Hunting El Chapo: Taking down the world’s most-wanted drug-lord

Hunting El Chapo: Taking down the world’s most-wanted drug-lord
Douglas Century

Andrew Hogan

This is the untold story of the American federal agent who captured the world’s most-wanted drug-lord.Every generation has its larger-than-life criminal legend living beyond the reach of the law: Billy the Kid, Al Capone, Ronnie Biggs, Pablo Escobar. But for every one of these criminals, there’s a Wyatt Earp, Pat Garrett or Slipper of the Yard. For Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán-Loera a.k.a. ‘El Chapo’ – the 21st century’s most notorious criminal – that man is D.E.A. Special Agent Andrew Hogan.This is the incredible story of Hogan’s seven-year-long chase to capture El Chapo, a multibillionaire drug-lord and escape-artist posing as a Mexican Robin Hood, who in reality was a brutal sociopath responsible for the murders of thousands. His greedy campaign to take over his rivals’ territories resulted in an unprecedented war with a body count of over 100,000.We follow Hogan on his quest to achieve the seemingly impossible: to cross the border into Mexico and arrest El Chapo, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, a billionaire and Public Enemy No. 1, who had been evading capture for more than a decade and had earned a reputation for being utterly untouchable.This intimate thriller tells how Hogan single-mindedly and methodically climbed the ladder within the hierarchy of the Sinaloa Cartel – the world’s wealthiest and most powerful drug-trafficking organization – by creating one of the most sophisticated undercover operations in the history of the D.E.A. From infiltrating Chapo’s inner circle to leading a white-knuckle manhunt with an elite brigade of Mexican Marines, Hogan left no stone unturned in his hunt for the world’s most powerful drug kingpin.

ALSO BY DOUGLAS CENTURY

BARNEY ROSS

TAKEDOWN

STREET KINGDOM

ICE

IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

BROTHERHOOD OF WARRIORS

COPYRIGHT (#u8863867a-28f9-5e46-923f-f2b01bd261bc)

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

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First published in the US by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018 This UK edition published 2018

FIRST EDITION

© QQQ, LLC 2018

Cover layout design Dominic Forbes © HarperCollinsPublishers Cover photograph © AFP/Getty Images

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN 9780008245849

Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780008245863

Version 2018-07-18

AUTHORS’ NOTE (#u8863867a-28f9-5e46-923f-f2b01bd261bc)

This is a work of nonfiction: all the events depicted are true and the characters are real. The names of US law enforcement and prosecutors—as well as members of the Mexican military—have been altered, unless already in the public domain. For security reasons, several locations, makes of vehicles, surnames, and aliases have also changed. All dialogue has been rendered to the best of Andrew Hogan’s recollection.

To my wife and sons. —A.H.

Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter.

— Ernest Hemingway, “On the Blue Water,” 1936

Contents

COVER (#u803ca355-63a5-5a5d-8273-898e0e2986ad)

TITLE PAGE (#ubd8ea9af-5fce-5d10-8808-ff5ebd8a4588)

COPYRIGHT (#ubaf14f9c-7ba2-52ef-85da-22f77d2d7abf)

AUTHOR'S NOTE (#u42f4d372-7cee-5d5c-b88a-5da8ae654a52)

PROLOGUE: (#u66e061e1-9dc6-56d2-a3d8-99c7de812829)

EL NIÑO DE LA TUNA (#u66e061e1-9dc6-56d2-a3d8-99c7de812829)

PART I (#u6cf9deea-8814-5b05-8ef0-19c4ed0a86a4)

BREAKOUT (#uff444126-2ef8-5e00-8216-9a20a72e3c8c)

THE NEW GENERATION (#uadcc42fe-63c8-583c-a6ca-273d044d038b)

EL CANAL (#u8ff2d30c-b93f-5968-8ffe-8947bcf75052)

TEAM AMERICA (#uc1d904e7-e965-594e-b4f8-45289728f41f)

PART II (#u014cd9d2-f530-5051-81ed-e7e684773f82)

LA FRONTERA (#u82e6679d-7ce0-5ac8-8c0d-b9049c7a9514)

DF (#u444c0be7-4916-59cb-967c-513fdd38717d)

BADGELESS (#litres_trial_promo)

TOP-TIER (#litres_trial_promo)

ABRA LA PUERTA (#litres_trial_promo)

DUCK DYNASTY (#litres_trial_promo)

LOS HOYOS (#litres_trial_promo)

PART III (#litres_trial_promo)