Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán was worth billions of dollars before his final capture in 2016 and ranked among the most powerful people in the world at one time. Yet despite owning multiple beachside mansions, sprawling ranches and other prime properties, the Mexican druglord ended up living surprisingly modestly in a series of humble safe houses during his latter years as a free man. As the notorious narco-trafficker languishes in America's most secure supermax prison, click or scroll through to tour his former homes, complete with sophisticated escape tunnels, and discover how the rest of the Guzmán family live.
The eldest of seven children, Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera was born into the impoverished farming community of La Tuna in Badiraguato, a remote part of Mexico's Sinaloa state that has spawned a litany of big-time narco-traffickers. Shrouded in intrigue, even Guzmán's birthday is a mystery – government documents put it at 25 December 1954 or 4 April 1957. What we do know is that the future druglord's father was a cattle rancher who is believed to have had a sideline growing opium, according to Malcolm Beith's book, The Last Narco. Reportedly short-tempered and abusive, he made his son's early life hell by all accounts.
Growing up in La Tuna, the ambitious youngster received little education but developed a knack for making money, hawking oranges to drum up extra cash. He swiftly turned to selling drugs and is said to have cultivated his own marijuana plantation with several cousins at the age of 15. It was around this time people started calling him El Chapo (Shorty) due to his 5ft 6in stature and stocky physique, and the nickname stuck.
El Chapo was subsequently thrown out of his parents' home and left La Tuna to forge a career in the drug trade. His big break came in the late 1970s, when he landed a job overseeing narco shipments in the Sinaloa region for Guadalajara Cartel heavyweight Héctor 'El Güero' Palma (pictured). El Chapo's ambition and uncompromising ruthlessness soon garnered him a formidable reputation. Stories of his brutality abounded, with the cut-throat trafficker known to execute employees in cold blood if they were late with deliveries, according to The Last Narco.
By the 1980s, El Chapo had skyrocketed up the ranks and was working for Guadalajara Cartel boss Félix 'El Padrino' Gallardo, who put him in charge of logistics. In 1989, Gallardo was arrested and the Guadalajara Cartel's territories were divvied up. El Chapo secured a fat piece of the pie, which allowed him to form the Sinaloa Cartel. It rapidly grew to become one of the world's biggest drug-smuggling organisations. Ever more sophisticated methods of transporting cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and other narcotics to the US were dreamed up by El Chapo, and he even oversaw the construction of a network of air-conditioned tunnels under the border US-Mexico border.
In the meantime, El Chapo was growing quite the brood. As well as fathering four children with his first wife Alejandrina Salazar (pictured), who he married in 1977, the drug baron is said to have as many as 11 kids with other women. Among his offspring are the four sons known as Los Chapitos (the little Chapos), who run a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and are facing US indictments for swamping the USA’s black market with fentanyl. Many members of El Chapo's family are or have been heavily involved in the drug business, and several members have been killed by rival cartels, including one of El Chapo's brothers, his son Edgar and a nephew.
At the height of his powers in the early 1990s, El Chapo was rolling in money and fond of spending it. According to a former employee, the drug baron owned four private jets and would fly to Switzerland for rejuvenation treatments and Macau to gamble. As reported by The New York Times, he would lavish his lackeys with diamond-studded watches and once paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to commission a folk song about one of his murdered friends. El Chapo “had houses at every single beach”, says the former staff member. Here's the most luxurious, a $10 million (£8.2m) mega-mansion on Acapulco's Pichilingue Beach that was eventually confiscated by the authorities.
El Chapo also “had a ranch in every single state,” according to a former employee. Among the most impressive is his former hacienda in Guadalajara, which was kitted out with tennis courts, pools and a zoo featuring a train guests could ride to marvel at exotic animals such as panthers and crocodiles. Then there's this ranch just outside the cartel stronghold of Culiacán in Sinaloa, with its resort-style pool, manicured gardens and high-end accommodation. El Chapo also reportedly had a ranch built for his mother, which has escaped being seized by the authorities.
El Chapo fast became public enemy number one in Mexico, and in 1993 he was arrested, convicted for conspiracy, drug trafficking and bribery, and handed a 20-year prison sentence. In true drug baron style, El Chapo effectively gained control of the jail and enjoyed a decadent lifestyle there, smuggling in luxuries and lovers, according to the BBC. In 2001, he dramatically escaped in a laundry cart, according to local legend, and went on the run, though other sources claim the bribed guards simply let him walk out.
El Chapo managed to evade law enforcement and continued to control his drug-trafficking empire by moving between suitably humble and discrete safe houses, ending up in this one in the quiet Culiacán neighbourhood of Libertad in February 2014. By this point, he'd been declared a billionaire by Forbes and was thought to have accumulated a fortune of as much as $14 billion (£11bn) according to US prosecutors.
US-trained Mexican marines and agents from America's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) finally pinpointed the fugitive cartel boss, who'd been at large for 13 years. Certain no doubt that the murderous drug baron would soon be facing justice, armed troops mounted a raid on the basic, unassuming walled home.
The property was completely overturned but mysteriously, El Chapo was nowhere to be found. The safe house was confiscated by the Mexican government following the failed raid and damage sustained during the operation was repaired. In September 2021, the former drug baron’s refuge was featured as a prize in the Mexican national lottery, with its value pegged at $183,000 (£150k).
This is how the kitchen looked following its spruce-up by the Mexican authorities. As you can see, there's nothing fancy about it. Despite his taste for the high life, El Chapo wasn't averse to roughing it when necessary, and the safe houses where he hunkered down were a far cry from his splendid beach houses and ranches. He's even said to have lived “like a pauper in the mountains" during his time on the run, according to The Independent.
The Mexican and US authorities got to the bottom of El Chapo's absence when troops searched the home's only bathroom. It turned out the tub was hiding a tunnel connected to the local sewage system. El Chapo had it fitted with a hydraulic system, meaning it could be raised in next to no time to provide access to the tunnel. And it was through this tunnel that the druglord escaped with his mistress and maid when law enforcement descended on the house.
Here's a photo taken by Mexican troops following the raid that shows the crafty bathtub escape hatch. As later revealed by El Chapo's lover, the trio made a beeline for the tub as law enforcement began breaking in the home's steel-reinforced front door with a battering ram. El Chapo had to move so quickly that he didn't even have time to get dressed, making his hasty escape completely naked.
El Chapo made his way out of the sewers to clothing and safety, but his freedom didn't last long. Several days later he was apprehended after Mexican marines stormed a hotel where he was hiding out in the beach town of Mazatlán. The powerful druglord was promptly thrown behind bars in a maximum security prison in Almoloya de Juárez near Mexico City.
Despite purportedly being under 24-hour surveillance, El Chapo spent the next 17 months plotting an audacious escape from Mexico's most secure jail, finally executing his plan on 11 July 2015, when he fled through this secret tunnel linking the shower in his cell to a half-built house a mile away from the jail. The tunnel was kitted out with lighting, ventilation and reportedly even a modified motorcycle on tracks. Seven prison officials were later charged for their involvement with the drug baron's breakout. According to The Telegraph, the escape allegedly may have cost the druglord $50 million (£41m) in bribes.
With El Chapo on the loose yet again, the powers that be launched the mother of all manhunts and put up a $3.8 million (£3.1m) reward for information leading to the druglord's recapture. In the meantime, the cartel boss moved from safe house to safe house, and even sat for an interview with Hollywood actor Sean Penn for Rolling Stone magazine in September 2015. The meeting ended up backfiring as it helped reveal the fugitive's whereabouts and played a part in the authorities pinpointing him at this nondescript safe house in the city of Los Mochis in northern Sinaloa.
Supported by the US, Mexican marines raided 18 of El Chapo's properties but finally caught up with the elusive drug baron in early January 2016, in the northern Sinaloa city, by reportedly trailing one of the tunnel builders who had been involved with El Chapo's prison break. Suspiciously, he was working with a construction crew on a walled house there. Bugged phone calls indicated El Chapo was poised to arrive at the property. Incredibly, it was a large taco order destined for the house that made authorities realise El Chapo was in residence.
Placed just after midnight on 8 January 2016, the supersized food order almost instantly alerted law enforcement to El Chapo's presence, as the order was picked up by a man driving a white van, which resembled a vehicle believed to be driven by one of the druglord's associates. The decision was made to storm the property. As you can see from this photo taken just after the raid, the home was decorated sparsely with little in the way of luxury, just like the druglord's other safe houses.
A fierce gun battle ensued between the military and El Chapo's lieutenants, killing five of his henchmen. A further six were wounded and ultimately arrested, while a single marine was injured. But again, somehow the slippery druglord got away. The safe house was decked out with two escape hatches: one beneath the fridge and another behind a mirror, through which El Chapo and one of his associates fled.
This is the tunnel's entrance, which connected to the Los Mochis sewer network. It took an hour and a half for the marines to find the tunnel and get on the escapees' tails. After emerging filthy from the drains almost a mile away from the safe house, El Chapo and his henchman carjacked a Volkswagen Jetta and then a Ford Focus as they attempted to make a speedy getaway.
Police rapidly honed in on the stolen Ford, and this is where El Chapo's luck finally ran out. After a last-ditch attempt to bribe the arresting officers, the druglord and his associate were apprehended. El Chapo was returned to the maximum-security Altiplano Federal Penitentiary near Mexico City and this time, the authorities weren't taking any chances.
According to a report in Mexican newspaper El Universal, the prison officials covered all bases, from training sniffer dogs to track El Chapo's scent to moving him randomly from cell to cell, as they bent over backwards to prevent another escape. Shortly after his recapture, the US stepped up efforts to extradite El Chapo to face charges ranging from murder to drug trafficking.
El Chapo's lawyers mounted an array of injunctions and a judge working on the case was gunned down, but the drug baron's attempts to stay put failed and he was extradited on 17 January 2017. Following a lengthy trial, El Chapo was convicted of multiple crimes and was handed a life sentence, plus a 30-year term to be served consecutively. Since then, his home has been a cell in Colorado's ADX Florence, America's most secure supermax prison.
A number of El Chapo's homes that were seized by the Mexican authorities have been offered for auction or more recently offered as prizes in Mexico's national lottery, including the aforementioned Culiacán safe house and this three-storey villa, which is situated in one of the city's more upscale neighbourhoods.
Valued at $587,000 (£465k) in November 2019 when it went under the hammer, the mansion appears to be one of the more expensive El Chapo properties put up for sale or given away by the Mexican government. El Chapo reportedly bought the villa, which has a pool and other premium amenities, for Griselda López Pérez, the mother of his drug-trafficking son Ovidio and several of his other children.
As you can see, the property was in a satisfactory state of repair when it went up for auction – well, the interior at least. That particular sale included five other homes that once belonged to El Chapo, including the aforementioned Culiacán safe house that went on to be raffled off in the Mexican national lottery in 2021. As for the proceeds of the sales, they went to a local children's music programme.
El Chapo has left it to his family to live the life of luxury he ended up having to give up. Four of the druglord's sons are known collectively as Los Chapitos (the little Chapos). They more or less inherited their father's drug empire and have reportedly made it even more brutal, establishing a vast fentanyl operation that's caught the attention of US anti-narcotics agents. Among the four siblings at the heart of the empire is Iván Archivaldo Guzmán (pictured).
Iván doesn't hold back when it comes to flaunting the narco lifestyle, regularly posting photos of stunning supercars, dreamy villas and other trappings of wealth on his X account. The drug trafficker was arrested and imprisoned but was set free two years later in 2008 after a Mexican judge overturned his sentence, and has since avoided being put behind bars.
Iván appears to be especially enamoured with slick sports cars and has even posted pictures of gold-plated guns. Though Iván clearly enjoys the luxuries his nefarious career brings him, running a faction of a major cartel that's flooding the US with fentanyl is a risky business. Iván and his siblings are at loggerheads with rival cartels, which has led to violent clashes over the years.
Here's a photo of a private jet and luxury car that was posted on Iván's social media. While Iván and his fellow Chapitos may face off against rival cartels, they have far more powerful adversaries on their hands now, having been indicted in April 2023 by US authorities for drug trafficking, money laundering and violent crimes.
Jesús Alfredo Guzmán, who goes by Alfredo and is nicknamed Alfredito and Alfredillo (Little Alfredo), is the youngest of El Chapo's sons with his first wife Alejandrina Salazar. An account purported to belong to Alfredo posted this photo of his father and an unidentified man on social media in August 2015. It was tagged with a likely fake location to mess with law enforcement and impede their hunt for the cartel boss.
Like his brother Iván, Alfredo has been very active on social media, posting plenty of images showcasing his opulent lifestyle, in complete defiance of the Mexican and US authorities. The junior drug trafficker also shares his older sibling's penchant for head-turning luxury cars, which is evident in these shots from what is thought to be his Instagram account.
Alfredo has been free to live it up thanks to the ill-gotten gains derived from the gang's drug smuggling. As the photos posted on his supposed Instagram account show, he doesn't think twice about showing off his wealth. Just check out these pics of his shopping sprees in Gucci and Louis Vuitton. However, his notoriety has come at a cost. In August 2016, Alfredo was kidnapped by rival members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. He was released unharmed a week later.
Nevertheless, Alfredo's days sipping champagne in hot tubs and zipping around in private jets look numbered. With the US authorities doubling down on efforts to bring the Chapitos to justice, his arrest is likely only a matter of time. As well as Iván and Alfredo, Chapitos member Joaquín is still at large. The same can't be said for Ovidio, though, the remaining Chapito and youngest of them all.
Nicknamed El Ratón (the Mouse), Ovidio was apprehended in January 2023 following a savage gunfight around his mansion in Culiacán that killed at least 10 military personnel and 19 cartel members. The Mexican authorities had previously arrested Ovidio in October 2019 but his incarceration sparked the bloody Battle of Culiacán and chaos in the city. With the violence spiralling out of control, the then-Mexican president ordered Ovidio's release not long after his arrival at the jail in a desperate attempt to calm the situation.
Following the capture of the cartel bigwig in his fortress-like mansion this year, the authorities have no plans to release him this time around and on 15 September, he was extradited to the US. And as we've pointed out, with the American authorities going all out to bring the Chapitos to justice and destroy their drug trafficking business, the other three brothers better enjoy their blingy lifestyles while they still can.
Other key members of El Chapo's family include his influencer daughter Alejandrina, who married a scion of another alleged crime dynasty in 2020, and his current 'wife', Emma Coronel. El Chapo married the ex-beauty queen on her 18th birthday in 2007, but it's been claimed, even by Emma herself, that the druglord never divorced his first wife, Alejandrina Salazar, therefore invalidating their marriage.
Emma certainly enjoyed spending El Chapo's ill-gotten gains on luxuries including Louis Vuitton bags, and even treated her twin daughters with the drug baron to matching Gucci tote bags. The drug kingpin's wife raised more than a few eyebrows when she flaunted her lavish lifestyle during his trial in 2019.
In 2018, Emma was widely criticised for the Barbie-themed birthday party she threw for her twin daughters. Ridiculously OTT, it featured a giant pink Dreamhouse, carnival ride, pink throne and other pricey frivolities. However, the good times were not to last. US justice finally caught up with El Chapo's other half in 2021, when she was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay almost $1.5 million (£1.2m) in fines for her role in assisting the crimes of the Sinaloa Cartel. Emma was released from prison in September 2023.
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