Mexico Nabs Drug King 'El Brad Pitt'

Nicknamed stemmed from disguise he wore
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2011 10:37 AM CDT
Mexico Nabs Juarez Cartel Leader 'El Brad Pitt,' Marco Antonio Guzman
Federal police escort suspects Jose Ordaz, left, Marco Antonio Guzman, center, and Octavio Ramirez, alleged members of the Mexican Juarez drug cartel, at a press event in Mexico City, June 16, 2011.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Mexico’s federal police have arrested the alleged leader of the armed wing of the Juarez Cartel—one Marco Antonio Guzman, also known as “El Brad Pitt.” Guzman was nabbed on Wednesday in Chihuahua, the northern Mexican state that’s home to Ciudad Juarez, site of an estimated 3,100 killings last year. Police say Guzman was behind a car bomb that killed a police officer and two others last June, and believe he may have been planning another such bombing. He was arrested with two alleged accomplices, the AP reports.

The nickname "El Brad Pitt" reportedly came from a disguise Guzman wore when he served as a lookout for the Juarez cartel. To go unnoticed, he tried to look like a tourist wearing his hair long, a baseball cap, and a camera around his neck. As the story goes, gang associates said Guzman looked like Pitt in a scene from the film Spy Game, about CIA agents, in which the actor wore a similar outfit. The nickname apparently stuck. (More Brad Pitt stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X