Hunting El Chapo Read online

  Gutierrez, Nicolás “Nico,” 164, 176–78, 181, 183, 185, 188, 193–94, 197–207, 209, 211, 217, 217, 225–26, 228, 240–41, 248, 253–54, 259, 263, 273–74, 276, 281, 284, 288

  Guzmán, Arturo (Chapo’s brother), 22

  Guzmán, Edgar (Chapo’s son), 3–4, 98, 121, 231

  Guzmán, Tocallo (Chapo’s son), 154

  Guzmán Loera, Joaquín Archivaldo “El Chapo,” 1

  agencies targeting, 76–77, 89–90, 95

  arrest of 1993, 21–22

  background of, 286

  ball cap of, 233

  bathtub tunnels and, 157, 201, 209–18, 221–27, 232–33, 238, 249–50, 252, 294, 311

  birthday at La Tuna, 94

  BlackBerry chain and, 65–72, 82–83, 90–92, 96–102, 107, 118–28, 137–43, 172, 301

  business style and, 110, 113–14, 153–55

  Cabo San Lucas raid and, 68–72

  Canada and, 110–12, 127

  capture mission in Culiacán, 193–207, 219–23, 240–54, 261–62, 268

  capture mission in Mazatlán, 253–254, 263, 269, 271–84, 281–89, 291–93

  capture mission planned, 95–96, 116, 141–42, 147–49, 151–53, 151–58, 158–68, 171–92

  capture of 2016, 301–5

  CIA and, 128–29

  Cifuentes and, 127–30

  Colt Super gun, 251–52

  daughter Grisel and, 134

  Diego flips inner circle member, 68

  drug empire of, 22–24, 105, 110, 112–13

  Duck Dynasty and, 148–59

  escape of 2001, 24–26, 142–43

  escape of 2015, 297–300

  escape of, in Los Mochis, 302–3

  extradited to US, 304–10

  fame of, 5, 9–11, 29–30, 82, 92

  FBI and, 127–29

  film and, 116, 132–34, 300

  Forbes and, 42

  Gallardo and, 22, 79

  go bag and, 238

  imprisonments and, 24, 292–93, 304–5

  indictments in US, 99, 307, 308–9

  leaks to, 155–56, 165–67, 185

  lieutenants and, 23, 114, 122, 163

  misspellings and, 272–73

  money laundering and, 47, 50–57

  NADDIS file on, 29

  names of, 1–2, 5–6, 206, 209, 213, 240

  narcocorridos and, 1, 5–7

  pattern of life and, 125–26, 137–39, 158, 160, 229

  photo of, 92

  Rolling Stone and, 301

  sons and, 3–4, 99, 135, 148, 231

  Torres takedown and, 59, 62, 65–66, 101

  tunnels and, 143–45

  US Attorney’s Offices and, 108–9

  violence and, 107, 118–19, 181, 292–93

  wife Griselda and, 134, 232

  women and, 115–17

  Guzmán López, Grisel (Chapo’s daughter), 134, 232

  Guzmán López, Joaquin “Güero” (Chapo’s son), 134–35, 148–50, 154, 232, 305

  Guzmán López, Ovidio “Ratón” (Chapo’s son), 134–35, 148–50, 154, 232, 240, 253, 305

  Guzmán Salazar, Iván Archivaldo “Chapito” (Chapo’s son), 98–99, 102, 135, 254, 256, 258, 305

  Guzmán Salazar, Jesús Alfredo (Chapo’s son), 59, 98–99, 135, 255–56, 258, 305

  Hells Angels, 111

  heroin, 23

  Herrera Esperanza, Jesus “Hondo,” 111–12, 235–36

  Hogan, Brandt, 11, 264, 266, 282

  Holder, Eric, 294–95

  Hollywood, 133

  Homeland Security Investigations, US Department of (HSI), 66, 151–52, 212

  El Paso Field Office, 89–90, 96, 99, 108–10, 122–23, 127, 135–36, 143, 194, 195, 201, 202, 205, 228, 236, 237–38, 240, 247, 253, 254, 257

  San Diego Tunnel Task Force, 144

  US attorneys and, 108–9

  Honduras, 181

  Hoo Ramírez, Carlos Manuel “Condor,” 119–23, 125–26, 130, 136–38, 156, 163, 221, 223, 230–31, 236, 238, 240, 249, 252–53, 257–58, 269, 271–73, 287–88, 300, 306, 321

  Hoyos, Los. See tunnels

  HSBC, 40

  Humo, El, 75

  India, 23

  Inge (ingeniero), 117–19

  intelligence community, 119, 131

  Interpol, 299

  Inzunza Inzunza, Gonzalo “Macho Prieto,” 145–48, 175

  Iranian gangs, 111

  Iusacell, 126

  Jaguares de Culiacán, Los (band), 2

  Jalisco ranch, 10, 21

  James Bond tunnel, 143–44

  Jardines del Humaya cemetery, 121

  Jenkins, Fred, 17–19

  Jenkins, Tom, 19

  Jesús María zone, 155

  Johnson, Leroy “El Roy,” 157–60, 164, 177–79, 183, 187–88, 193–94, 197–201, 211, 217, 219, 230, 240– 41, 243, 248, 253–54, 258–59, 262–63, 271–73, 280, 284

  Jones, Nick, 32–33

  Juárez, 158

  Kansas Highway Patrol, 13, 16–20

  Kansas State Troopers, 12, 16

  Kansas State University, 13

  Kava, 144–45, 148, 154, 217, 223, 258–59, 277, 298

  Kennedy, Robert F., 294

  Knights Templar Cartel. See Caballeros Templarios

  Kommander, El, 321

  La Cienéga airstrip, 154

  Laden, Osama bin, 308

  La Paz air base, 70, 166, 167, 177–86, 319

  La Tuna, Mexico, 6, 94, 132, 306

  Leonhart, Michele, 21, 151–52, 293–95

  Lic-F. See López Núñez, Dámaso

  Lic (licenciado), 100, 319–20

  Lic Oro, 101, 116

  Lincoln County, Kansas, 13–14

  Lizzy (madam), 116

  Location One, 226–27

  Location Two, 221–25, 227, 251

  Location Three, 206, 219–24, 230, 237–39, 251, 257

  Location Four, 219

  Location Five “El 5,” “La Piscina,” 206, 209–10, 213, 217–18, 222, 228–29, 232–33, 235

  Loera de Guzmán, Consuelo (Chapo’s mother), 306

  López Núñez, Dámaso “El Licenciado,” “Lic-F,” 24, 142–44, 155, 165–67, 185–86, 199, 205, 236, 250, 252–53, 257–59, 262–63, 306n

  López Osorio, Edgar Manuel “Picudo,” “El 70,” 70, 83, 107, 142, 154, 225, 227–30, 236–37, 240–53, 306, 311

  López Pérez, Griselda (Chapo’s second wife), 134, 231–33

  Los Alegres del Barranco (band), 155

  Los Angeles, 50, 105

  Los Angeles Times, 10

  Los Mochis, Sinaloa, 107, 155, 172, 194, 199, 301–3, 314

  Lucia (cook), 201, 287

  Luciano, Lucky, 22

  Luis, “Lucho” (Chapo’s cousin), 181

  Lynch, Loretta, 307

  Macho Prieto. See Inzunza Inzunza, Gonzalo

  Maestro (pilot), 153

  Malverde, Jesús, 121

  marijuana, 23, 31–32, 98, 102, 145, 235

  marines. See Secretaría de Marina-Armada de México

  Marsh, Warne, 205

  Mayo, El. See Zambada García, Ismael

  Mazatlán, 113, 155, 193, 227–28, 249–54, 263, 269, 271–84, 311, 313–14

  McAllister, Thomas, 76–77, 152, 164–65, 290, 293–94

  McKenzie, Kenny, 53–56

  McMahon, Jim, 11

  Medellín, Colombia, 42, 121, 127

  Mercantile Bank, 40

  Mérida soccer team, 5

  Mesa Police Department, 4, 27, 31

  Metallica (band), 5, 13

  methamphetamine, 5, 23, 38, 155, 222, 225, 239, 243

  Metropolitan Correction Center (MCC, Manhattan), 308–10

  Mexican Army. See Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional

  Mexican Attorney General’s Office (PGR, La Procuraduría General de la República), 78, 259, 292, 300, 323

  Mexico, violence in, 65, 78, 86

  Mexico City, 10, 30, 39–41, 59, 145

  application for position in, 66–68

>   earthquakes, 114

  money from Canada and, 43–56

  move to, 75–77, 79–81

  return to, after Chapo’s capture, 290–91

  Mexico City International Airport, 77–78

  Mexico-Guatemala border, 23

  Miller, Neil, 122–23, 126, 135, 152, 194, 202, 228, 254, 268, 290

  Miramar, Hotel, 269, 271, 275–84, 287–88, 294, 311

  mirrors, 72, 93, 97, 100, 102, 109, 122, 126, 152, 254, 320

  money brokerage and laundering, 31, 38–57, 60, 75, 99, 255

  Montreal, 112

  Moreno, Nazario “El Más Loco,” 186

  Motor (SEMAR officer), 229

  Nana (code for Chapo), 240, 320

  narcocorridos, 2–3, 5–7, 25, 27–29, 71, 311–12, 320–21

  narco juniors, 3, 5, 6, 31–32, 99, 321

  narco subs, 23

  Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Information System (NADDIS), 29

  Naris (courier), 116–16, 139–40, 156–57, 178, 189, 203, 205–7, 209, 221–24, 227, 230–32, 235, 251, 268

  National Action Party, 299

  National Football League (NFL), 31

  National Human Rights Commission, 305

  Navarro, Pedro “Bugsy,” 30–35, 37–38, 51

  Negro, El. See Aponte Gómez, Manuel Alejandro

  Netherlands, 110

  New York City, 31, 50, 105

  “Niño de La Tuna, El” (narcocorrido), 5, 29, 73, 237, 277

  Nogales, Mexico, 38, 98, 143–45

  Nueva Generación, La (New Generation) 30–32, 37–38

  Obama, Barack, 151, 294, 307

  Office devices, 96–100, 129, 138

  Office-1, 96, 98, 109, 126, 135, 240

  Office-2, 109

  Office-3, 96, 109, 236

  Office-4, 109, 126–27

  Office-5, 90, 92–94, 96, 97, 100–101, 106–7, 109, 110, 139

  Office-6, 109, 115, 140

  Office-10, 126

  Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force “La Nueva Generación” investigation, 30

  Osawatomie State Hospital, 14

  Oscar (accountant), 154

  Osorio Chong, Miguel Ángel, 307

  Otiz, Gerardo, 321

  Palma, Héctor Luis “El Güero,” 190

  Panama, 105, 153

  Panama City, 37–47

  Panchito. See Cifuentes Villa, Hildebrando Alexánder

  Patagonia, 299

  pattern of life, defined, 125n, 321

  Pattonville, Kansas, 11–13, 17

  Pattonville’s Firehouse Pub, 17–19

  Payton, Walter, 11

  Peña Nieto, Enrique, 304, 306, 308

  Penn, Sean, 300, 301

  Pepe (Colombia operator), 97

  Perez, Marco, 145–47

  Peru, 58, 77

  PF. See Federal Police

  PGP-encrypted smartphones, 111

  PGR. See Mexican Attorney General’s Office

  Philippines, 110

  Phoenix, 2–3, 110

  Phoenix Field Division, 247

  Phoenix Police Department, 28

  Phoenix Task Force, 2, 98, 118, 310

  Pichis or Pichiguila. See Duck Dynasty

  Picudo. See López Osorio, Edgar Manuel

  Pinguino, 154

  Pinto (Culiacán worker), 154

  plazas, 10, 22

  pool house, defined, 32

  Posadas Ocampo, Cardinal Juan Jésus, Archbishop of Guadalajara, 9–11

  Potrillo, El (informant), 85–86

  Primera División soccer team, 5

  Proceso magazine, 247

  Puente Grande (Federal Social Readaption Center No. 2), Chapo escape of 2001 from, 24–25, 83, 96, 142, 143, 298

  Puerto Peñasco takedown (2013), 145–48, 247

  Quantico, 19, 60, 67

  Querétaro soccer team, 5

  Raul (Panama operator), 153

  RBC bank, 40

  “Regreso del Chapo, El” (narcocorrido), 25

  Reina del Sur, La (telenovela), 116, 300

  Reyes Aragones, Raul “La Furia,” 161–64, 166, 172–77, 182, 191, 229, 289, 300

  Reyna Marquez, Antonio “Garra,” 182, 190–91, 196–98, 200, 203, 209–12, 214, 220, 254, 258–59, 262–63, 288

  Robles, Ricardo, 51–53, 57, 62

  Rolling Stone, 300–301

  roving wire intercept, 202

  Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), 110

  Salazar Hernández, María Alejandrina (Chapo’s first wife), 98

  Salcido Uzeta, Manuel “Cochiloco,” 190

  Salinas de Gortari, Carlos, 10

  Saludos a Generente, 134

  Sánchez López, Lucero “La Diputada,” 299

  San Diego, 33–34, 105, 143–44

  San Diego Field Division, 33

  San Diego Police Department, 33–34

  San Diego Tunnel Task Force, 144

  San Luis Potosí ambush, 66

  Second-Tier, 100, 109–10, 114–16, 119, 122–23, 126–27, 129–30, 136–40, 202, 228, 238

  Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA, Mexican Army), 130–32, 141, 155–56, 227, 322, 324, 387

  Secretaría de Marina-Armada de México (SEMAR, Mexican marines), 141, 152, 159, 161–67, 171–91, 193, 196–200, 202, 204, 207, 210–17, 220–25, 229–32, 235–63, 271–85, 287–89, 291, 300, 301–2, 323

  SEDENA. See Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional

  SEMAR. See Secretaría de Marina-Armada de México

  Señor, El, 90–91, 101, 102, 137, 156, 318

  September 11, 2001, attacks, 89, 91

  “Se Quedaron a Tres Pasos” (narcocorrido), 71

  Sergio (adviser), 155–56, 199–200

  sicarios, 86, 307

  Sierra Madre, 26, 30, 118, 119, 299, 301, 323

  Sinaloa, 2, 3, 23, 71, 83, 118, 121, 127, 300, 313–14

  Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office, 24, 142–43

  Sinaloa Cartel, 5, 9–11, 22–24, 26, 29, 42, 62, 75, 76, 101, 105, 143–46

  Sinaloa State Police, 30

  Sixto (pilot), 90, 91–93, 97

  Snake (DEA agent), 19

  Spain, 40

  Special Operations Division (SOD), 119, 220, 291, 293

  St. Louis, 31

  straw purchases, 99

  Suegro, El (father-in-law), 101, 102

  Super Bowl, 11

  Super Troopers (film), 28

  Tandy, Karen, 21

  Tapia, Roberto, 5, 321

  Team America, Operation, 51, 67, 92, 101

  Telcel, 100, 126

  telecommunication service providers, 120, 126

  Tigres del Norte, Los (band) 320

  Tigre (SEMAR lieutenant), 262–63, 268, 273–80, 285, 287–88

  Tijuana, 2, 72–74, 98, 144, 154

  Tijuana Cartel, 9–10

  Tocallo, 98, 102, 117–19, 149, 154

  Tocayo (namesake), 98

  Top-Tier, 125–26, 130, 136–37, 143, 152, 157, 160, 162–63, 177, 185, 189–90, 194–95, 199–201, 228, 237–38, 250, 254, 259, 262–63, 268–69, 271–72, 278

  Toro, El. See Diaz, Julio

  Toronto, 112

  Torres-Leon, Jasmine Elena, 59

  Torres-Ramos, Carlos, 58–62, 65, 101

  Trafficker Directed Funds (TDF), 52, 60

  traps, 31–32, 54

  Trump, Donald, 308

  Tucson, 110

  tunnels, 143–45, 154, 156–57, 258

  Turbo (Chapo lieutenant), 113, 139, 153

  Tweety (Bugsy’s right-hand man), 34–35, 38

  UPS, 31

  Usacell (mirror), 126

  US attorneys, 108, 118, 290–91

  US Customs and Border Protection, 144

  US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 144–45

  US Marine Corps, 19

  US Marshals Service, 157

  US-Mexico border, 23, 143

  US-Mexico Transboundary Agreement, 69

  Vago, 106–7

  Vancouver, Canada, 50, 11
1–12, 236

  Venezuela, 23, 92, 97

  Vero (nanny), 287

  Villa, Pancho, 25

  Walmart, 74, 139–40

  Washington State, 110

  WhatsApp, 102

  Winnipeg, 112

  wire intercepts, 32, 119

  World Trade Center bombing (1993), 308

  Yousef, Ramzi, 308

  Zambada García, Ismael “El Mayo,” 105, 117, 146, 183–85, 187, 189–90, 197

  Zapata, Jaime, 66–68, 87

  Zetas Cartel, 65–66, 75, 142, 240, 323–24

  Zona Rosa neighborhood, 85, 87

  Zorro (SEMAR lieutenant), 223, 225, 229, 239–40, 251, 271

  Photos Section

  Chapo Guzmán after his first arrest in June 1993.

  AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

  Boarding the DEA Learjet en route to Mexico City in June 2010, carrying the $1.2 million in cash inside FedEx boxes.

  Image courtesy of the author

  Diego sitting with Mercedes Chavez-Villalobos and her associates at La Rosita restaurant in Panama, June 2009. I took this photo surreptitiously during the undercover operation.

  Image courtesy of the author

  With the seized 2,513 kilograms of cocaine in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in November 2010.

  Image courtesy of the author

  Chapo in his signature black baseball cap, toting an AR-15 outside a Mexican ranch several years after his first prison escape in 2001.

  Source unknown

  The photo found in a BlackBerry seized at Chapo’s mansion in Cabo San Lucas after his escape from Mexican and DEA authorities in February 2012.

  Image courtesy of the author

  The card—headed by his initials, J.G.L.—that Chapo sent with flowers to his numerous girlfriends in Culiacán on El Día del Amor y la Amistad (Valentine’s Day).

  Image courtesy of the author

  The Chicago Crime Commission names El Chapo Public Enemy Number One, replacing Al Capone, in February 2013.

  AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

  A diagram I created to show the communication structure of Chapo’s mirror devices.

  Image courtesy of the author

  Video of Chapo interrogating a man tied to a post under a palapa.

  Source unknown

  An overhead shot of Duck Dynasty showing further construction: multiple palapas, a house, and a swimming pool.

  Imagery © 2017, Digital Globe; map data © 2017 Google, INEGI

  Packages of cocaine stored in the tunnel at Safe House 3 along with fake plastic bananas used for shipping the drugs.