Until the day on which he disappeared inside the doors of ADX Florence, the world’s most secure and terrifying prison, there was arguably no more dangerous man on earth than Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
El Chapo spent more than a decade as the undisputed boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, the world’s largest illegal drug operation. His estimated personal net worth was in the tens of billions of dollars. He commanded a force of over 50,000 soldiers, hitmen, gunrunners, and drug dealers. Almost every local drug lord in the United States was either terrified of him, or in his debt. He had escaped prison twice before – once by buying off, essentially, an entire Mexican prison, and once by having his men dig a four mile tunnel right into his cell from below. At his orders, thousands of people had died, some given the most brutal deaths imaginable.
This article is premium content
Get unlimited access to Gript
Support Gript and get exclusive content, full archives and an ad-free experience
Subscribe
Already a member? Sign in here