There were many drug lords all over the world, from men like Pablo Escobar to women like Griselda Blanco, but hardly anyone was as infamous as El Chapo, who has already become something of a legend. As a former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, El Chapo has been arrested twice in the past for various drug crimes, but he escaped from prison twice only to be caught again, and now he is on trial, which could mean that he will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
El Chapo Biography
A large part of the world knows him as El Chapo, but his real name is actually JoaquÃn Archivaldo Guzmán Loera. The drug lord was born on April 4, 1957, in La Tuna, Badiraguato ward, Sinaloa, Mexico. Guzmán, who is also known as the last godfather, grew up in a very poor family. His mother was MarÃa Consuelo Loera Pérez and his father was Emilio Guzmán Bustillos, a cattle breeder.
He grew up with two younger sisters and four younger brothers. He also had three older brothers who are said to have died a natural death when he was young. As a child, he dropped out of school before being kicked out of the house for trying to protect his younger siblings when his father beat them.
After he was thrown out, he continued to live with his grandfather before working for his uncle Pedro Avilés Pérez, who was known as one of the first drug barons in Mexico. This was the beginning of the journey for Guzmán, who would later be called one of the most productive, violent, and powerful drug cartel leaders of all time.
His first job, however, was for Héctor “El Güero” Palma, who was a drug lord. El Chapo transported drugs for him and supervised their delivery to areas near the border between the United States and Mexico. Soon he would be known for his violent way of doing business, which helped him to rise in the ranks.
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In the 1980s, after an internal crisis of the cartel, JoaquÃn Archivaldo Guzmán Loera took advantage of the situation to take over more drug deals. Since he controlled a large part of the market, he became involved in the cartel conflict from 1989 to 1993, in which many people died, including the Cardinal and Archbishop of Guadalajara, Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, who was caught in the crossfire.
After the conflict, he was captured in Guatemala in 1993 and extradited to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but escaped in 2001. By that time his drug empire was already the largest. The next time he would be recaptured in Mexico in 2014, but in 2015 he would escape for the second time. But this time he was recaptured in 2016.
El Chapo Trial (Where is he now?)
After his drug crimes, in which he had an empire of more than $10 billion and became a drug lord worse than Pablo Escobar and gained the reputation of Al Capone, he has ten charges against him in his own country of Mexico, and in the United States, federal charges in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and New Hampshire.
He is indicted on U.S. soil for facilitating organized crime against health, money laundering, murder, conspiracy to import and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession of firearms. After his third arrest, he was extradited to the United States on condition that even if found guilty he would not face the death penalty.
He was finally extradited to the United States on January 9, 2017, and on his first appearance in court, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. His trial was scheduled to begin on September 5, 2018, but was then postponed until November 5, 2018. It is expected that the trial will last four months.
Nevertheless, El Chapo is now in the United States where he is on trial.
El Chapo’s Wife, Son, and other Children)
Guzmán was married more than once in the past. The first woman he married in 1977 was Alejandrina MarÃa Salazar Hernández. His next wife was Griselda Lopez Perez, whom he married only 3 years after his first marriage. At the age of 57, he married the beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, who was only 18 years old at the time.
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Estela Pena is another woman he is said to have married. Although she rejected him, he kidnapped her before she supposedly became his wife. Then there was Zulema Hernandez, who, although she did not marry him, entered into a relationship with him before she was later killed by people suspected to be Guzmán’s rivals.
El Chapo had three children with his first wife, including a son, Cesar, who was later killed. The drug baron also had four children with his second wife. Most members of his family are also involved in the drug business. With Emma Coronel Aispuro he has twin daughters, Maria Joaquina and Emali Guadalupe.
Height
El Chapo is not the biggest man you will meet. In fact, because of his size or lack of it, he was nicknamed El Chapo, which means “shorty” in Spanish. He is 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) tall and has a body weight of 91 kg (201 lb).