Possibly in hopes of getting Narcos-type fame, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was captured because he wanted to have a biopic made about him, according to The Guardian.
The outlet reports that Guzmán was so serious about a movie that he attempted to contact producers and actresses, and those attempts came to the attention of authorities, leading to his capture.
Reportedly Guzmán, who has twice escaped from prison, embarrassing the Mexican government most recently in July 2015, had started the process of making a biopic on a life. Guzmán has a real rags-to-riches story in which he went from selling oranges on the street to landing on the Forbes billionaires list at least three times.
On Friday, Mexico’s attorney general, Arely Gómez, said that the larger-than-life cocaine trafficker was a narcissist and that his thirst for infamy led to his recapture in his Sinaloa state, “in a tacky hotel in Los Mochis.”
“He established communication with actors and producers, which formed a new line of investigation,” Gómez said. CNN reports that the Mexican Navy made the capture this time.
Some folks, however, weren’t buying the government’s version of events. “Why would a drug lord call attention upon himself when he is hiding? It makes no sense,” said Rodolfo Soriano Nuñez, a sociologist in Mexico City, to The Guardian.
The capture marks the second time Guzmán has been apprehended in the past three years. Mexican marines captured him after a prison escape in early 2014; at that time, he had been on the run for more than 13 years.
Guzmán was then sent to a high-security prison 56 miles outside Mexico City, but in July 2015 he squeezed through a hole in his shower floor and then fled on a motorbike through a mile-long tunnel fitted with lights and a ventilation system straight to planes waiting for him.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and federal officials have been criticized for refusing to extradite Guzmán to the United States. CNN reports that Guzmán will be returning to the same prison he escaped from.
Ironically, a film titled The Great Escape—on El Chapo’s life and July escape—is set to open in Mexico on Jan. 15.
Read more at The Guardian.