A skull of someone thought to be a victim of drug violence lies on the ground in Ciudad Juarez in early 2010. The border city of Juarez has been racked by violent drug-related crime, making it one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico's war on drugs. According to figures released on January 11 by the Mexican government, 12,903 people were killed in drug-related violence in the first nine months of 2011.
(CNN) -- Fortunes forever rise and fall, but perhaps none so fast as those of drug lords.
On Monday, Forbes magazine released its annual list of the world's richest people, and for the first time since 2009, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman did not make the cut.
Guzman is the boss of the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking operations.
His nickname, which means "shorty," matches his 5-foot-6-inch frame, though he has climbed to great heights in the drug business. Forbes had previously estimated his net worth at $1 billion.
Aide to top drug lord arrested in Mexico
"As the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, he is one of the most powerful people in the world, but no longer someone we are confident enough to call a billionaire," the magazine said on its website.
READ: Forbes rankings finds 210 new billionaires
Forbes believes an increasing part of his fortune is going to protect him and his family and said that it had been unable to reach Guzman to "verify figures." It also said it was unclear how he spends the money he makes.
Authorities have been looking for Guzman ever since he escaped from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001. There have been reports of his death, but none confirmed.
The U.S. Treasury Department has declared Guzman the most influential trafficker in the world.
He was just one of just 68 billionaires who were reported dropped from the list this year versus the 210 who were added to the exclusive 10-figure club.
There are a record 1,426 billionaires, according to the latest count from Forbes. The rankings showed that Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim remained the world's richest person, with an estimated fortune of $73 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates ranked No. 2 with $67 billion.
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Mexican Federal Police stand guard over 105 tons of marijuana seized in Tijuana, Mexico, in October 2010. Smuggling remains a booming business. For example, south of the border it costs $2,000 to produce a kilo of cocaine from leaf to lab, according to the DEA. In America, a kilo's street value is significantly higher.
The cartels arm themselves heavily. Here, Mexican Federal Police display a large cache of high-powered weapons, grenades, ammunition and 2 kilos of cocaine, all seized from the Zetas cartel in October 2010.
Mexican army soldiers display $15 million U.S. on November 22, 2011, in Mexico City. The money was seized from alleged members of the Guzman Loera drug cartel during a raid in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico.
Two bodies hang from a bridge in Mexico in September 2011. Some cartels have developed reputations for sickening brutality -- seeming to kill for pleasure, just because they can.
The Zetas cartel was blamed for setting fire to the Casino Royale in Monterrey, Mexico, in August 2011. That attack killed 52 people.
American-born Edgar Valdez Villareal, or 'La Barbie,' of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, was arrested in August 2010 in Mexico, and smiled as he was paraded in front of the press.
Joaquin Guzman, or "El Chapo" (Shorty), is the boss of the Sinaloa cartel. In this last-known photo taken outside a Juarez prison in 1993, the 5 foot 6 inch son of a poor family wears a schoolboy haircut and a disheveled puff-coat. He has eluded capture for more than a decade.
After his election in 2006, President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels, sending the military out across the country and fired hundreds of corrupt police officers. Calderon's administration trumpets its successes, but the president is a lame duck. Term limits prohibit him from running again in 2012.
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