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Tag: joaquin guzman

  • Kate del Castillo: El Chapo Associate Investigated for Money Laundering

    Kate del Castillo, actress and known associate of Mexican drug lord El Chapo, is under investigation for suspected money laundering in Mexico. A Mexican government official confirmed the investigation to CNN.

    A dual citizen of both Mexico and the United States, Kate del Castillo has been called to give a statement to investigators but thus far hasn’t been charged with a crime.

    The investigation into the actress is twofold. Links to El Chapo–Joaquin Guzman–are one part. The other involves her tequila–Honor Del Castillo. Investigators are checking to see if drug money helped fund her business.

    Attorney General Arely Gomez said in a recent interview with El Universal that they believe there are connections between the drug money and Kate del Castillo’s boutique tequila business. They have yet to find proof, however.

    “Even where there are indications, we need legal certainty,” Gomez said.

    Comments between El Chapo and Kate del Castillo are under scrutiny, with investigators seeking comments including “we’re in business” and “we’re in this together,” Gomez added.

    Kate del Castillo was with actor Sean Penn during his El Chapo interview for Rolling Stone magazine. She brokered the meeting, saying she wanted to make a movie out of Guzman’s story. She isn’t being investigated for the movie angle, however.

    “We have an investigation into the tequila angle; we are not investigating her plans to make a movie,” Gomez told El Universal. “Our investigation is focused.”

    The actress recently thanked her supporters via social media.

    What’s your take on actress Kate del Castillo? Does her involvement with El Chapo include drug money, or was she merely interested in seeing the drug lord’s story on the big screen?

  • El Chapo, Mexican Drug Lord, Captured Following Months On the Run

    El Chapo, the Mexican drug lord who escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City in July, has been captured. An official from the Mexican Marines confirmed the news to ABC News just a short time ago.

    It was via a ventilated tunnel constructed underneath a bathtub in his cell that El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman, escaped. The tunnel went on for about a mile underground.

    Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the capture of El Chapo via Twitter.

    The Mexican Marines reported earlier this afternoon that the capture followed a shootout with the Mexican Marines in Mochis, which is located in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Five people were reportedly killed and one marine was seriously injured.

    The infamous drug lord had been imprisoned for five months prior to this latest escape. He had previously escaped from a different Mexican prison using a tunnel, too.

    El Chapo is the head of one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels. He ran a multibillion dollar empire that provided much of the marijuana, cocaine, and heroin sold on U.S. streets.

    The Mexican president, as well as many of his officials, are certainly breathing a huge sigh of relief since El Chapo’s capture. This latest prison escape was an embarrassment to their government.

  • Emma Coronel: Former Beauty Queen Arrested With “El Chapo”

    Joaquin Guzman, also known as “El Chapo,” was finally arrested on Saturday in Mazatlan, Mexico. The head of Sinaloa Cartel drug syndicate was captured in a condominium while he was cooking breakfast. Along with him was his wife of six years, former beauty queen Emma Coronel.

    The most wanted drug lord in the world, as El Chapo is called, escaped from his Culiacan hideout through tunnels that led to Mazatlan just about a week ago.

    Coronel met El Chapo at a beauty pageant back in 2007 when she was just 17 years old. El Chapo was immediately enamored by the young woman’s beauty that he used his influence in order for Coronel to win the competition. The two eventually married on Coronel’s 18th birthday. El Chapo was 47 years old.

    According to sources, El Chapo was not the only connection Coronel had with the Sinaloa Cartel. She is reported to be the daughter of Ignacio Coronel, also known as Nacho, who was one of El Chapo’s right-hand men.

    The arrest was carried out just after sunrise. Law enforcement personnel enclosed the 10-story condominium building. They smashed El Chapo’s door open and quickly seized the drug lord. Though there was an assault rifle right by his side, El Chapo did not attempt to reach for it. According to retired senior DEA Mike Vigil, El Chapo did not resist the arrest and seemed tired from the stress of running away from authorities.

    El Chapo was taken to a maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juarez by helicopter. The next steps after the arrest are still unclear. El Chapo will be facing a barrage of charges in Mexico with his involvement in selling methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine to over 50 countries. Politicians in the U.S. are also appealing the cartel leader’s extradition to the U.S. in order to face drug trafficking charges.

    Most Wanted: Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman

    Image via YouTube

  • Sinaloa Cartel Boss Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Arrested

    Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the head honcho of the Sinaloa Cartel, was finally arrested on Saturday February 22. The Mexican cartel is famous for trafficking drugs into the United States, Europe, Asia, and even Australia. Last year, Chicago declared Guzman as Public Enemy Number One. The United States had sought Guzman’s extradition in the past, and had offered $5 million bounty on the drug lord’s head.

    Guzman was captured in a surprise raid on a hotel in a beach resort in Mazatlán, Mexico. The joint operation of the Mexican marines and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was the peaceful implementation—no shots were fired—of a plan that has been in the works for more than a month.

    Months before Guzman’s capture, the Mexican authorities have been capturing and killing many of the cartel’s lieutenants. The operations gave the DEA and the Mexican authorities the information they needed to track down Guzman. The information leading to the capture comes from an investigation conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which, together with Homeland Security, arrested people connected to the Sinaloa Cartel around five years ago in Arizona.

    Mexico Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam stated that the authorities almost arrested Guzman earlier this month, but the cartel chief eluded capture by using a complex tunnel network that was linked to the city of Culiacan’s sewer system.

    The seven residences believed to be Guzman’s hiding places were raided by the Mexican marines, but the entrances were reinforced with steel, enabling the drug boss to escape through the tunnels. The underground tunnel system is used by the cartel to smuggle drugs across the border.

    The authorities were also careful about apprehending Guzman in public areas, fearing citizens might be caught in crossfire.

    Guzman was previously arrested, but in 2001 was able to bribe his way out of his high-security prison, reportedly escaping in a laundry truck. Throughout the years, he was able to avoid capture by bribing corrupt officials.

    http://youtu.be/Cz6RF26Fgws

    Image via YouTube

  • “El Chapo” Killed? Chicago “Public Enemy” Reportedly Taken Down

    “El Chapo”, a.k.a. Joaquin Guzman, has reportedly been killed in a bloody shootout on the Guatemala border.

    Guzman was head of the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico and was largely considered to be Chicago’s “Public Enemy Number 1”, as he used the city as his American hub. After years of heading a huge web of cocaine and heroin producers, Guzman was thought to have amassed a fortune of around $1 billion. After escaping from a Mexican prison in 2001, Guzman has been on the run and has been considered by law enforcement officials in Chicago as more dangerous and infamous than even Pablo Escobar, the famed drug lord of the 1980’s.

    Witnesses to the gun battle this week–which allegedly occurred between rival drug gangs in the jungle surrounding Peten, Guatemala–say Guzman was among several killed, but officials haven’t confirmed that yet. They say they will conduct a thorough investigation of the area and have a copy of Guzman’s fingerprints to go on, but as of now, they haven’t even been able to confirm that a shootout even took place.

    “We have to wait for all the technical information in order to determine if, in fact, one of the dead is of Joaquin `El Chapo’ Guzman,” government official Francisco Cuevas said.

    Image: Damian Dovarganes