9781422271018

Chapter One

Early Life— Poverty to Power

J oaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera didn’t start out life known as “El Chapo,” nor did any of his family likely suspect that the fourth child of the ten children of Emilio Guzmán Bustillos and María Consuelo Loera Pérez would become a world-famous criminal mastermind. His extended family had long resided in a rural area in La Tuna, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico, and both sets of his grandparents lived close by. Guzmán frequently spent time with his paternal grandparents, Juan Guzmán and Otilia Bustillos, and his maternal grandparents, Ovidio Loera Cobret and Pomposa Pérez Uriarte. Although Emilio and María Consuelo produced a large family, Joaquín became the first of the children to survive. His three older brothers all died of natural causes. According to multiple sources, the boys were unnamed, or their names went unrecorded. It is unknown whether they were stillborn or died during the birthing process. The scrappy Joaquín, born on April 4, 1957, survived and thrived though. His six younger siblings also survived—two sisters, Bernarda and Armida, and four brothers, Arturo, Aureliano, Emilio, and Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera’s extended family had long resided in a rural area in La Tuna, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico.

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Early Life—Poverty to Power

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