A Massive Order Of Tacos (And Not Sean Penn) Finally Led To El Chapo Being Captured

Posted on January 18 2016 at 21:11 pm

With notorious Mexican drug lord El Chapo now in police custody, all the talk has been about ‘that interview’ he gave to Hollywood star Sean Penn, and the involvement of Mexican TV star Kate del Castillo. With both actors alleged to have played a key part in unwittingly revealing El Chapo’s location, it seems that there is another important bit of information missing from this story.

According to a new investigative piece by the New York Times, a massive order of tacos helped return the drug king to prison. Can I hear two actors breathing a sigh of relief? Here are the crucial food-related details from the New York Times piece that allegedly helped put the kingpin away.

“In early January, [El Chapo] arrived in the coastal city of Los Mochis, in Sinaloa, at a home where the authorities had trailed one of the chief tunnel diggers from his escape. Construction crews had been hard at work on the house for weeks. Telephone intercepts indicated that someone big was about to arrive.

“The final bit of evidence was a food order, Mexican officials said.

“Just two blocks away, a big order of tacos was picked up after midnight on Jan. 8 by a man driving a white van, like the one believed to be driven by Mr. Guzmán’s associates, witnesses said.”

Betrayed by his stomach, who’d have thought it?

Tracking him down to his hideout (I can only imagine the police followed the smell of tasty tacos), marines stormed the compound at 4:30am. As a gun battle raged between hired henchmen and police, Mr. Guzmán escaped using an hatch hidden behind a closet mirror – a tactic he has used to evade capture before.

His freedom didn’t last much longer however, as he was caught on a highway heading out of town a few hours later. Now behind bars for the third time since 1993, I think the question on most people’s lips is an obvious one…

Were those tacos tasty El Chapo?

In reality the police had been watching this particular hideout closely, after they had already swept through 18 of his homes and properties in his native lands. Telephone intercepts suggested someone important was to arrive at the compound, but it wasn’t until the taco order was placed that police were sure their man was inbound.

If the Mexican police have any sense of humour at all they’ll be serving him tacos till the end of his days.