The Chicago Crime Commission Tuesday formally restored the label days after Guzman slipped from a maximum-security facility through a mile-long tunnel.
The non-government group first named Guzman Public Enemy No. 1 in 2013 to highlight how his Sinaloa cartel dominates Chicago's drug trade. His hold on the title lapsed after his 2014 capture.
The only other figure to have the title was gangster Al Capone in 1930.
Commission President J.R. Davis said in prepared remarks that Guzman's trafficking led to far more violence. He said — in his words — "Compared to Guzman, Al Capone looks like an amateur."