The life of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is like a movie, but this is ridiculous. Actor Sean Penn secretly met with the drug lord while he was still in hiding after his latest escape from a Mexican prison.
Reports the New York Times:
Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, started out in business not long after turning 6, selling oranges and soft drinks. By 15, he said in an interview conducted in a jungle clearing by the actor and director Sean Penn for Rolling Stone magazine, he had begun to grow marijuana and poppies because there was no other way for his impoverished family to survive.
Now, unapologetically, he said: “I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats.”
Though his fortune, estimated at $1 billion, has come with a trail of blood, he does not consider himself a violent man. “Look, all I do is defend myself, nothing more,” he told Mr. Penn. “But do I start trouble? Never.”
The seven hours Mr. Guzmán spent with Mr. Penn, and the follow-up interviews by phone and video — which began in October while he was on the run — marked another surreal turn in his long-running effort to evade the Mexican and American authorities.
El Chapo was captured by the Mexican Navy after a gun battle in the coastal city of Los Mochis in Sinaloa. Reportedly, it was the kingpin’s desire to make a biopic that led to his capture. The Mexican government plans to extradite El Chapo to the United States to face multiple charges of drug trafficking.
Check out recent photos of El Chapo below and on the flip. Read the full Rolling Stone interview right here.
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Photo: Rolling Stone
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