DEA: 'El Chapo' Cartel Controls Most of US Drug Market

The powerful Sinaloa Cartel, headed by fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, has "the most significant presence" in the illegal drug market in almost the entire United States — including Alaska and Hawaii, according to a map released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The information is contained in the DEA's most recent unclassified report, "United States: Areas of Influence of Major Mexican Transnational Criminal Organization," Forbes reports.

"'El Chapo' Guzmán is the world's No. 1 drug criminal," DEA spokesperson Rusty Payne told Forbes. "El Chapo has facilitated a lot of American deaths through the violence of people that work for him."

The Sinaloa Cartel funnels marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines into the United States. It is largely responsible for the heroin epidemic hitting middle class Americans.

Guzmán has been on the loose since his escape from a high-security Mexican prison in July. He slipped out a hole in his shower and left undetected through a mile-long tunnel dug for him.

His 17 months in prison did nothing to hurt his cartel's influence in the United States, Forbes reported.

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