On Friday, Jan. 8, 2015, Mexican officials announced that the notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was recaptured by Mexican Special Forces. This is following the cartel leader's somewhat epic escape from a maximum security prison by means of a sophisticated underground tunnel in July 2015. As details keep arising surrounding his escape and recapture, it was revealed that actor Sean Penn secretly met with El Chapo to conduct an interview for Rolling Stone, which authorities say led Special Forces to his location.

Shortly following Penn's publication, Mexico’s Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez disclosed that one of the key advantages in finding the whereabouts of El Chapo was his constant communication with actors and directors in hopes of creating a biopic based on his life. U.S. law enforcement officials commented on this as well saying that cell phones and electronic exchanges between these groups allowed them to track down their general locations.

That is where Kate del Castillo comes in. As a Mexican actress, she gained contact with Guzman in 2014 through a lawyer who contacted her about potentially creating the biographical movie mentioned above. According to Penn's article, El Chapo was intrigued as to how a film would portray his gaining of power and control over the Mexican drug cartels, but he would solely entrust Castillo with this much invested-in project.

Castillo was later the source that facilitated Penn's interview with Guzman, who describes the covert communications with the drug lord through whispers and burner phones. After communicating for weeks, the actor met face-to-face with El Chapo in October 2015, three months after being a fugitive on the run. Their meeting would provide footage and substance for the the drug lord's much anticipated biography.

In the interview itself, Penn writes of El Chapo's childhood in the municipality of Badiraguato and how a lack of jobs there pushed him into the drug business. The actor describes a man who is trying to regain control over his life after escaping from jail, but the ego of the drug lord is still apparent as he boasts over his power, "I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats." This self-pride and admiration continues to spill as he recounts his meeting with the former drug leader of the world, Pablo Escobar, and the building of his own drug empire.

With this information, one is led to question how his own ego and interest in his life made him more vulnerable to being recaptured. The clear investment that Guzman had in his biopic, which Penn makes apparent in his article, created the cracks in his security that led authorities to discover where he was being hidden. Just like many notorious leaders, El Chapo's ego led to his downfall.

He didn't get his tribute film, but at least he got this great piece of 21st century music.