out of the shadows. i did not know who we would be able to trust. exclusive details of this white-knuckle man hunt. we would jump out of the back of the helicopter, pure chaos. pictures seen here for the first time. secret drug dens, hidden escape rooms. it was like harry houdini. every single time we got close, the chopper would escape. it was beyond imagination. to catch the bad guy, you have to become the bad guy. you are inside this real life thriller. this is it. he is there. he is there. it was like living in a movie. hello, and welcome to dateline. he was the infamous kingpin who inspired fear amongst criminals and law enforcement, on both sides of the border. his name was el chapo. for over a decade, he evaded authorities by disappearing into a secret network of tunnels built under his many safehouses. but one man was determined to capture the fugitive and would lead his team to great lengths, even risk his own life to get the job done. here is
were coming from and whether you were in fact seeing communications directly from el chapo? yes. it took us awhile to infiltrate this mirror structure that they had set up. a mirror structure, a ladder of phones belonging to el chapo s underlings, climbing to the top, from third tier, maybe a runner, to second tier, perhaps a driver, and so on. u.s. angelique cracked the code? cracked the code. it was a high point in the search, after years of hunting, el chapo was in their sights. at last. coming up chapo knew instantly somebody was corrupt. drew hogan smells a rat and makes a move. we had to go into enemy territory and root him out. a bold strike with deadly stakes. the city is lighting up. it s on fire. something is not right. when dateline continues. this is culiacán, mexico.
marine captured the operation as it quickly devolved into a shootout, killing five of el chapo s man and injuring one marine. el chapo was once again in custody. and this time quietly extradited to the united states. in february 2019, guzman was convicted on all ten charges against him including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit murder. he was sentenced to life plus 30 years in an american prison. he has filed an appeal, but the drug wars rage on. el chapo s arrest did not stem the flow of narcotics across the u. s. border, and there were nearly 30,000 murders in mexico in 2017. at the time, a record for that country. most of the killings were linked to drug violence, and the cartels are evolving, becoming key suppliers of the
he joined in 2007 at the age of 25. his new job brought him to a border city in the southwestern united states. his first order of business was to learn about the mexican narco culture. this included songs like el niño de la tuna , a ballad about el chapo. his mentor was an undercover agent that drew calls, in the book, diego. as his friends named him to me, i started to really understand what was behind these songs, and really connected the dots for me. sort of like a who is who of that world. he is, these are like modern-day outlaws? absolutely. el chapo was at the very top. el chapo, el chapo. real name, joaquín guzmán. the city of chicago named him public enemy number one for his role in bringing in tons of drugs which were sold on the streets of the u.s.. his coauthor, doug century. he was a very ruthless and murderous guy. let s not sugarcoat that. he rose to power, though, on his ability to deliver huge amounts of cocaine. and he was the guy who could deliver.
mexican of the u.s. team had gathered the hornets nest of culiacán. it s nest of narco kingpin, el chapo guzman. they ve been on the ground, exposed for 24 hours, and still hadn t located the exact safehouse where el chapo hold up in. i got a call from the ground team and they said look, this isn t working. everyone s tired, hungry, we re exhausted. time was running out. we ve got one option left. el chapo most trusted courier. go find him. they did. and sure enough, he flipped on his boss and agreed to lead them to el chapo s five safe houses. a squad of more than 50 mexican marines and u.s. agents swarmed the area. drew and brady flew in from the base with another contingent of mexican marines. drew much of the operation on his phone. i said, perfect. it s done. he is done. what followed was a tense cat and mouse game.