Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, commonly known as “El Chapo”, is a Mexican former drug lord and former leader within the Sinaloa Cartel - a large, transnational organised crime syndicate that specialises in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.
Considered responsible for the deaths of over 34,000 people, he was considered to be the most powerful drug trafficker in the world until he was extradited to the US and sentenced to life in prison.
He began his criminal career in the 1980s and his leadership of the cartel brought immense power and wealth. In fact, he is currently ranked as the richest drug dealer in the world by the Guinness World Records, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion, or £722 million.
To put this figure into perspective, ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife have a combined fortune of £651 million.
El Chapo oversaw operations whereby mass cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin were produced, smuggled into, and distributed throughout the US and Europe - the world’s largest users. He achieved this by pioneering the use of distribution cells and long-range tunnels near borders, which enabled him to export more drugs to the United States than any other trafficker in history.
El Chapo was born in Sinaloa, Mexico and raised in a poor farming family. He had three unnamed older brothers, who reportedly died of natural causes when he was very young. He endured extensive physical abuse from his father, through whom he also entered the drug trade, helping him grow marijuana for local dealers during his early adulthood.
It was during his adolescence that Guzmán gained the nickname "El Chapo", Mexican slang for "shorty", for his 1.68-metre (5 ft 6 in) stature and stocky physique. He was also known as “El Rápido” - “speedy” - for how quickly he transported drugs between Mexico and the US.
He later supervised logistics for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, one of the nation’s leading kingpins in the mid 1980s, before founding his own in 1988 after Félix’s arrest.
Guzmán was first captured in 1993 in Guatemala and then was extradited and sentenced to 20 years in prison in Mexico for murder and drug trafficking.
However, he bribed multiple prison guards and escaped from a federal maximum-security prison in 2001.
His status as a fugitive resulted in an $8.8 million (£7 million) combined reward from Mexico and the US for information leading to his capture and he was arrested in Mexico in 2014.
He again escaped before to formal sentencing in 2015, through a tunnel dug by associates into his jail cell.
Mexican authorities recaptured him following a shoot-out in January 2016 and extradited him to the US a year later.
In 2019, he was found guilty of a number of criminal charges related to his leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced to life imprisonment and incarcerated in ADX Florence, Colorado, United States.
El Chapo has had four wives and has at least 10 children.
In 2021, Guzmán’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro - a beauty pageant contestant with whom he has two children - was arrested in the United States and accused of being a participant in his drug empire. She pleaded guilty to several charges and was sentenced to three years in prison.
