El Chapo Re-apprehended

[Chance]

Now taking bets on how long until Mexico lets him out again. From BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35266952):


Mexico's authorities have recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, six months after he escaped from a maximum-security jail.

In a post on Twitter, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said: "Mission accomplished: We got him."

Guzman was one of the world's most-wanted drug lords, whose Sinaloa cartel smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines to the US.

He escaped from jail through a 1.5km (mile) long tunnel dug in the showers.

The US had offered a $5m (£3.2m) reward for information leading to his capture.

AP reports that Guzman was apprehended following a shootout with Mexican marines in Los Mochis, a coastal city in his home state of Sinaloa.

World leaders going to Twitter to announce major news is something I still haven't gotten used to.

[GardoneVT]

Now taking bets on how long until Mexico lets him out again. From BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35266952):



World leaders going to Twitter to announce major news is something I still haven't gotten used to.

He'll be out again once the Norteamericano reward money gets wired.

[TGS]

338 Lapua does good work over 1000m.

Just sayin'.

[RJ]

This is probably highly innappropriate, but all I can think of when I hear this story, is this guy from Despicable Me 2:

5366

[Peally]

World leaders going to Twitter to announce major news is something I still haven't gotten used to.

Nothing says "I'm childish" quite like it.

[GardoneVT]

Nothing says "I'm childish" quite like it.

Perhaps it's just good operational security.
In Mexico, I wouldn't want to be the government dude who just announced the incarceration of a narco kingpin. Even sicarios can't behead Twitter.

[GJM]

Sean Penn angle


http://www.wsj.com/articles/el-chapo-returns-to-prison-in-mexico-1452377159


Sent from my iPad

[GJM]

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/el-chapo-speaks-20160109


Sent from my iPad

[davisj]

Perhaps the cartel will now rid the world of Sean Penn for this. One can only hope.

[Chance]

Perhaps the cartel will now rid the world of Sean Penn for this. One can only hope.

It doesn't sound like it had much to do with Penn. The guy was a raging narcissist (El Chapo, not Sean Penn, but also Sean Penn) who wanted to make a movie about his life. Apparently, El Chapo was not good at remaining low key, and Mexican authorities knew where he was for a while.

[GardoneVT]

Perhaps the cartel will now rid the world of Sean Penn for this. One can only hope.

Hmmm, and he just sold his gun collection for Charlize Theron. Pity .

[Dagga Boy]

Hmmm, and he just sold his gun collection for Charlize Theron. Pity .

And if they were not gigantic hypocrites they would make sure neither ever have armed security with them or ever have armed people respond to their homes. Just use their wit and beauty to ward off even.

[Drang]

I'm wondering if this had anything to do with the fact that every fourth vehicle I saw in Mazatlan was a black four door pickup, with a roll cage over and outward facing seat in the bed, and at least two armed cops being very alert...

Also, MPs at the port in addition to the private security.

FWIW, M16A2s, M4s, FN-FALs, and what looked like an HK MP7. And that couldn't have been a Sterling, could it? (Not in this pic, that I could see,)
5395

[Corey]

Well, this one hit a little close to home for me. My wife grew up a few blocks from the house El Chapo was hiding out in. He tried to get away and was captured in front of the hospital where my sister in law works. When my wife saw the news she told me, "That's why I don't want to go down there for a visit anymore"

Last time I was in Los Mochis, saw a lot of police patrols in the pickup trucks with outboard facing seats and 4 to 6 guys with M16A1's.

[Dagga Boy]

Hmmm, and he just sold his gun collection for Charlize Theron. Pity .

I was thinking....wonder if he did a legal transfer on those guns to the artist he made a statue out of them, and did Anderson Cooper get them legally transferred. If they did whatever paperwork was needed to have the guns legally destroyed before serial numbers were likely obliterated. Common sense gun control......

[HCM]

Well, this one hit a little close to home for me. My wife grew up a few blocks from the house El Chapo was hiding out in. He tried to get away and was captured in front of the hospital where my sister in law works. When my wife saw the news she told me, "That's why I don't want to go down there for a visit anymore"

Last time I was in Los Mochis, saw a lot of police patrols in the pickup trucks with outboard facing seats and 4 to 6 guys with M16A1's.

I think El Chapo may have pushed it a bit too far this time. This is HUGE, the one thing these guys actually fear.

Mexico begins proceedings to extradite 'El Chapo' to the US


Mexico's willingness to extradite Guzman is a sharp turnaround from the last time he was captured in 2014, when then-Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said the extradition would happen only after he finished his sentence in Mexico in "300 or 400 years."

But the legendary drug lord's July 2015 escape embarrassed President Enrique Pena Nieto's government.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/01/11/mexico-begins-proceedings-to-extradite-el-chapo-to-us.html?intcmp=hpbt2

[FNFAN]

Perhaps the cartel will now rid the world of Sean Penn for this. One can only hope.

The way I heard it was that Sean Penn, Michael Moore and Piers Morgan were all working to bring this guy to justice.

[HCM]

The way I heard it was that Sean Penn, Michael Moore and Piers Morgan were all working to bring this guy to justice.

If the cartel retaliated against these three it would go a long way towards balancing their karma.

[JodyH]

Good first person helmet cam video of the raid.


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=548_1452534306

[Peally]

What a cluster

[Dr. No]

What a cluster

It usually is when you start taking fire. To me they had good command and control. The video I think is from the guy acting as the hall boss, directing guys around. You could see the hesitation up front to enter because they had already been heavily engaged and had at least one man down. Flash bangs only do so much ... .I'm surprised they weren't using real grenades.

[JodyH]

It usually is when you start taking fire. To me they had good command and control. The video I think is from the guy acting as the hall boss, directing guys around. You could see the hesitation up front to enter because they had already been heavily engaged and had at least one man down. Flash bangs only do so much ... .I'm surprised they weren't using real grenades.
Hall Boss was doing an outstanding job running two or three elements at once inside a hotel with multiple floors and interconnecting rooms.
Blue on blue is super easy to get in situations like that and he maintained control of all his teams very well.
Looked pretty damn good for a quasi-LE assault against hardened criminals (many of Chapo's bodyguards are ex-special forces trained by US special forces) with heavy weapons.

[Dr. No]

Hall Boss was doing an outstanding job running two or three elements at once inside a hotel with multiple floors and interconnecting rooms.
Blue on blue is super easy to get in situations like that and he maintained control of all his teams very well.
Looked pretty damn good for a quasi-LE assault against hardened criminals (many of Chapo's bodyguards are ex-special forces trained by US special forces) with heavy weapons.

Agreed. Sounds like the boss was one hard MF'r. If your C&C fails, the mission fails easily. He kept taking the initiative and looking for appropriate tools and tactics. Not what I would expect from 3rd world, honestly ... looks like our boys have been pretty active doing training down there. And lord knows these guys probably have quite a bit of experience in gun fights...

[Chance]

It seems that Sean Penn had little to do with El Chapo being located. Guzman had apparently been texting Mexican actress Kate del Castillo since shortly after breaking out of prison. From BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35347681):


Mexican actress Kate del Castillo has been called in for questioning over her links with the imprisoned drug baron, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. She set up a meeting in October between the cartel leader, who was then on the run, and Hollywood actor Sean Penn. Del Castillo and Guzman exchanged dozens of messages before she and Sean Penn met him in northern Mexico.

....

Mobile phone exchanges between Kate del Castillo and Guzman reveal that he initially did not know who Sean Penn was. He seemed to be infatuated by the actress, who is famous in Mexico. Kate del Castillo is best known for her portrayal of drug boss Teresa Mendoza in the soap opera La Reina del Sur (Queen of the South).

Has anyone actually read the article Penn wrote? I haven't had the stomach for it. I've heard it's weird.

[HCM]

Mexican news sources report President Enrique Peña Nieto has ordered the attorney general to "accelerate" the extradition of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, so he may be imprisoned and tried in the United States.

[Drang]

I'm wondering if this had anything to do with the fact that every fourth vehicle I saw in Mazatlan was a black four door pickup, with a roll cage over and outward facing seat in the bed, and at least two armed cops being very alert...

Also, MPs at the port in addition to the private security.
Also also, FWIW, saw this RV parked in front of Mazatlan Policia Headquarters:
58895890
The "magic mast" you see in the second pic has a surveillance camera and antennas, which I didn't get a good enough look at to guess at the bands they operate on...
Got these from the (moving) "Hop On, Hop Off" bus maintained for the convenience of the /t/u/r/i/s/t/a/s/ merchants of Mazatlan.

Didn't think I'd gotten the shots, or I would have uploaded them with the other.

[HCM]

Feeling left out of the Narco Drama ?

A Los Angeles restaurant has launched a line of drug lord themed Mexican food in the latest example of how narcoculture, is taking root north of the border. Customers at Los Desvelados restaurant can now select "El Chapito Guzmán" and "Fuga" (Escape) tacos, named for drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, who escaped from prison in July 2015 and was recaptured in January this year. They also offer Pablo Escobar burritos and Reina del Pacífico (Queen of the Pacific) quesadillas, inspired by Mexican drug trafficker Sandra Ávila Beltrán.The restaurant's décor is also drug trade themed, with tables covered in images of El Chapo, his Sinaloa Cartel partner Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Pablo Escobar as well as fictional drug traffickers from movies such as Scarface. Customers who admire the drug lords have flocked to the restaurant and its organized crime theme has been a raging success, according to the owner, who said in the space of just three months he has increased the number of staff from 6 to 22.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/tacos-los-desvelados-maywood

[HCM]

El Chapo' snuck into the U.S. twice while on the run, daughter drops bombshell


Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán allegedly snuck into the United States twice last year while on the run from authorities following his dramatic prison escape.

The cartel boss’s daughter, Rosa Isela Guzmán Ortiz, said that shortly after “El Chapo” sat down for his Rolling Stone Magazine interview with Sean Penn, he escaped capture with the help of corrupt Mexican officials and evaded U.S. Border Patrol to sneak into California.

Guzmán Ortiz would not disclose the location in southern California where the drug lord was holed up, but said he came to visit her at her five-bedroom house which the drug kingpin bought for her and her four children.

“My dad deposited the money in a bank account with a lawyer and a while after he came to see the house, his house. He came twice,” Guzmán Ortiz told the Guardian.

The claims made by Chapo’s daughter cannot be independently verified and are likely to raise concerns among intelligence authorities in both the U.S. and Mexico. Neither the U.S. or Mexican officials have commented on Guzmán Ortiz’s allegations.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/03/04/el-chapo-snuck-into-us-twice-while-on-run-daughter-drops-bombshell/?intcmp=hpbt3

[Chance]

El Chapo' snuck into the U.S. twice while on the run, daughter drops bombshell


Color me dubious, although I wouldn't be shocked if that were the case. It seems like an unnecessary risk, given how much the guy would definitely not want to end up in a US prison.

[HCM]

Drug kingpin 'El Chapo' can be extradited to US, Mexican judge rules


A Mexican judge says the extradition of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman can move ahead, but the country's foreign ministry must still approve it and the defense can appeal.

The federal Judiciary Council said Monday the judge had agreed that the legal requirements laid out in the extradition treaty between the two countries had been met. The judge was not named.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/09/drug-kingpin-el-chapo-can-be-extradited-to-us-mexican-judge-rules.html?intcmp=hplnws

[Gray222]

Sounds like a plot twist to Sicario (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018GVHDW2/)...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/df/b5/eb/dfb5eb0e557fa936243f26a321e88cad.gif

[HCM]

Sounds like a plot twist to Sicario (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018GVHDW2/)...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/df/b5/eb/dfb5eb0e557fa936243f26a321e88cad.gif

You know that movie is retarded and about as realistic as Star Wars, right ?

[Wondering Beard]

Sounds like a plot twist to Sicario (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018GVHDW2/)...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/df/b5/eb/dfb5eb0e557fa936243f26a321e88cad.gif

And he just got moved (yesterday?) to a less secure prison in Juarez!!!

Cue scary music

[Gray222]

You know that movie is retarded and about as realistic as Star Wars, right ?

Wasn't an endorsement, just saying the El Chapo thing going on right now is very similar to the plot - you can fantasize about whatever you want in whatever way you want ;)

[HCM]

And he just got moved (yesterday?) to a less secure prison in Juarez!!!

Cue scary music

Juarez is also literally right on the border (You can see Juarez from IH -10. First and Goal.