David Agren and John Bacon

USA TODAY

MEXICO CITY — The hard work of Mexican law enforcement, the lure of Hollywood glitz and the fame of iconic actor Sean Penn helped drive the triumphant end to a six-month manhunt for the notorious Mexican drug lord dubbed "El Chapo," Mexican officials said.

Now the lawyers take over, kicking off the legally arduous effort to extradite Joaquin Guzmán to the United States, where he faces trafficking charges dating as far back as 2009 and a federal murder indictment from 2014.

On Sunday, authorities notified Guzman that he is wanted in the USA, beginning extradition proceedings.

The first break in the manhunt came when Guzmán sought out producers and actors for a biographical film about his life, Mexico Attorney General Arely Gomez said. It actually was Guzmán’s contacts with Penn that led authorities to a Guzmán hiding place in October, Reuters and other media outlets reported. Guzmán fled but ultimately was nabbed Friday in Los Mochis, a Mexican coastal city of 250,000 in Guzmán's home state of Sinaloa.

Rolling Stone magazine published an article late Saturday, written by Penn, in which the Academy Award-winning actor tells of flying to Mexico with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo to meet with Guzmán.

Penn lauds Guzmán in the story, calling him, “Robin Hood,” even though El Chapo’s home town of Badiraguato in the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental is among the most marginalized in Mexico, according to government statistics.

The actor and activist described Guzmán's old-school style of doing business by writing, “El Chapo is a businessman first, and only resorts to violence when he deems it advantageous to himself or his business interests.”

El Chapo also coveted the drug-running route through Ciudad Juárez, which neighbors El Paso in Texas. His attempts to control Ciudad Juárez contributed to the region's reputation as the murder capital of the world.

“El Chapo sticks to an illicit game (drugs), proudly volunteering, ‘I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats,’” Penn wrote. But Guzmán shrugged off any blame for the world's drug epidemic, saying drugs would be supplied whether he ran the cartel or not.

Penn said in the magazine that he raised the issue of billionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump in the visit, since news stories surfaced of Guzmán's putting a $100 million bounty on Trump's head for the GOP candidate's unfavorable comments about Latinos.

Mexico begins extradition process to send captured drug lord 'El Chapo' to U.S.

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El Chapo smiled and ironically said, "Ah! Mi amigo!" Penn recalled.

Rolling Stone said Guzmán asked for permission to see the story prior to publication, but requested no changes be made. In Mexico, Penn is drawing scrutiny, with the newspaper Reforma reporting that Penn and del Castillo were under investigation and would be asked to make statements. The newspaper cited sources in the Mexican attorney general's office.

Guzmán made global headlines for his daring and elaborate escape from the infamous, maximum-security Altiplano prison 50 miles outside the city through an almost mile-long tunnel.

Mexican officials had expressed little interest in extraditing Guzmán prior to his July escape. Extradition requests made prior to his escape were denied. Then-attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam said Guzmán would go to the United States after serving his sentence in Mexico, in "about 300, 400 years.”

But Gomez said Saturday that the extradition effort had begun.

It will be a complicated process. Mexico eliminated capital punishment more than a decade ago and normally won't extradite to countries seeking to execute a defendant. Guzmán could face the death penalty for a U.S. murder indictment from September 2014. That is just one of several hurdles, experts say.

"They can challenge the judge, challenge the probable cause, challenge the procedure," Juan Masini, former U.S. Justice Department attache at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, told the Associated Press. "They won't challenge everything at once. ... They can drip, drip, milk it that way."

U.S. officials twice requested Guzmán’s extradition in July and August 2015 after he had slipped out of a maximum-security prison through an almost mile-long tunnel. Federal judges accepted the requests and issued arrest warrants for the purpose of extradition.

The capture of Guzmán was bloody. Mexican marines said in a statement that marines, acting on a tip, raided a home before dawn Friday in Los Mochis. The assault team drew fire, and five suspects were killed and six others arrested. One marine was wounded but did not sustain life-threatening injuries, the statement said.

Gomez said Guzmán and his security chief, Ivan Gastelum, fled through storm drains and tunnels before fleeing in cars they commandeered. Marines pursued, and the duo was arrested on a highway a short time later.

Guzmán was first captured in Guatemala in 1993. He was extradited to Mexico and was serving a 20-year sentence on drug-trafficking charges when he escaped in 2001. He was recaptured at a Mexican beach resort in February 2014.

Bacon reported from McLean, Va.