More than 80 years since Al Capone terrorized its streets, Chicago has a new Public Enemy No.1.
While his predecessor was known as Scarface, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman has the less ominous nickname “El Chapo,” which means “Shorty” in Spanish.
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But, according to local law enforcement the notorious gangster deserves a more befitting title because of the “viciousness, the evil and the power of this man.”
The Chicago Crime Commission and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced their new Public Enemy No. 1 on Thursday, claiming that he supplies the bulk of narcotics sold in the city.
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“What Al Capone was to beer and whiskey, Guzman is to narcotics,” Al Bilek, the Commission’s executive vice president told the Associated Press.
Despite living in a mountain hideaway in Mexico, law enforcement says his cartel-led drug trafficking can be directly linked to the territorial battles being waged between gangs on Chicago’s streets.
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“This is where Guzman turns his drugs into money,” Jack Riley, the top DEA Chicago official told A.P. He also said that the city is a hub the kingpin uses to distribute his illegal product across the U.S.
Comparing “Shorty” to Scarface, Riley said: “If I was to put those two guys in a ring, El Chapo would eat [Capone] alive.”
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Guzman has been indicted on federal drug trafficking charges in Chicago and if he is captured U.S. authorities want him extradited to face trial.
“His time is coming. I can’t wait for that day,” Riley vowed.
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The news comes 84 years to the day that Capone’s henchmen gunned down his rivals in a bloody street battle known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
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