Drug dealer named Chicago's Public Enemy No. A drug kingpin in Mexico who has never set foot in Chicago has been named the city's new Public Enemy No. 1 - the same notorious label assigned to Al Capone at the height of the Prohibition-era gang wars in the 1930s. The Chicago Crime Commission considers Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman even more menacing than Capone because the Mexican is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, which supplies most of the narcotics sold in the city. "What Al Capone was to beer and whisky during Prohibition, Guzman is to narcotics," said Art Bilek, the commission's executive vice-president. Of the two, Guzman is by far the greater threat. ... And he has more power and financial capability than Capone ever dreamed of. The commission, a non-government body that tracks city crime trends, designated Capone Public Enemy No. It has declared other outlaws public enemies, but Capone was the only one deemed No. Mr. Guzman is thought to be holed up in a mountain hideaway in western Mexico, but he ought to be treated as a local Chicago crime boss for the havoc his cartel creates in the nation's third-largest city, said Jack Riley of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which joined the commission in giving him the title. The point of singling out Mr. Guzman was to inspire more public support for going after him, Mr. Bilek said. "Ninety-nine per cent of the people in the United States have never heard of this man," he said. Concerted action ... must be taken now against Guzman before he establishes a bigger network and a bigger empire in the United States. Capone based his bootlegging and other criminal enterprises in Chicago during Prohibition, when it was illegal to make or sell alcohol in the United States. He eventually went to prison for income-tax evasion, but he gained the greatest notoriety for the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre that left seven rivals dead. Yet Mr. Riley says Mr. Guzman - whose nickname means "shorty" in Spanish - is more ruthless than Capone, whose nickname was Scarface. "If I was to put those two guys in a ring, El Chapo would eat that guy [Capone] alive," Mr. Riley told The Associated Press in a recent interview at his office. Mr. Riley described Chicago as one of Sinaloa's most important cities, not only as a final destination for drugs, but as a hub to distribute them across the United States. "This is where Guzman turns his drugs into money," he said. Mr. Guzman, who has been on the run since escaping from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001, is one of the world's most dangerous and most wanted fugitives. He's also one of the richest: Forbes magazine has estimated his fortune at $1-billion (U.S.). Now in his mid-50s, Mr. Guzman has been indicted on federal trafficking charges in Chicago and, if he is ever captured alive, U.S. officials want him extradited here to face trial. The U.S. government has offered a $5-million reward for his capture. "His time is coming," Mr. Riley said. I can't wait for that day. Within two years of being designated Public Enemy No. 1 in 1930, Capone had been captured, convicted and imprisoned. With the same label now attached to Mr. Guzman, Mr. Bilek said, "we hope the same thing will happen to him."