The straightness of his back came from something else: that on his third attempt at escapefromprison camp he was beaten senseless, and his skull and neck broken, by two Breton peasants with pitchforks, and was invalided out in exchange for a U-boat commander.
The U.S. Treasury Department has declared him the most influential trafficker in the world, and Mexican authorities have been on his tail since his 2001 escapefrom a Mexican prison in a laundry cart.