El Chapo allegedly whacked the men who forced him to pay $500K for long johns

As the billionaire head of the Sinaloa Cartel, El Chapo was used to paying exorbitant prices for everything he wanted. But even the mighty crime boss flinched when he was forced to shell out $500,000 for a pair of long johns.

The thermal bottoms were intended for his son, Ivan Guzmán Salazar, who was serving a three-year sentence for money laundering at the maximum security prison of La Palma (Altiplano) where his father himself had once been incarcerated in the early 1990s.

In the winter of 2007-2008, Ivan’s cell was so cold he asked through various intermediaries — “a corruption pipeline” — to get his father (real name: Joaquín Guzmán Loera) to send the underwear.

Ivan had relied on his dad in the past. In 2005, when he was arrested with three others and charged with double homicide in Jalisco state, he only faced accusations of money laundering “thanks to lawyers hired by El Chapo,” writes Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez in her new book “Emma and the Other Narco Women” (Grijalbo Publishing), out Jan. 25.

El Chapo was charged $500,000 to send long johns to his son in the same prison where he himself had served time.
El Chapo was charged $500,000 to send long johns to his son in the same prison where he himself had served time.
AP

A few years later, when Ivan needed to keep warm in prison, El Chapo asked one of his fellow drug traffickers — Edgar “the Barbie” Valdez Villareal — to find out who he had to bribe at the maximum security prison to get his son some warm layers.

Ivan Guzmán Salazar (left, with his brother Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar) was doing time for money laundering when he asked his father for help.
Ivan Guzmán Salazar (left, with his brother Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar) was doing time for money laundering when he asked his father for help.
Twitter

“With one phone call, one of the soldiers found the right person,” writes Hernandez. “A guard at the prison could get the clothing to his son.”

El Chapo put out a hit on the soldiers who had scammed him over the long johns.
El Chapo put out a hit on the soldiers who had scammed him over the long johns.
Getty Images

The guard charged $100,000 for the favor, but out of greed the two soldiers who had made the contact decided to ask El Chapo for five times the amount. They offered to cut the Barbie in on the deal, but “because he knew who he was dealing with,” Barbie declined the offer, writes Hernandez.

Another El Chapo son, Edgar Guzmán Lopez, was later gunned down — by his father's hired killers — in a case of mistaken identity.
Another El Chapo son, Edgar Guzmán Lopez, was later gunned down — by his father’s hired killers — in a case of mistaken identity.
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El Chapo paid the full $500k to get his son a couple of T-shirts and thermal underwear, but then he began to investigate. When the Barbie told him what the soldiers had done, the Sinaloa leader dispatched a hit squad. The two men were tortured and killed, their bodies quartered and left on the outskirts of Mexico City’s international airport, according to Hernandez.

The new book "Emma and the Other Narco Women" reveals many stories about El Chapo and his family.
The new book “Emma and the Other Narco Women” reveals many stories about El Chapo and his family.

A few months later, Ivan was released but another son, Edgar Guzmán Lopez, was gunned down in a hail of bullets. The hit was ordered by El Chapo himself in what proved to be a case of mistaken identity.

And yet, this time, El Chapo was merciful.

“He pardoned the hitmen and there were no reprisals,” writes Hernandez. “The offense of having been charged $500,000 for the long underwear was a lot more serious than the assassination of his son.”

This article was originally posted here