Vetting the Capture of a Mexican Drug Cartel Leader

Charlie Minn is absolutely right when he says that he is "relentless." He's made ten documentaries in the past four years and the latest opens Friday August 22nd in Tempe, Arizona for a limited run.

Es El Chapo? chronicles Minn's investigation of the February 22nd, 2014 capture in Mazátlan, Mexico of most-wanted drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Minn, like many others, isn't entirely convinced that the authorities got their man that day.

One of the clues pointed to by people who hold that conspiracy theory is that not a single shot was fired that day. Other questionable aspects include the idea that photos of the individual captured February 22nd didn't look to some like the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, and the fact that the condominium on the Pacific coast where he was nabbed appeared to be far too cheap to befit a billionaire criminal.



After talking to various skeptical folks in El Paso, Texas, Minn traveled to the drug lord's home province. The filmmaker explained to Phoenix Times reporter Matthew Hendley that the criminal still has a large fan base:

"What shocked me the most about this film was how loved he was," Minn says. "It would be like people in Phoenix lauding the Baseline Killer. I guess the only difference there is that the Baseline Killer didn't donate to the poor."

[Charlie Minn Films]