Many episodes in the life of narco Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán are as crazy as fiction, including his two prison escapes. But details of his final capture in the city of Los Mochis in January, 2016, were especially nuts. When Mexican marines stormed his safe house, Chapo and his head of security Cholo Iván escaped down a drainage tunnel, only to flee flooding through a manhole wearing vests and steal a car. In a twist of fate, Chapo was then stopped by two lowly federal police patrolmen who stashed him in a roadside motel terrified of Sinaloa Cartel gunmen before they could hand him to the marines.
Journalist Héctor de Mauleón dug up details of this incredible tale, which he compares to the Glenn Ford Western 3:10 to Yuma, in a series of stories (or cronicas). A decade later, it has come out as Netflix movie called La Captura, or in English, Facing El Chapo, which is action packed and uses a certain artistic license while also providing a real window to the terror of the Mexican Cartel Wars.
In contrast to most narco movies and series, Captura centers on the police officers, who it portrays as heroes turning down million dollar bribes and risking their lives to do the right thing. I have long commented on how Mexico struggles to have cop heroes, while narcos are glorified, and I wonder if they have finally found some. I also wonder if this reflects a bigger shift in the culture as people here are fed up of crime while there is huge support for Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch cracking down. Or is there more to this story of why these police handed in Chapo and the politics of his arrest?
In this episode of CrashOut Podcast, I talk to De Mauleón about these issues and how the mighty Chapo could end up in a vest on the street with one bodyguard having to jack a car. The veteran journalist gets into fine details about the incident and about what happened to the police officers after they busted the most wanted narco on the planet.
Copyright Ioan Grillo and CrashOut Media 2026
