How "El Chapo" got U.S. agents to help him become Mexico's most powerful drug lord

Submitted by mexbiznews on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 6:38am

By Aram Roston
Newsweek Magazine

There are usually just three ways for a trafficker to leave a Mexican drug cartel: go to prison, get killed, or become a government informant.

Two weeks ago, I had dinner at a restaurant near the Mexican border with a man who got out by the third route. He was, until recently, an important figure in the Sinaloa cartel’s drug-running operations, working indirectly for the boss, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

The drug dealer told me how, acting with the full approval of his cartel, he strolled into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office for an appointment with federal investigators. So began an extensive operation by Chapo Guzmán’s forces to manipulate American law enforcement to their own benefit.

www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/29/el-chapo-guzm-n-mexico-s-most-powerful-drug-lord.html

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