How Mexico's Most-Wanted Drug Lord Escaped From Prison (Again)

MULTIZ321 · Jul 14, 2015

How Mexico's Most-Wanted Drug Lord Escaped From Prison (Again) - by Larry Buchanan, Josh Keller, and Derek Watkins/ World/ Americas/ International New York Times/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

"Joaquín Guzmán Loera, a drug kingpin known as El Chapo, escaped from
Mexico’s most secure prison on Saturday night, humiliating officials who had
promised that Mr. Guzmán’s 2001 escape would never be repeated..."

Nice pics accompany the story.

Richard

LannyPC · Jul 15, 2015

I don't know if this resembles what we see a lot in TV crime dramas but I wonder if there were any collateral damage fatalities. :bawl:

MULTIZ321 · Jul 16, 2015

'El Chapo' May Have Used Bird to Test Escape Tunnel Air - by Azam Ahmed and Paulina Villegas/ Americas/ International New York Times/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

MEXICO CITY — "To plot his escape from the most secure prison in Mexico, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug kingpin known as El Chapo, is believed to have relied on countless little birds to whisper information into his ear and help whisk him to freedom.

Now, it appears that at least one of them was an actual bird.

Government officials visiting Mr. Guzmán’s cell after his breakout discovered the body of a small bird sitting in his trash can. The bird, they believe, was used to test the air quality of the tunnel through which Mr. Guzmán vanished — like coal miners who used canaries — according to an official helping to coordinate the manhunt. Officials are calling the bird “Chapito.”

It was one of many marvels of the kingpin’s escape. The architects of his tunnel gave it lighting, a motorcycle on rails to transport the displaced earth and oxygen tanks. It was built high enough so that Mr. Guzmán, whose nickname means “Shorty,” could stand.

Amazingly, the escape happened while a camera was watching over Mr. Guzmán. Surveillance video released Tuesday by Mexican officials shows the moment he casually walked across his cell, crouched and disappeared through a hatch in his shower..."

A journalist reported from the exit of the tunnel that the authorities said was used by the drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera to escape from a Mexican prison. Credit Eduardo Verdugo/Associated Press

Richard

Clemson Fan · Jul 16, 2015

MULTIZ321 said:
'El Chapo' May Have Used Bird to Test Escape Tunnel Air - by Azam Ahmed and Paulina Villegas/ Americas/ International New York Times/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

MEXICO CITY — "To plot his escape from the most secure prison in Mexico, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug kingpin known as El Chapo, is believed to have relied on countless little birds to whisper information into his ear and help whisk him to freedom.

Now, it appears that at least one of them was an actual bird.

Government officials visiting Mr. Guzmán’s cell after his breakout discovered the body of a small bird sitting in his trash can. The bird, they believe, was used to test the air quality of the tunnel through which Mr. Guzmán vanished — like coal miners who used canaries — according to an official helping to coordinate the manhunt. Officials are calling the bird “Chapito.”

It was one of many marvels of the kingpin’s escape. The architects of his tunnel gave it lighting, a motorcycle on rails to transport the displaced earth and oxygen tanks. It was built high enough so that Mr. Guzmán, whose nickname means “Shorty,” could stand.

Amazingly, the escape happened while a camera was watching over Mr. Guzmán. Surveillance video released Tuesday by Mexican officials shows the moment he casually walked across his cell, crouched and disappeared through a hatch in his shower..."

A journalist reported from the exit of the tunnel that the authorities said was used by the drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera to escape from a Mexican prison. Credit Eduardo Verdugo/Associated Press

Richard

I think this is all complete bs.

I think he probably just walked right out the front door (well maybe the back door).

Tia · Jul 16, 2015

Clemson Fan said:
I think this is all complete bs.

I think he probably just walked right out the front door (well maybe the back door).

Could be as $$$ buys plenty and no doubt he has that

MULTIZ321 · Jul 17, 2015

$1 Million Price Tag Hinted at In El Chapo's Escape - by Azam Ahmed and Paulina Villegas/ World/ Americas/ International New York Times/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

MEXICO CITY — "Just about the only hard facts to emerge in the wake of the escape of Mexico’s most notorious drug baron are that he is gone, and that he used a sophisticated, solidly constructed tunnel to fashion his departure from the tight confines of the nation’s most secure prison cell.

The whereabouts of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo? Unclear. His accomplices? Not sure. How long it took to build the tunnel, and how much it cost? For that, there are only estimates.

One is this: More than a year and at least $1 million..."

The hole in the shower floor in Altiplano prison through which Joaquín Guzmán Loera made his way into an escape tunnel. Credit Mario Guzman/European Pressphoto Agency

Richard

Passepartout · Jul 17, 2015

I think it had to be an inside job. Someone high in the prison system was on the take, and had either access to- or was actually the one who assigned the prison cell el Chapo escaped from. Escape could have quite easily been prevented by moving the prisoner every few weeks from one cell to another, to different prisons, having listening devices embedded in the ground around the prison that would have detected the sounds of digging/motorcycle/construction/etc.

Shorty may be outside the government's prison, but he lives every minute looking over his shoulder for the bounty hunters. He will not die in bed of old age.

Jim

Beefnot · Jul 17, 2015

Clemson Fan said:
I think this is all complete bs.

I think he probably just walked right out the front door (well maybe the back door).

So the elaborate tunnel was a smoke screen. Uh, ok.

nightnurse613 · Jul 17, 2015

When someone shows as little (pardon the pun) regard for human life; it's not hard to imagine how a prison guard, a warden or anyone else could be convinced to cooperate - or else. Even with a $8 million dollar reward, it seems unlikely that anyone will be crazy enough to step forward. Clearly his network is strong enough that there is no place you or your family could be protected...

MULTIZ321 · Jul 17, 2015

Seven Prison Workers Charged In Connection With 'El Chapo' Escape - By Jason Hanna, Richard Beltran and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN/ Americas/ cnn.com

(CNN) "Seven people who worked in the maximum-security prison that held Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman have been charged in connection with his escape, Mexico's attorney general said Friday in a statement.

The prison workers will be jailed in the state of Guanajuato and the investigation continues, the statement said.

Also Friday, Mexico's interior minister said that on the night Guzman escaped, it took 18 minutes for guards to arrive at his cell after they lost sight of him on surveillance video.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the guards' response time contributed to his July 11 escape from the facility west of Mexico City.

"That is part of what the attorney general's office is looking at -- if the protocols were fulfilled in the correct times," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said at a news conference.

Guzman, Mexico's most notorious drug lord, slipped through a hole under the shower in his cell and escaped through a mile-long tunnel to freedom, authorities said..."

Richard

MULTIZ321 · Jul 18, 2015

The Astonishing Rise of the Most Notorious Drug Lord in the World - by Pamela Engel/ businessinsider.com

"It's been a long road to notoriety for Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera, aka "El Chapo" or "Shorty." The world's most notorious drug lord pulled off an extraordinary escape from the nation's highest-security prison — his second jailbreak in the past two decades — embarrassing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and triggering a massive manhunt.

Here's how Guzmán got his start in the drug business and rose to power..."

Richard

MULTIZ321 · Jul 24, 2015

Mexico : Making the Dogs Dance
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/jul/14/guzman-escape-making-dogs-dance/

Richard

MULTIZ321 · Oct 22, 2015

Mexican Official: Marines Chased Fugitive Drug Lord El Chapo Off a Small Cliff - and He Got Away Despite Breaking His Leg - by Amanda Macias/ Military & Defense/ Business Insider/ businessinsider.com

"A Mexican official told CNN that the world's most wanted drug lord, Mexican kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, broke his leg and injured his face while escaping from authorities in the mountains of Sinaloa state.

Four months after his brazen escape from a maximum-security prison, Mexican marines identified Guzmán on October 6 in Mexico's Durango state.

On that day, Guzmán was reportedly with his sons and was seen on a motorcycle and in a Ferrari, the official told CNN.

Three days later, authorities spotted the fugitive head of the Sinaloa cartel walking with a young girl in the Mexican village of Cosalá, which sits in the mountains of Guzmán's home state of Sinaloa.

Reluctant to move in on Guzmán in the presence of a child, authorities waited until the cartel boss was alone and then pursued him on foot until the drug kingpin fell off of a small cliff.

Guzmán's henchmen quickly carried him away from authorities and into the dense forest in the region, an official told CNN.

Officials believe that even though Guzmán eluded capture, the kingpin's new injuries will give authorities a much-needed advantage..."

Getty Images
Mexico's Attorney General Arely Gomez shows a picture of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman during a press conference held at the Secretaria de Gobernacion in Mexico City, on July 13, 2015.

Richard

MULTIZ321 · Oct 23, 2015

6 Arrested, Including Lawyer, In El Chapo's Escape - by Elisabeth Malkin/ World/ Americas/ International New York Times/ The New York Times/ nytimes.com

"MEXICO CITY — During the 17 months that Mexico’s notorious drug kingpin, Joaquín Guzmán, was in the country’s most secure prison, he met frequently with one of his lawyers.

Yet the pair were not planning a defense strategy; they were plotting the trafficker’s escape, Mexico’s attorney general said late Wednesday.

It was the lawyer who was in charge of executing the plan to break Mr. Guzmán, known as El Chapo, or Shorty, out of the Altiplano prison through a mile-long tunnel, according to the attorney general, Arely Gómez. He helped execute every detail of the complicated plan, like the purchase of property outside the prison where the digging of the tunnel began and arranging for a Cessna jet to spirit Mr. Guzmán to the remote northwest mountains after his July 11 escape..."

Richard

theo · Oct 23, 2015

"Much needed" indeed...

MULTIZ321 said:
<snip> Officials believe that even though Guzmán eluded capture, the kingpin's new injuries will give authorities a much-needed advantage..."

History would suggest that the eternally bumbling Mexican "authorities" would need a whole lot more advantage than this to succeed.
Two broken legs and El Chapo being knocked unconscious by the fall might have provided (...only slightly) better odds of success.

One really has to wonder about the extent of corruption in Mexico when a contingent of their (...ahem) "Marines" can't even manage to grab one injured civilian. :ponder:

MULTIZ321 · Oct 24, 2015

Search for 'El Chapo' Includes Efforts in the United States, Source Says - by Brian Todd/ US/ CNN/ cnn.com

"CNN)The search for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman now includes efforts in the United States, a Mexican official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Thursday.

Authorities are also looking for Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel, who they believe could be with her husband, the source said. The couple has property in the Los Angeles area..."

Richard

MULTIZ321 · Jan 9, 2016

Mexican Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Guzman Sent Back to Jail After Recapture - by Nick Allen/ World News/ Central America and the Caribbean/ Mexico/ The Telegraph/ telegraph.co.uk

"Fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is flown back to the maximum security prison from where he escaped six months ago.

Hours after he was recaptured, Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was being flown back to the maximum-security prison from where he made an audacious escape six months ago.

Wearing a black shirt and sweatpants, the world's most wanted kingpin was frogmarched by two marines and hauled into a military helicopter at Mexico City's international airport.

Guzman was captured in the coastal city of Los Mochis, in his northwestern home state of Sinaloa, following a marine raid that left five gang suspects dead on Friday morning.

Part of the reason he was tracked down was because he contacted actors and producers in the hope of making a film about his life, Mexico's Attorney General Arely Gomez said..."

Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been recaptured Photo: Rex

Richard

Phydeaux · Jan 9, 2016

Would anyone be interested in guessing at how long it will take until his next escape?

I'll go first

Within 9 months.

Next..

cgeidl · Jan 9, 2016

Tunnel being built to Texas

As the US has the extradition process going which Mexico at this juncture will probably agree to this time, El Chapo already has tunnel building plans from Ca,Texas, Az back to his next Mexico hiding place. Amazing what a few billion dollars can provide. Trump can built the wall and El Chapo can dig under it.

DeniseM · Jan 9, 2016

Look how FILTHY his undershirt is!

falmouth3 · Jan 9, 2016

The article refers to his escape attempt as going through a drain. I heard on the news that it was a sewer pipe. Guess he wasn't only dirty, but perhaps a bit smelly too.

T_R_Oglodyte · Jan 9, 2016

falmouth3 said:
The article refers to his escape attempt as going through a drain. I heard on the news that it was a sewer pipe. Guess he wasn't only dirty, but perhaps a bit smelly too.

In many parts of the world, including the older areas of many US cities, there isn't a difference - storm drains are used as sewers.

When it isn't raining the sewage flow is confined to a small area along the bottom of the conveyance. If it's a large drain that can leave plenty of room for walking. Just out of college I did some inspection of a storm sewer installation in Fenton, MO. I was easily to walk inside most of the length of the drain (reinforced concrete pipe) inspecting the joint seals.

billymach4 · Jan 9, 2016

Bet he escapes again!

ace2000 · Jan 9, 2016

billymach4 said:
Bet he escapes again!

It may be more challenging next time...

Mexico begins extradition process to send captured drug lord 'El Chapo' to U.S.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/09/mexican-drug-kingpin-el-chapo/78548994/

billymach4 · Jan 10, 2016

ace2000 said:
It may be more challenging next time...

Mexico begins extradition process to send captured drug lord 'El Chapo' to U.S.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/09/mexican-drug-kingpin-el-chapo/78548994/

If the US maintains him as a prisoner then his chances of escape are highly unlikely.

He needs to be shackled deep underground in a thick concrete bunker solitary confinement for the remainder of his life.

There are reports now that Sean Penn visited him in his Jungle hideout. Sean Penn should be prosecuted for this as well.

Actor Sean Penn secretly interviewed Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for a Rolling Stone article as the world's most notorious drug kingpin was on the run from Mexican authorities three months after escaping a maximum security prison. Penn’s 10,000-word piece was published online Saturday, a day after El Chapo was recaptured in Mexico following a six-month international manhunt.

http://news.yahoo.com/sean-penn-el-chapo-rolling-stone-interview-174956647.html

How Mexico's Most-Wanted Drug Lord Escaped From Prison (Again)

MULTIZ321

LannyPC

MULTIZ321

Clemson Fan

Tia

MULTIZ321

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

Beefnot

nightnurse613

TUG Review Crew: Expert

MULTIZ321

MULTIZ321

MULTIZ321

MULTIZ321

MULTIZ321

theo

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

MULTIZ321

MULTIZ321

Phydeaux

cgeidl

Tug Review Crew: Rookie

DeniseM

falmouth3

TUG Review Crew: Expert

T_R_Oglodyte

billymach4

ace2000

billymach4