Hunting El Chapo

by Andrew Hogan

  Lic: Short for licenciado (see below).

  licenciado: Literally “one with a license,” it may refer to anyone with a higher degree of education, such as a lawyer, engineer, architect, accountant; within cartel slang, this almost always refers to a lawyer or an educated adviser.

  machaca con huevo: A Mexican dish of shredded dry beef that is scrambled with eggs often eaten for breakfast.

  mariscos: Seafood, especially shellfish such as clams, oysters, and shrimp, very popular in Sinaloa.

  más tranquilo: More calm.

  Miapa: Slang for “my dad,” and one of the code names for Chapo Guzmán.

  mirror: A technique used by drug-traffickers to evade electronic surveillance by law enforcement—most commonly by having texts or messages manually retyped by a low-level cartel employee from one BlackBerry or mobile phone into another (creating a “mirror”), making it difficult for law enforcement to track the messages to the final recipient, and hindering wiretapping efforts.

  Nana: “Grandmother”; another code name for Chapo Guzmán.

  narco: General term for drug trafficker.

  narcocorrido (pronounced “NARkokoˈRIðo”): Literally a “drug ballad.” An enormously popular subgenre of the Mexican norteño, traditional folk music from northern Mexico. Modern narcocorridos are considered to have started in 1974 with the hit “Contrabando y Traición” (“Smuggling and Betrayal”)—the first hugely successful narcocorrido—by Los Tigres del Norte. Today’s narcocorrido scene is immensely popular in both Mexico and the United States, with artists taking commissions from real-life cartel bosses and traffickers to celebrate their exploits. With a rollicking beat driven by tubas and accordions—and lyrics often celebrating murder, revenge, and violence—the contemporary narcocorrido scene is often likened to 1990s gangsta rap. It is now arguably Mexico’s most popular form of music among young people—often despite a lack of radio airplay and attempts by the authorities to ban the music. The scene is thriving, with artists such as Roberto Tapia, Gerardo Otiz, Movimiento Alteradand, and El Komander drawing huge fan-bases with songs that often celebrate drug lords such as Chapo Guzmán and other high-level traffickers.

  narco juniors: The children of the older drug traffickers—a new and often flashier generation of narcos. Unlike their fathers or grandfathers, narco juniors have for the most part been raised in urban wealth, with a higher level of education.

  Navolato: A Mexican city just to the west of Culiacán in Sinaloa State.

  NCAR: DEA’s North and Central Americas Region, covering Mexico, Central America, and Canada.

  Padrino: “Godfather,” and one of the code names used for Chapo Guzmán.

  palapa: A traditional Mexican shelter/structure roofed with palm leaves or branches, especially one on a beach or near a body of water.

  pan dulce: Mexican sweet bread often eaten during breakfast.

  PF: Policía Federal—Mexican Federal Police.

  PGR: Abbreviation for La Procuraduría General de la República, the Mexican equivalent of the Office of the Attorney General, similar to the United States Department of Justice.

  pinche cabrón (vulgar): Mexican slang for “motherfucker” or “asshole,” it may also be used as a compliment in the sense of someone who is a “fucking badass.”

  plaza: Territory, turf, or primary smuggling route from Mexico into the United States. May also mean the taxes one must pay to use such routes.

  pocket trash: Law enforcement term for anything found left over in pockets—could be receipts, miscellaneous notes, ticket stubs, SIM card remnants, gum wrappers, or anything else.

  rápida: Literally “fast” or “high speed,” Mexican slang for the armed pickup trucks of SEMAR.

  raspados: From the word “scrapes,” a cup of shaved ice and sweetened with various fruit juices.

  Regional Director: The DEA’s highest-ranking senior executive in a foreign post. The regional director is in charge of a foreign region (e.g., the Mexico City Country Office, which covers DEA offices in Canada, Mexico, and Central America). Reports directly to the DEA’s chief of operations in Washington, DC.

  SAC (pronounced “sack”): Special agent in charge, the DEA senior executive with the highest rank in charge of a specific division office in the United States (e.g., the Chicago Field Division, which covers Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota).

  Secre: Short for secretario, or secretary, and a code name for Chapo Guzmán or his secretaries Condor and Chaneke.

  SEDENA (pronounced “sey-DAY-nah”): La Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, Mexican Army.

  SEMAR (pronounced “sey-MAR”): La Secretaría de Marina. Mexican Marines.

  sicario: Literally a “hitman” or assassin for the cartels.

  Sierra Madre: The major mountain range that runs northwest to southeast through northwestern and western Mexico along the Gulf of California and primarily through the eastern portion of Sinaloa.

  straw purchaser: Someone with a clean background who agrees to acquire goods or services—usually illicit—for someone who is unable or unwilling to personally purchase them. These goods or services are then transferred to that person after they are purchased. They are often hired by DTOs and gunrunners.

  sugar skulls: Candied sugar in the shape of a human skull, decorated with colorful icing and glittery adornments representing a departed soul or particular spirit on the Mexican holiday known as Día de los Muertos, or the “Day of the Dead.”

  tacos de canasta: Homemade tacos served out of a basket, frequently from the trunk of someone’s car.

  tlacoyos: Oval-shaped tortilla pockets made of masa, stuffed with refried beans, cheese, or fava beans, and topped with queso fresco, nopales, and salsa. These are typically served by street vendors off a comal.

  tolls: Call detail records from a phone.

  Zetas, Los: A Mexican drug cartel formed when commandos of the Mexican Army deserted their ranks and began working as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel. In 2010, Los Zetas broke away and formed their own cartel. Considered the most violent of today’s cartels, they are also heavily involved in racketeering, kidnapping, and extortion.

  A Note on Sources

  WRITING A BOOK set in the murderous milieu of contemporary narcotrafficking can be daunting. As with any criminal underworld, what passes for official history is often mere speculation or mythology. It’s nearly impossible to separate fact from fable: urban legends, prison lore, and old war stories get repeated generation after generation—reprinted in newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books—to the point that they’re often indistinguishable from verifiable fact.

  It’s no less true for the early days of Joaquín Guzmán than it was for American gangsters such as John Dillinger or Pretty Boy Floyd, Al Capone, or Bugsy Siegel.

  The United States and Latin America are rife with narco-porn today—salacious films, paperbacks, websites, and magazines that often traffic in exaggeration, rumormongering, and glamorization of the exploits of grotesquely wealthy drug lords.

  To be sure, there are hundreds of clear-eyed writers doing excellent and brave frontline reporting on narcotrafficking and government corruption, maintaining the balance of dispassion while cultivating direct access to primary sources. Gabriel García Márquez’s Noticia de un Secuestro, a brilliant account of Pablo Escobar’s early-1990s reign of terror in Colombia, was an inspiration: for me it remains the exemplar of how a nonfiction author of the first order—through in-depth interviews, meticulous research, and novelistic technique—can capture the visceral terror wrought by criminals such as the Medellín Cartel.

  I was fortunate in this book to have worked with a former federal agent who lived it, witnessed it, experienced it all firsthand. It’s rare that someone of Drew’s caliber leaves a federal law enforcement career at such a young age, while the story of his investigative journey is still so fresh and newsworthy. Together we’ve strived to write this book with an exacting eye, separating out all the hearsay, rumor, and dubious reporting
that surrounded “the world’s most wanted narcotrafficker” from the verifiable facts.

  All too often stories of men like Drew remain untold. This historic capture operation, with all its remarkable twists and turns, deserves an accurate rendering for posterity. And the key participants—not just Drew, but the other DEA and HSI agents, US marshals, SEMAR troops and commanders—deserve to shine for the years of selfless sacrifice that would otherwise have remained cloaked in shadows.

  My deepest gratitude goes to Drew, and to everyone who put in so much hard work—at 3Arts Entertainment, HarperCollins, and ICM Partners—for helping us bring his singular story to fruition.

  —D.C.

  Index

  The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your ebook reader’s search tools.

  Page numbers in italics refer to maps.

  Affleck, Ben, 132

  Africa, 23

  Agua Prieta, 102, 143

  Alex (DEA agent), 33–34

  Al Qaeda, 308

  Alteradand, Movimiento, 321

  Altiplano prison (Federal Social Readaption Center No. 1), 22, 24, 292, 297–300, 304

  Amsterdam, 39

  Aponte Gómez, Manuel Alejandro “El Bravo,” “El Negro,” 249, 253, 279, 293, 301, 306, 311

  Araña (pilot), 70, 90, 92, 113, 154, 300, 306

  Arellano Félix brothers, 190

  Argo (film), 132–33, 300

  Associated Press, 70

  Attorney General Exempt Operation (AGEO), 51

  Australia, 40, 110

  Ávila, Víctor, 66

  Balboa Bank & Trust, 40

  Baltimore, 31

  Banco General, 40

  Bank of Montreal, 40

  Batallón de Infanteria Marina No. 10 (BIM-10, Topolobampo), 193–94, 196, 199, 314

  Beck (suspect), 14–16

  Beltrán-Leyva, Alfredo “El Mochomo,” 317

  Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, 75, 85, 317

  BlackBerrys, PINs, and line sheets, 68, 65–72, 82–83, 90–92, 96–102, 106–9, 113–43, 155–57, 164–67, 173, 185, 220, 299–301

  Bogotá, Colombia, 39, 42

  Boston, 31

  Bravo, El. See Aponte Gómez, Manuel Alejandro

  British Columbia, 111

  Caballeros Templarios, Los (Knights Templar Cartel), 75, 186–87, 317

  Cabo San Lucas, 68–71, 75, 77, 82–83, 93, 127, 138, 179–80, 226, 280, 313–14

  Calgary, 112

  Cali, Colombia, 42

  Calibre 50 (band), 71

  Camarena, Enrique “Kiki,” 78–79, 87, 183

  Canada, 40, 59, 105, 110–12, 127, 236

  Capers, Robert, 309

  Capone, Al, 82, 191

  “Captura del Chapo Guzmán, La” (narcocorrido), 311

  Carillo Fuentes, Amado, 190

  Carlino (filmmaker), 133

  Caro Quintero, Rafael “RCQ,” 79n, 183–84, 190

  Castillo, Kate del, 116, 301

  Celis, 149

  Centro Comercial de Los Andes, 40

  Chaneke, 136–40, 163, 322

  chaneques (Aztec spirits), 136–37

  Chase Bank, 40

  Chávez, Hugo, 92

  Chávez Villalobos, Mercedes, 39–51, 62

  Chiapas, 153

  Chicago, 34, 105

  Chicago Crime Commission, 83

  Chile, 299

  China, 23

  Chino (SEMAR lieutenant), 243, 248– 50, 256, 261–63, 268, 285–88

  Chiqui (SEMAR officer), 248, 288

  Cholo Iván. See Gastélum Cruz, Orso Iván

  Chuy (operator), 97

  CIA (los primos), 87, 90, 128–31, 158, 165, 176, 187, 197

  Ciento (gofer), 154

  Cifuentes Villa, Hildebrando Alexánder “Panchito,” 127–33, 135, 189, 300

  Cisne Negro, Operación (Black Swan), 302–3, 318

  Citibank, 40

  Ciudad de Durango, 100

  Ciudad Juárez, 2, 91, 304–5, 307

  Clinton, Hillary, 69

  CNN, 35, 144

  cocaine, 5, 16, 23, 84, 90, 97, 110–11. See also specific countries and distributors

  fake bananas and, 235–36, 238, 251

  Mexico City International Airport and, 77–80

  price of, 110

  seizures of, 23, 63, 84

  transportation of, 23, 53, 58–64

  tunnels and, 143–45, 154, 157, 259

  Cochinos, Los, 107

  Cogan, Brian, 310

  Colombia, 23, 42, 58, 90, 97, 105, 114

  Colonia Libertad, 120–21, 136, 139, 150, 157, 160, 189, 198–200, 201, 221

  Columbia College (Vancouver), 111–12

  Condor. See Hoo Ramírez, Carlos Manuel

  Congressional Bicameral Commission on National Security (Mexico), 298

  “Contrabando y Traicion” (narcocorrido), 320

  Contreras, Diego

  background of, 4, 27, 28

  Blackberry PINs and, 68, 72

  Chapo and, 83

  indictments and, 118

  Jardines del Humaya cemetery and, 121–22

  mentoring by, 4, 72–73, 98, 100–101, 135, 277–78

  Mexico and, 67, 72

  money laundering investigation and, 38–53

  narcocorridos and, 1–5, 231, 311–12

  Nueva Generación and, 31–38

  reunion with, 310–12

  Robles/Torres takedown and, 53–62, 65

  Cops (TV show), 133

  Coronel Aispuro, Emma (Chapo’s wife), 101, 287–88, 305, 310

  Coronel Barreras, Inés, 101–2

  corruption, 77–78, 94, 171, 298

  Cortez, Sea of “El Charco,” 168–69, 188, 192–93, 313–14

  Costa Rica, 23, 57–59, 105, 299

  Culiacán, 2, 4, 16, 98, 107, 111, 116, 125–26, 129, 133, 138–39, 143, 147–49, 160, 174–75, 190–91, 195–96, 212–57, 261–63, 287, 311

  drug lord cemetery, 121–22

  map of, 313–14

  Mercedes dealership, 255–58

  Culiacán International Airport, 240, 243

  Dawson, Joe, 106–8, 122, 126, 135, 152, 194, 202, 205, 216, 254, 268, 290

  Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), 115

  D.E.A. en México, La (book), 247

  deconfliction, 119, 127, 131, 318

  Defusio, Camila, 108–9, 135, 202, 268, 290

  Deutsche Bank, 50

  Diaz, Julio “El Toro,” 182–83, 222, 228–32, 235, 237–39, 240, 243, 249–51, 255–56, 262–63, 274–75

  Dillinger, John, 25

  Dominguez, Don, 119–20, 129, 220, 291

  Douglas, Arizona, 143–44

  Doux, Hotel, 303

  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 105

  Chapo and, 151–53, 211–12, 293–95

  CIA and, 128–31

  FBI and, 127–28

  HSI and, 89

  job application and, 18–19

  language school and, 67

  as “Las Tres Letras,” 27–29, 312

  Mazatlán and, 129–30, 193

  Mexico City and, 65, 68–72, 75–77, 79–82, 277

  NCAR regional director, 76

  Panama and, 41, 105

  Phoenix Narcotic Task Force Team 3, 4, 29–30, 33

  Puerto Peñasco and, 145–47, 175

  resignation from, 295–96

  San Diego Tunnel Task Force, 144

  SEMARs and, 142

  “six” report, 41n

  techies team, 120

  Training Academy, 19–21, 54

  Duck Dynasty (Pichis, Pichiguila duck-hunting club), 148–50, 158– 59, 162–66, 174, 177–79, 180, 182, 184, 198, 252, 294, 311, 314

  Durango, 93, 100, 121, 126, 136, 188, 301, 313–14

  Eastern District of New York, 307, 308

  Ecuador, 23, 58–61, 90, 97, 105, 112–14

  Ecuador National Police, 60–61

  Ei
senhower, Dwight D., 150

  El 19 (code for Culiacán), 139, 258

  El 50. See Guardado Salcido, Carlos Adrián

  El 70. See López Osorio, Edgar Manuel

  “El Chapo Speaks” (Penn), 300–301

  El Salvador, 11, 23

  England, 110

  Ensenada de Pabellones, 150, 174, 195

  Escobar, Pablo, 23

  Explosion Norteña (band), 27

  Facebook, 111

  Fallon, Brady

  background of, 89, 91

  BlackBerry tracking and, 108–9, 113–23, 126–27, 133–35, 137, 142–45, 155–56, 165–67, 299

  core team of, 106, 135–36

  family and, 179, 205

  Chapo capture and, 141–42, 148–52, 158–60, 165–67, 171, 177–89, 192–243, 251–56, 259– 64, 268–76, 278–80, 283–90

  Cifuentes arrest and, 128–32

  partnership begun with, 89–104

  Picudo capture and, 246–48, 250, 252

  SEMAR and, 172–73, 175–76

  Familia Michoacana, La, Cartel, 317

  FBI, 68–69, 71–72, 89, 91, 128–32

  Federal Police (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica, PF), 22, 53–54, 69–71, 77–79, 83, 87, 102–3, 141, 145– 47, 155, 300, 303, 321

  FedEx, 31

  Flaco (adviser), 155

  Fonseca Carrillo, Ernesto, 79n, 190

  Forbes, 42, 111, 254

  Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, 29

  Fresa (Ecuador operator), 97

  Furia, Admiral. See Reyes Aragones, Raul

  Gallardo, Miguel Ángel Félix “El Padrino,” 22, 79, 121, 190, 319

  Gambino family, 308

  García Rodríguez, Enrique, 130

  Gárgola, Operación, 198, 230, 262–63, 319

  Garra, Admiral. See Reyna Marquez, Antonio

  Gastélum Cruz, Orso Iván “Cholo Iván,” 107, 172, 194, 199, 302–3, 306, 318

  Gelernt, Michelle, 310

  Gerardo, 38

  Gotti, John, 306, 308

  Greene, Tom, 85–86

  G20, 77

  Guadalajara, 25, 39, 78–79, 98

  Guadalajara Airport, 9–10

  Guadalajara Cartel, 22, 79

  Guadalupe, Doña, 38–40, 62

  Guardado Salcido, Carlos Adrián “El 50,” 107, 227, 236

  Guatemala, 11, 23, 30, 90, 97, 105

  Gulf Cartel, 75, 142, 324