Meet the Beauty Queen Who Married a Billionaire Drug Lord

Updated on 2/25/2014 at 3:55 PM

The world's most wanted drug kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was arrested last weekend in Mexico. By his side was his young wife, Emma Coronel. Tunnels and elaborate escape routes linked the 56-year-old billionaire drug trafficker's seven homes, but Mexican marines found him reportedly making breakfast for Emma at a residence in Mazatlán, a coastal resort town popular with Americans, after a weeks-long manhunt and years of searching.

El Chapo (the nickname means "Shorty") escaped from a high-security prison in 2001, and during his time in hiding, he managed to marry Emma and start a family. This beautiful woman with a family linked to the crystal meth trade conjures images of Breaking Bad meets Scarface. Here are five things to know about her.

In 2007, at the age of 17, Emma won a very specific pageant: the Miss Coffee and Guava beauty contest. El Chapo apparently fell for her then and helped get her the crown.
She married El Chapo on her 18th birthday in an opulent party thrown in the highlands of Central Mexico. He was 47 at the time. She is either his third or fourth wife, as reports vary.
She is the niece of one of Guzman's former top deputies, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villarreal, who is now dead. With a nickname out of Breaking Bad, "The King of Crystal" is known for upping the use of crystal meth across the world. He was killed in 2010 during a shootout with the Mexican Army, during which he killed a soldier. About $7 million in cash was found in the home where he was killed.
Emma is a US citizen, born in California to an American mother. Thus, she can travel back and forth from Mexico freely.
She gave birth to twin girls on Aug. 15, 2011, in LA county. On the birth records, the father's name was left blank. During her trip to Southern California, US officials kept tabs on Emma, but they couldn't arrest her, because there were no charges.

So who should play her in the inevitable movie?

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