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Tag: drug lord

  • Kate Del Castillo Will Proceed With Netflix Project Despite Receiving Negative Press

    Kate Del Castillo Will Proceed With Netflix Project Despite Receiving Negative Press

    After receiving negative press in the past few months due to her involvement with Mexican narco kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Kate del Castillo continues to gain the support of Netflix as she’s set to star in an original series.

    Despite the not-so-favorable attention brought about by the controversial interview that del Castillo mediated between actor Sean Penn and El Chapo, Netflix is staying loyal to the Mexican actress. El Chapo’s arrest early this year after his second escape came days after Sean Penn published an article about the drug lord for Rolling Stone magazine.

    The Netflix original series entitled Ingobernable stars Kate del Castillo as first lady of Mexico. Netflix’s director of communications for Latin America, Kari Perez said that production will start this year.

    The producers of Ingobernable also had nothing but praises for Kate del Castillo, saying that her past roles redefined what a female character should be in Hispanic television. Netflix Vice President for Local Originals Erick Barmack also revealed that the Spanish-language series will be shown in Mexico.

    The actress also recently revealed in an interview with CNN that she fears the Mexican government. She says, “they have the power to manipulate and do things.” She further revealed that she doesn’t fear the cartel, El Chapo, or his people.  She says she is more afraid of the Mexican government, noting how they’ve “destroyed” her for months now.

    Kate del Castillo claims that the leaked text messages exchanged between her and El Chapo were taken out of context and was made to look like she was having an affair with him.

    Despite the threat, the actress has reiterated that she will still produce a biopic about the life of the drug lord once she resolves her legal woes.

  • El Chapo Evades Recapture, Marines Rain Down Bullets On Mexican Civilians In Manhunt

    El Chapo Evades Recapture, Marines Rain Down Bullets On Mexican Civilians In Manhunt

    It’s been 100 days since the grand escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from his maximum security prison cell, but authorities are still struggling to capture the elusive fugitive.

    El Chapo got lucky twice when he narrowly evaded recapture by the combined forces of U.S. Intelligence and the Mexican Marines. Sources say that an ambush was launched on Saturday at his suspected hiding place in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, which is located on the border of Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa. U.S. law enforcement agents previously gathered intelligence that he sought refuge at his ranch when they intercepted phone signals among Sinaloa cartel officials.

    The Marines were forced to retreat their aerial attack after El Chapo’s security forces opened fire at their helicopters. They entered the ranch on foot and found clothes, medication, and communication devices – but no El Chapo.

    Ten days ago, the Mexican Marines took their manhunt to Tamazula in Durango state, where they reportedly shot at villagers’ homes from helicopters. Several civilians claimed that they almost fell victim to the gunfire and that they had to flee their homes with their families in order to avoid getting killed.

    A resident named Ines Ayon Mendoza told AFP journalists that she was going through her usual morning routine when she felt a slew of bullets raining down on her home. She was able to escape the scene with her family, but claimed that two helicopters continued to fire at her village.

    Despite these failed attempts at capturing El Chapo, U.S. and Mexican authorities are confident that he will be caught sooner or later. In an interview with NBC, former DEA head Michael Braun declared that “Today [Guzmán] is a dead man walking. It’s only a matter of time.”

    Security expert Javier Oliva of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) echoed Braun’s sentiments by saying, “It will not be long from now, perhaps a month, before Guzmán is re-captured.”

  • ‘El Chapo’ Cleverly Escapes Prison, Suspected To Be Hiding In Sierra Madre Mountains

    The latest developments in the escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman involve newly-released surveillance footage revealing a banging noise coming from inside his maximum security cell at the Altiplano prison just moments before he escaped.

    The video, which was previously released to the public by the Mexican government, initially shows El Chapo tucked under a blanket on his bed, watching TV.  

    Mexican media company Televisa shared the audio recording to match the video, and it reveals a banging sound that persists for almost four minutes before El Chapo gets up and heads to the shower area of his cell. Approximately two minutes later, after pacing back and forth from his the shower and his bed, El Chapo disappears.

    Mexican and U.S. law enforcement immediately joined forces in capturing El Chapo. U.S. drug agents were reported to have intercepted cell phone communications between members of the Sinaloa drug cartel in order to get information on his whereabouts.  They suspect that the fugitive drug lord is hiding at one of his ranches in the Mexican Sierra Madre mountains.

    However, Mexican Marines returned empty-handed after launching a raid in the said ranch.

    According to sources, all that was found in the ranch were clothing, cell phones, and other items that are believed to belong to El Chapo.

    Upon inspection of the escape tunnel by Mexican authorities, it was discovered that it measured almost one mile and connected the two-by-two foot hole in the shower floor all the way to an empty construction site south of the prison.

    Hailed as the “Osama bin Laden of drug trafficking,” El Chapo remains the most wanted man in Mexico and is now also public enemy number one in Chicago. Chicago crime commission executive director Joseph Mays attributes his city’s numerous drug-related violence to El Chapo.

  • Catherine Zeta Jones Will Play Fearsome Female Drug Kingpin In ‘The Godmother’

    Catherine Zeta Jones Will Play Fearsome Female Drug Kingpin In ‘The Godmother’

    An upcoming film about a real-life female drug kingpin will be starring Catherine Zeta-Jones in the title role of The Godmother. In it, she will be playing the role of Griselda Blanco, a fearsome figure in the Colombian drug cartel who was active during the Miami drug wars of the 1970s and 1980s.

    Zeta-Jones previously played a drug-related role in 2000’s Traffic, where she fleshed out the character of the wife of a drug lord. However, in The Godmother, Zeta-Jones tackles the drug world head on, portraying a female drug lord known for carrying out executions and violent attacks on her enemies in order to maintain her grip on the drug trade. This reputation for violence and death earned the character of Zeta-Jones her nicknames – Black Widow, La Madrina and the Cocaine Godmother.

    The film starring Zeta-Jones will be based on the real-life subject of two classic documentaries, Cocaine Cowboys and Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin’ With The Godmother. These two documentaries outline the life of Blanco and how she established a distribution network for cocaine that connected Colombia and the cities of Miami, New York and Los Angeles.

    The Godmother will be directed by Norwegian filmmaker Eva Sørhaug, who directed films such as 90 Minutes and Cold Lunch. Its screenplay is written by Frank Baldwin, although no production schedule has been determined thus far.

    Zeta-Jones faces the challenge of portraying a woman with a colorful and dangerous life. Blanco grew up to be a teenage runaway and prostitute in Cartagena, Colombia before migrating to the US and starting a cocaine business with her husband in New York City. After fleeing back to Colombia to escape federal charges, Blanco reestablished herself in Miami, where her cocaine business flourished due to her connections to the Medellin Cartel. She served 18 years of prison starting in 1985, after which she was deported to Colombia. Back in her home country, Blanco was gunned down in 2012 in a motorcycle drive-by shooting at the age of 69.