How the Arrest of Mexico's Last Don Heralds in Ruthless New Drug Era Ed Vulliamy - The Observer
go to original October 6, 2014

Mexican marines lead away Joaquín Guzmán after his arrest in February 2014. (Susana Gonzalez/Getty Images)

Joaquín Loera Guzmán had earned and deserved his title as the world’s richest and most powerful criminal when he was arrested in February. The Sinaloa cartel of which he was the absolute jefe de los jefes (boss of the bosses), has become by far the biggest mafia organisation in the carnage that has cursed Mexico since the narco war detonated in 2006. It is also the most cogent organised crime syndicate in the world, trafficking – according to some estimates – up to 90% of drugs consumed in the US and varying proportions across Europe, Africa and the east.

Guzmán had been on the run since his escape from jail in 2001, having been initially arrested in 1993. He had been subject to what the US Drugs Enforcement Administration calls “the biggest manhunt of all time”. Like all Mexican dons, he has a nom de narco, and is known as El Chapo (Shorty) – ostensibly to describe his appearance...

Those who watch what goes on in Mexico with care believe he has friends everywhere, especially in high places. They are unconvinced by the official scenario – the outlaw finally caught by the good guys. Many believe – and a shocking new film now appears to confirm this – that authorities knew where El Chapo was all along, and had been making deals with him. Guzmán’s cartel had, and still has, a private hangar at Mexico City airport, which would be hard to achieve playing cops and robbers.

A biography of Guzmán calls him The Last Narco, which he certainly is not – indeed, the reality is that in terms of violence, he is being overtaken on the outside lane by the newcomers’ new levels of ruthlessness. But he is, in his way, the last of the old-guard mafia dons, the last of that breed epitomised – in the Italian mafia lore with which we are more familiar – by the figure of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone, the godfather.

Read the full story at The Guardian

¿Es El Chapo? - Documentary questions whether Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Guzman actually was captured - Official Trailer (drlaffodaypcs)

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