Writer Fools Media with El Chapo “War on ISIS” Piece

A story reported by major news outlets claims that Mexican drug lord El Chapo has declared war on ISIS. The story, however, is a hoax.

El Chapo vs ISIS?

The story was first reported by the website Thug Life Videos on November 30, 2015. In the article we read that El Chapo sent a message to ISIS which read “My men will destroy you.” The story continued:

The head of the enormous – and deadly – Sinaloa Cartel issued the threat via his son as he’s currently in hiding from Mexican authorities after escaping from jail earlier this year.

The message was sent via encrypted email to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, but details were leaked to a Mexican blogger who has close ties with Sinaloa cartel members.

Although the article was published on November 30, it began to pick up steam 10 days later after it was re-published by the website CartelBlog.

The story, however, is simply a work of fiction. Steve Charnock, the writer of the piece, told Mail Online, “It was satire, faux news. It got a few shares on Facebook initially, but now it is the top story on some websites.”

Charnock, who admitted to making up fake quotes in the name of El Chapo, noted that he was never contacted by major news outlets to corroborate or clarify the story. He said that the intent of such stories is to go viral on social media, but not to fool mainstream news outlets.

The admission led some publications to issue clarifications or retractions. “Update: It looks like ISIS doesn’t have to worry about El Chapo just yet. News first reported on Cartelblog.com has turned out to be a hoax,” the NY Post added to its coverage of the story.

Bottom Line

The story that El Chapo has threatened to wage war on ISIS is not true. It was the work of fiction by a writer for Thug Life Videos and was picked up by major media.