before his capture.
Ene. 9, 2016
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Sean Penn hasn’t been in a blockbuster thriller in more than a decade, not since his turn as a tormented father in “Mystic River” 12 years ago.
Ene. 10, 2016
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His house was nothing special, a single-story, tree-shrouded home in a middle-class neighborhood in this seaside city.
Ene. 9, 2016
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In a deadly, predawn shootout, Mexican naval special forces on Friday captured Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the world’s most sought-after drug lord and commander of a vast narcotics empire that stretches across continents.
Ene. 8, 2016
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A top federal law enforcement agent who has spent much of his career chasing Mexican cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman predicted Thursday that the prison escapee will be recaptured through U.S. intelligence efforts infiltrating his now-fractured Sinaloa drug organization.
Jul. 16, 2015
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Electronic metal-bar doors clank more than 20 times behind visitors making their way down long halls and tunnels to the last cell on the “special treatment” prison block, the cramped residence -- until his audacious escape last weekend -- of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Jul. 16, 2015
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Federal law enforcement agencies are offering drone technology and U.S. agents to assist in the hunt for escaped drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, but so far the Mexican government has rebuffed the offers and appears to be hoping it can capture the fugitive on its own, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Jul. 15, 2015
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In the massive manhunt for escaped drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexican soldiers have been searching buses leaving Mexico City, a sprawling capital where it’s easy to hide, and headed into the town of Toluca — back toward the prison from which he fled.
Jul. 15, 2015
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To build a tunnel about a mile long and 30 feet below Mexico’s highest-security prison, the rescuers of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán would have needed to haul away several hundred truckloads of earth, and used excavating power tools that would have been difficult not to hear.
Jul. 13, 2015
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Even as authorities fanned out across Mexico on Monday in search of Joaquin Guzman, the drug kingpin known as “El Chapo” whose weekend escape was straight out of a Hollywood script, Guzman’s cousin was miles away in New Hampshire, facing sentencing in an international cocaine distribution case.
Jul. 13, 2015
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Where in the world is Chapo Guzman?
Jul. 13, 2015
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The legend of drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman grew in stature this weekend with the stunning news that the Sinaloa cartel boss somehow tunneled out of a Mexican prison a year after being captured.
Jul. 13, 2015
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The second prison escape by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel and Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, has created a wave of criticism toward the country’s government.
Jul. 13, 2015
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Jul. 12, 2015
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The elaborate tunnel believed to have played a central part in the daring escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from a Mexican prison probably cost the kingpin millions of dollars and took as long as a year to construct, a former federal official says.
Jul. 13, 2015
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It’s a crazy story: A drug lord escaped from a maximum-security prison in Mexico via a tunnel, outfitted with a rail-mounted motorbike, that led from his shower to a house in a cornfield a mile away.
Jul. 13, 2015
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Chicago compared him to Al Capone.
Jul. 12, 2015
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The tunnel stretched a mile long, from the jailhouse shower to an empty building in a cornfield, and was deep enough for drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to stand upright as he made his escape.
Jul. 11, 2015
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Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman led the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel and supposedly was linked to thousands of deaths before his arrest in February.
Dic. 6, 2014
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Along with the fear of more violence, some worry about the economic fallout of the arrest of Joaquin Guzman, whose operation pumped billions into Sinaloa state.
Feb. 24, 2014
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MEXICO CITY -- From his naming on the Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest billionaires, to his frequent supposed sightings and magical escapes, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been a larger-than-life drug lord who reached mythical proportions in Mexican “narco” folklore.
Feb. 22, 2014
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Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, who is believed to now control Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, comes from the same countryside as Joaquin Guzman. But he keeps a lower profile, which may make him harder to catch.
Mar. 2, 2014
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Mexico’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquin Guzman, known as “El Chapo,” was captured Saturday in a joint operation by Mexican and U.S. federal agents, according to a senior U.S. official.
Feb. 22, 2014
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The Sinaloa drug cartel leader, Mexico’s most-wanted fugitive, was arrested at a Mazatlan resort after more than a decade on the run.
Feb. 22, 2014
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The drug trafficking fugitive racks up more sightings than Elvis.
Nov. 13, 2008