In the Thrall of the Mountain King
The Secret History of El Chapo, the World’s Most Notorious Narco
Also known as: La historia secreta del El Chapo (Mexico)
Amazon Kindle Single, #1 new Biography/Memoir its third day on sale; #1 Organized Crime Kindle Single, Best Narco Books (CLICK PIC TO BUY ON AMAZON)
Excerpted in the New York Post.
Winner: Mexico’s National Journalism Award 2021 (Premio Nacional de Periodismo) from the Press Club of Mexico, CDMX.
As featured on The Recount network’s News Items Podcast with John Ellis/June 22, 2021: “Where Is El Chapo’s Money? With Phoebe Eaton.”
Phoebe Eaton journeys past cartel checkpoints up to El Chapo’s remote hometown hideout in the Sierra Madre to interview Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s family multiple times as his criminal trial rages back in Brooklyn, separating man from myth. Eaton’s interviews are widely regarded as the longest and most personal ever granted by El Chapo’s mother, María Consuelo Loera Pérez, and his sisters Bernarda and Armida.
The surprising telenovela details of his childhood are laid bare in this exploration of exactly how this third-grade dropout and Mexico’s most controversial narco-trafficker rappelled his way from the rock pile that is La Tuna, Sinaloa, onto Forbes magazine's billionaire list. How the Sinaloa Cartel boss managed to govern a $12.7-billion empire even as Chapo was never not on the lam, holed up in simple pine shacks with plastic folding chairs where the phone service went down if it was raining.
Also, surprising revelations about the Pentecostal faith his family (and he) credit with keeping him alive all these years. The unusual practices he believes helped him escape jail and the authorities over and over again. Including the gift his mother and sisters (and even he himself, supposedly) have of speaking in tongues.
The book features many hitherto unseen photos of Chapo's haunts in Badiraguato Municipality’s La Tuna, the surprising seat of empire. Also rare material from Chapo’s Brooklyn court trial, where he was convicted on all ten counts of his indictment and is now serving a life sentence in Colorado's Supermax prison.
![[CHAPO’S HOMETOWN HIGH IN THE SIERRA MADRE: La Tuna, Sinaloa. IMAGE © PHOEBE EATON 2020]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58a3684837c581e31edffc16/1550154497702-SGX9J9J2E84BMO7WBS10/phoebe-eaton-el-chapo-la-tuna-sign-1.jpg)
[IMAGES ABOVE AND RIGHT © PHOEBE EATON 2024]
