Talk of Joaquín Guzmán’s, commonly known as El Chapo, extradition to the U.S. early next year to be tried for crimes he has committed in the United States have begun circulating this year. Mexican federal judge, Vicente Bermudez Zacarias, who presided over El Chapo, denied his fifth appeal to stop the extradition process from going forward. The judge was expected to deny the next appeal presented by El Chapo’s legal team again, yet before he could do so on October 17, he was murdered by a sniper while jogging outside of his home near Mexico City. If extradited to the United State’s custody, El Chapo could face charges ranging from the trafficking of drugs, murder and laundering of illicit funds.

Yet, this is not the first time El Chapo was set to be returned to the United States for trial. In 2001 he managed to escape prison by hiding in a laundry cart just as the authorities were planning his extradition.  The drug kingpin spent over a decade running from the law with a five million dollar reward attached to him.  Mexican officials managed to catch him again in 2014 while he vacationed at a resort in Mazatlan, Mexico. Before El Chapo was in the hands of the Mexican authorities he was regarded as being one of the biggest drug peddlers and considered to be one of the most wanted felons. Not only was El Chapo known for his identity as a major leader for the Sinaloa cartel, he was also known for his vast wealth that landed him on Forbes’s annual list of billionaires.

United States officials wanted El Chapo to be extradited to their custody and be tried in their court system. Though not long after his recapture, relations between the two countries soured and the deal was stalled. This recapture of El Chapo lead to him to his second escape from a maximum-security prison in 2015. This time by via a tunnel dug up to his prison cell shower.  It was during this era that he met with the actor Sean Penn spawning viral videos and photos of the two of them on hundreds of websites around the world.  In a bizarre twist, sales of the shirt he was wearing in their now famous meeting quickly skyrocketed.

It was not until six months after his last escape that he was recaptured and is now in the custody of the Mexican authorities. El Chapo has managed to be on the run from the authorities for years and has successfully pulled off elaborate escape plans from maximum-security prisons. Yet the infamous cartel leader could be handed over to the United States as early as January 2017.