"El Chapo" is Named Chicago's Public Enemy "Number One" and Obama Wants a Stable Mexico

 (CHICAGO) -- A drug kingpin in Mexico who has never set foot in Chicago has been named the city's new Public Enemy No. 1 - the same notorious label assigned to Al Capone at the height of the Prohibition-era gang wars. Chicago Tribune

• 2011 REPORT: DEA pressing Mexican cartels after deadly attack
• PHOTOS: Mexican drug lords' gritty nicknames

The Chicago Crime Commission considers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman even more menacing than Capone because he's the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in the city.

"What Al Capone was to beer and whiskey during Prohibition, Guzman is to narcotics," said Art Bilek, the commission's executive vice president. "Of the two, Guzman is by far the greater threat. ... And he has more power and financial capability than Capone ever dreamed of."

The commission - a non-government body that tracks city crime trends - designated Capone Public Enemy No. 1 in 1930. It has declared other outlaws public enemies, but Capone was the only one deemed No. 1. Until now.

Related Content

STORY: Chicago police, feds target Mexican drug cartels

STORY: Cocaine, cash, cars seized in drug sting; 19 charged

Guzman is thought to be holed up in a mountain hideaway in western Mexico, but he ought to be treated as a local Chicago crime boss for the havoc his cartel creates in the nation's third-largest city, said Jack Riley, of the Drug Enforcement Administration, which joined the commission in affixing the title to Guzman.
The point of singling out Guzman was to inspire more public support for going after him, Bilek said

.

"Ninety-nine percent of the people in the United States have never heard of this man," he said. "Concerted action ... must be taken now against Guzman before he establishes a bigger network and a bigger empire in the United States."

Capone based his bootlegging and other criminal enterprises in Chicago during Prohibition, when it was illegal to make or sell alcohol in the U.S. He eventually went to prison for income tax evasion, but he gained the greatest notoriety for the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre that left seven rivals dead.

Yet Riley says Guzman - whose nickname means "shorty" in Spanish - is more ruthless than Capone, whose nickname was "Scarface."

"If I was to put those two guys in a ring, El Chapo would eat that guy (Capone) alive," Riley told The Associated Press in a recent interview at his office, pointing at pictures of the men.

Riley described Chicago as one of Sinaloa's most important cities, not only as a final destination for drugs but as a hub to distribute them across the U.S."This is where Guzman turns his drugs into money," he said.

Mexican cartels that ship drugs to Chicago are rarely directly linked to slayings. But Bilek said Thursday that cartel-led trafficking is an underlying cause of territorial battles between street gangs that are blamed for rising homicide rates.

"He virtually has his fingerprints on the guns that are killing the children of this city," Bilek told a news conference.

Guzman, who has been on the run since escaping from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001, is one of the world's most dangerous and most wanted fugitives. He's also one of the richest: Forbes magazine has estimated his fortune at $1 billion.

Now in his mid-50s, Guzman has been indicted on federal trafficking charges in Chicago and, if he is ever captured alive, U.S. officials want him extradited here to face trial. The U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward for his capture."His time is coming," Riley said. "I can't wait for that day."

It was only a coincidence, Bilek said Thursday, that the announcement naming Guzman Public Enemy No. 1 came on the anniversary of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which raised public pressure to capture Capone.

Within two years of being designated Public Enemy No. 1 in 1930, Capone had been captured, convicted and imprisoned.

With the same label now attached to Guzman, Bilek said, "we hope the same thing will happen to him."

Obama Wants a Stable Mexico

WASHINGTON. - President Barack Obama urged the next government to collaborate with Mexican security because he believes that having a stable neighbor gives greater assurance to the United States. Therefore and according to the State Department, maintaining support for Mexico drug war is key to strengthening the bilateral relationship and to contribute to the country's stability. "A stable Mexico will help the national security of the United States, will unleash the potential of economic growth and protect citizens along our shared border.  President Barack Obama submitted a budget request  to Congress yesterday, which includes a game plan that will go to the Mexico "Application of FY2013 (for its acronym in English fiscal year 2013), to support our relationship with the new Mexican administration after the 2012 elections.

U.S. will continue its partnership with Mexico and expand mutual cooperation under the Obama Administration's approach around the four pillars of the Merida Initiative to address the security risks of drug trafficking, violent crime, and the capacities of the rule of law in Mexico,  "Specifically, he said, the funding of ESF (Economic Support Fund) will focus on reforms to strengthen and institutionalize offenders, improve the rule of law, respect for human rights and to build strong and resilient communities capable of withstanding pressures of crime and violence.

Similarly, it specifies that programs funded by the Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement, State Department will focus on developing institutions of law enforcement through training, technical assistance and equipment purchases. "Programs continue to provide assistance to federal criminal justice institutions, including institutions of police, prosecutors, judicial and prison," says the proposal. Meanwhile, the drug czar's office in the White House, Gil Kerlikowske, announced that within the proposed budget for health programs for addiction and drug use in the United States,  requested an additional $ 390 million to reach a grand total of more than 10 billion dollars. "America is committed to reducing drug use, and we have made significant progress. We have a responsibility to reduce drug demand.It is a fact that the use of illegal drugs fuels the crime, violence, addiction and instability throughout the nation and the hemisphere," said the drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske. 

Sources: Abclocal, REFORMA