After 13 years of being heralded as Public Enemy #1 by the United Statess and Mexico, on  February 22, 2014 Mexican Cartel leader Joaquin Guzman was arrested by Mexican special forces thus bringing down the leadership of one of the most influential drug dealers in the world. Guzman is being held accountable for several heinous crimes including drug trafficking and organized murder in his vicious drug dealing ring. His Sinaloa cartel is estimated to be accountable for about 25% of the U.S.’s incoming drug traffic according to CNN. His capture was no coincidence however, as several close run ins led to his ultimate detainment.

‘El Chapo’ or ‘shorty’ was successfully captured during a joint raid of Mexican and U.S. Marine special forces in Mazatlan, Mexico. Only weeks before, 1 of 7 drug houses in the town of Culiacan was raided but Guzman managed to escape through his trap door bathtub and a series of sewer drains and made his way to the beach resort town of Mazatlan, roughly 125 miles away. Special forces used a variety of technology to monitor Guzman from a distance, including wiretap strategies to generally track him. Once they zeroed in on his location, they employed infrared and thermal scanners to pinpoint locations of people in the room. Guzman was arrested with an AK-47 and his wife at his side, CNN reports.

Guzman’s arrest is viewed by several government officials as a triumph but to a number of Mexican civilians, he was commonly viewed as a modern day Robin Hood. According to an interview conducted by NPR with residents of his native town, Sinaloa, Guzman offered a sense control. Civilian theft, kidnapping and extortion has been low and Guzman created several jobs in town as well as maintaining public roads. Guzman was viewed as a quasi mayor but it wasn’t always through just means.

Guzman and his cartel accounted for approximately eighty thousand deaths over the past seven  years and annually takes in a profit of over three billion dollars a year according to The Guardian News.

Regardless of these horrifying statistics, reports are claiming that supporters have been flooding the streets in his hometown, demanding his release and even going as far to incite riot like violence against local police forces.