El Chapo

Guzmán was born on April 4, 1957 to a poor family in the hamlet of La Tuna near Badiraguato, where he sold oranges as a child. He had two sisters: Armida and Bernarda; and had 4 brothers: Miguel Angel, Aureliano, Arturo and Emilio. Little is known about Guzmán's early years. His father was supposedly a cattle rancher, as were most in the area; it is believed, however, that he also grew opium poppy.[2][7] Fortunately for Guzmán, his father had connections to higher-ups in the Sinaloan capital of Culiacán through a relative, Pedro Avilés Pérez, Joaquin Guzmán's uncle. Aviles was a key player in the Sinaloa drug business, seen as a pioneer for finding new methods of transporting the rural produce to urban areas for shipment by way of airplanes. He is reportedly the first to use airplanes to smuggle cocaine to the United States.

By the time Guzmán was in his 20s, his connection to Aviles would be his window of opportunity to start in the drug business and make his fortune. In the late 1970s, Héctor "El Güero" Luis Palma Salazar gave Guzmán his first big break. El Guero placed him in charge of transporting drugs from the Sierra to the cities and border and overseeing shipments. He was ambitious and pressed his bosses to increase the quantities of drugs being moved north. [2]

In the early 1980s, Guzmán was introduced to Miguel "El Padrino" Ángel Félix Gallardo himself. Gallardo put him in charge of logistics -- effectively coordinating plane flights, boat arrivals and trucks coming from Colombia into Mexico. El Güero still controlled deliveries to clients in the United States, but Guzmán would soon work directly for El Padrino himself. Although early on Guzmán lived in Guadalajara, as did Gallardo, his command and control center was actually located in Agua Prieta, Sonora. After Félix Gallardo's capture, Guzmán took control of the entire Sinaloa Cartel.[2][8] Guzmán is wanted by the governments of Mexico and the United States and by INTERPOL;[9] so far he has