He was willing to kill whoever he needed to kill. The drug lord, el chapo. The most wanted fugitive besides osama bin laden. They said, no one will ever catch him. But heand in this team did it in the most astonishing way. Surprise you . I could not believe it. The american agent who helped capture el chapo comes out of the shadows. I did not know who we would be able to trust. Exclusive details of this whiteknuckle man hunt. We would jump out of the back of the helicopter, pure chaos. Pictures seen here for the first time. Secret drug dens, hidden escape rooms. It was like harry houdini. Every single time we got close, the chopper would escape. It was beyond imagination. To catch the bad guy, you have to become the bad guy. You are inside this real life thriller. This is it. He is there. He is there. It was like living in a movie. Hello, and welcome to dateline. He was the infamous kingpin who inspired fear amongst criminals and Law Enforcement, on both sides of the border. His name was el chapo. For over a decade, he evaded authorities by disappearing into a secret network of tunnels built under his many safehouses. But one man was determined to capture the fugitive and would lead his team to great lengths, even risk his own life to get the job done. Here is lester holt with inside the hunt for el chapo. He was hiding. Somewhere in these forbidden mountains. Or, in this sprawling city. Or, in this sunsplashed beach resort. Somewhere. Somewhere, in mexico. He was the most wanted drug lord in the world, implicated in hundreds of murders, and finding him became the Dangerous Mission of this man, and a team of u. S. And mexican Law Enforcement agents. I am pretty sure i never started interview off with a question i am about to ask you. You are chasing some really bad people, with really long memories. What are you doing, talking to me in front of these cameras . Originally, i started out under an alias. For the first time ever, this former dea agent was coming out of the shadows, despite fears for his life. The danger is real, right . I have to watch my back, the same way, whether i was under an alias, or using my real name. Is it a calculated risk . I am always calculating it, in my head. It was time to step up and be proud of what i had done, of what my teammates had done. His name is drew hogan, facing incredible odds, him and his team put their lives on the line to stalk an elusive prey. We go inside drews hunt as he pursues el chapo from safe house to safe house. And finally, comes face to face. It is not just a story about one man. It is larger than that, it is two countries, coming together, accomplishing something that everyone thought was impossible. He recounts that journey in his book, hunting el chapo. In the book for security reasons, he changed the names of some people and places. We blurred the faces of others who are still working in the field. Because for all of them, danger lurked around every curve in the road. We will always have that in the back of your mind. Because what do you do with that fear . What he did was obsess over el chapo and his whereabouts. It was non stop, nonstop. I would dream about it, it would totally consume my life. Drew hogans International Odyssey on the hunt for el chapo started far from mexicos narco killing fields. A small town in the midwest, where he played high school football, and dreamed of going into Law Enforcement. Your first shot and carrying a badge was as a local Sheriff Deputy . Right, working the street. One day, i was working with a buddy of mine, a Foreign Police officer and you said hey, why do you just go into chicago, test for the dea . The dea the United StatesDrug Enforcement administration. He joined in 2007 at the age of 25. His new job brought him to a border city in the southwestern United States. His first order of business was to learn about the mexican narco culture. This included songs like el nino de la tuna, a ballad about el chapo. His mentor was an undercover agent that drew calls, in the book, diego. As his friends named him to me, i started to really understand what was behind these songs, and really connected the dots for me. Sort of like a who is who of that world. He is, these are like modern day outlaws . Absolutely. El chapo was at the very top. El chapo, el chapo. Real name, joaqumn guzman. The city of chicago named him Public Enemy Number One for his role in bringing in tons of drugs which were sold on the streets of the u. S. His coauthor, doug century. He was a very ruthless and murderous guy. Lets not sugarcoat that. He rose to power, though, on his ability to deliver huge amounts of cocaine. And he was the guy who could deliver. He invented the narco tunnel. The narco tunnel. The ubiquitous tunnels, burrowed underneath the u. S. Mexico border, that the cartels used to smuggle vast quantities of drugs into the u. S. His rise from abject poverty, to running one of the most powerful drug syndicates on the planet, which had thousands of members and spanned the globe, made el chapo a folk hero in mexican culture. He was a little boy who sold oranges on the street, and then rises from absolute nothing. Cannot read or write is completely illiterate, and he becomes a billionaire. This is extremely captivating as a mythology for poor, working people in a very impoverished country. He started in the drug trade in the 1970s, and was arrested in 1993. But el chapo who was able to run his cartel from a high security mexican prison, for eight years. And then, in 2001, his legend grew when he escaped, hidden in a laundry cart. The way he escaped was like, like a movie. Telemundos Julio Vaqueiro has covered mexicos drug wars and el chapo for years. Him being able to embarress authorities, i think this is what, i mean, it is pure gold for a legend, right . El chapo was the master of bribery. He spent millions of dollars a year, secretly doling out cash to every branch of the mexican government, so officials would turn a blind eye to his criminal enterprise. With el chapo, the truth and reality is that, more than 200,000 people have died because of this war on drugs. And more than 20,000 people who have disappeared. Ensconced in his safe houses , el chapo remained free for years, and seemed untouchable by the time drew hogan joined the dea. There have been so many felt attempts throughout the year, where el chapo would escape out the back door. He was wired into his Law Enforcement . Absolutely, at every level. The u. S. And mexican agents never gave up on capturing el chapo, a 30 year veteran of the dea, derek maltz ran the special operations unit, and oversaw agents efforts to bring the drug lord to justice. Even though they were unsuccessful in the sense of capturing el chapo, they were very successful in developing intelligence, the knowledge of how his cartels worked, operated. Drew hogen and diego first joined the hunt with a daring move, by infiltrating el chapo s Sinaloa Cartel. When did he get on your radar in a way that you thought , i might be able to get him, i could hunt him . That would have been 2010, 2011, where diego and i started to move Sinaloa Cartel money. Him and diego worked as part of a task force. Diego was a local detective, not a federal agent like drew. These are photos, taken during their operations. Diego passed himself off as a big time operator, as drew coordinated behind the scenes. By doing this, they were risking their lives. You guys were playing the role of Money Launderers, right . Diego was in his undercover role, posing as Director Of Operations of a covert criminal network, but had access to airplanes, trucks, yachts that we could move millions of dollars at a time, and tons of quantities of drugs at any point. That was our sales pitch. That was their pitch, and they were successful. For instance, see those fedex boxes . They contained nearly one point 2 million destined for el chapos operations. Drew and diego were getting inside the belly of the beast. Coming up. Were you actually reading their texts . Every single one of them. Drew hogan moves closer to el chapo. And his family moved deeper into danger. My wife knew everything we were getting ourselves into. When dateline continues. luke so. I hear some of you are concerned about the fact that im taking over the company. Well, rest assured, companys in great hands. Marci, hit the vid. both lukes homesdotcom. 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Y by 2011, dea agent drew hogan was part of the hunt for drug kingpin, el chapo. Drew and his Task Force Partner diego infiltrated el chapos Sinaloa Cartel. These are photos of their undercover operations. They acted as Money Launderers and each step of the way, as they move cash, they found a new target to exploit. Getting them closer to the top. As diego and i landed in a new location, we would immediately hit the streets. We would go out that night, hitting the different bars and hotels and clubs to try not to look like agents . Exactly. They were playing a very dangerous game. And drew was becoming obsessed, obsessed with tracking down el chapo. Drew felt he went as far as he could in the u. S. He needed to immerse himself south of the border. He made a decision to move to mexico city with his young family. I talked with my wife extensively. She knew everything we were getting ourselves into. And she told me, whats your gut telling you . And i said, to go. To go. Lets do it. Leaving diego back in the states, drew and his family arrived in mexico city in may, 2012. He and the team were now stalking one of the most powerful criminals in the world on el chapos own turf. Its just like, whos watching me . It could be anybody from chapos people to the local cartel around mexico city, to street thugs, or even the mexican government. He worked in a cluttered cubicles at the u. S. Embassy in mexico city. During long days and nights, he barely saw his family. Drews attention was focused on the Mountain Range far to the west. The sierra madre. Its known as mexicos lawless land. El chapos home base, the Mexican City Of Sinaloa comprises part of it. Culiacan, the biggest city there, is the reputed narco capital of mexico. And el chapo essentially owns the town. It would be like in the heyday of prohibition when al capone completely owned chicago. For somebody to come into just try and throw handcuffs on a capone. It was a place were king pins who died in mexicos drug wars were policed in the large ornate tunes. They seemed to stand as reminders of the violence and the danger that engulfed the city. I think its very dangerous. Those areas are completely controlled by the drug cartels. But drew was relentless. For instance, just before he arrived in mexico, he came upon a Treasure Trove of evidence. El chapo had left his safe haven for this mansion in kabul st. Lucas. It was raided by mexican Law Enforcement. El chapo got away. There were key scraps of paper, notebook and phones left behind. With Phone Numbers that drew can target. You cant just target the man himself. You have to target his entire infrastructure. That means is pilots, his facilitator, his couriers, his wives, his girlfriends, his sons. Down to his maid, his cook. It began with his two most trusted pilots. Pilots who had would swoop el chapo in and out of his hideouts under cover of darkness. It was a big discovery. Drew learned an agent from Homeland Security investigations back in the states, who he calls brady, had also uncovered the pilots numbers. He came back and said that, oh my gosh, this could be a gold mind. And we just again vowing intelligence back and force. Him up in the states and we down in mexico. Drew and the team knew el chapo usually didnt carry a phone himself, that was always with an underling who did. So, they thought if they could track the phone of el chapos closest associates, they would find el chapo himself. But making things more difficult was that el chapos people kept changing what are called Burner Phones disposable phones used a short time and then tossed away. Do you have to go back to square one every time they toss them . If they drop the phones all at the same time. Yes. But theres hundreds of people in this organization and theyre not all dropping their phones at the same time. I tossed my phone now, she tosses her phone tomorrow. Your three days later. That was their weakness, right . Right. Its not registered in anyones name, how we able to identify where these communications were coming from . Through the names that they were using. They were very open in their communications. It was a big mistake by el chapos operation. Drew and the team could now track them, and the Cartel Operatives had no idea. They didnt think that those communications could be intercepted by u. S. Law enforcement. Were you actually reading their texts . Every single one ofem. Could you tell where they were coming from and whether you were in fact seeing communications directly from el chapo . Yes. It took us awhile to infiltrate this Mirror Structure that they had set up. A Mirror Structure, a ladder of phones belonging to el chapos underlings, climbing to the top, from third tier, maybe a runner, to second tier, perhaps a driver, and so on. You essentially cracked the code . Cracked the code. It was a high point in the search, after years of hunting, el chapo was in their sights. At last. Coming up chapo knew instantly somebody was corrupt. Drew hogan smells a rat and makes a move. We had to go into Enemy Territory and root him out. A bold strike with deadly stakes. The city is lighting up. Its on fire. Something is not right. When dateline continues. Whoa, how did you defeat them . With a little kung fu strength and by connecting my devices to the most powerful force of all. Skadoosh. Hah, huh . Cool right . Amazing. Harness the power of xfinity internet and stay connected to the things you love. Ah, theyll be like this for hours. Hello dad, hello dad, hello da. Uhoh. Good bunnies. Ahh this is culiacan, mexico. The base of operations for the Sinaloa Cartel. And in 2013, fortunes for the worlds most dangerous drug lord, el chapo. By tracing the Burner Phones used by el chapos underlings, the deas drew hogan was zeroing in on his target. All that mattered this entire time was his location. Where was he at . That was the only question i wanted answered. As you realized, you were building this ladder, potentially to el chapo, what was that like . And you read the messages . Read the messages, piecing together the structure of his organization, his daytoday operations. Must have been an eye opener . It was like reading a novel you could not put down. Culiacan. Does not sound like a place the dea or even mexican authorities could easily infiltrate. This was a stronghold, for so long. You had the information with, what could you do at that moment . Once i knew that he was in culiacan, i had to find another location. It was far too dangerous to actually go into culiacan and root him out. We thought it would be an absolute bloodbath. Then, a break. Christmas eve, 2013. Obsessed with his mission, drew hogan once again sacrificed time with his family to continue the hunt. He worked with brady, his colleague from Homeland Security investigations back in the states. Together, they tracked phones of el chapos closest associates, knowing that el chapo would likely be with them , and plotting their locations on google maps. We have seen him come down out of culiacan, to a remote location. We were trying to pinpoint it. After hours of searching on google maps, we found it. It was a location where they saw tiny shelters known as palapas in the middle of nowhere. El chapo was camped out at a place known for duck hunting. Where he would come down, meet with his most trusted lieutenants, sons, just for a few hours. Then, he would head back to the city. Once we had that location, it was our x and i nicknamed it, duck d