Drug kingpin Joaquin "El
Chapo" Guzman, who became a legend in Mexico through his dramatic prison
escapes and years of staying just ahead of the law, arrived late Thursday in
New York after he was extradited to the United States.
Guzman will appear Friday in a
federal courtroom in Brooklyn, where he will stand trial at a later date.
Stringent security measures were being put in place around the Manhattan jail
where Guzman is to be held, a law enforcement source said. The Brooklyn Bridge
will be closed while the drug lord is being transported to court.
The extradition appears to be timed.
Mexican authorities wanted to turn over Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel,
before Friday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a US official
told CNN. Trump angered Mexico during his campaign by demanding it pay for a
border wall.
Guzman, who was moved last year to
the border city of Ciudad Juarez, was picked up by a team from the Drug
Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and US
marshals.
Six separate indictments across the
United States lay out wide-ranging cases against Guzman and others, alleging
they have brought in billions in drugs to the United States and laundered
profits back to Mexico.
The extradition brings an end, at
least for now, to Guzman's exploits in Mexico, which included a 2015 prison escape through a mile-long
tunnel that featured a motorcycle on tracks.
Guzman
will not face death penalty in the US
A court in Mexico City on Thursday
denied the drug lord's appeal of the extradition.
The US Justice Department thanked
officials in Mexico "for their extensive cooperation and assistance in
securing the extradition of Guzman ... to the United States."
Guzman and other cartel leaders were
indicted in 2009 in US District Court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiring to
import more than 264,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States between 1990
and 2005. The alleged traffickers are accused of sharing drug transportation
routes and obtaining their drugs from various Colombian drug organizations.
Guzman also faces charges in
California, Texas, Illinois, Florida and New Hampshire. Mexico's Foreign
Ministry has said it had received assurances that if convicted Guzman would not
receive the death penalty. Mexico opposes death sentences.
Federal indictments described the
Sinaloa cartel as an enterprise that utilizes murder, kidnappings and bribes.
The indictments refer to Guzman by
various nicknames, including "El Rapido," "Papa," "El
Viejo" and "El Chapo" (which means "Shorty." Guzman is
5 feet 6 inches tall.)
Over the years, Guzman gained
near-mythic status in his home country. He has been the subject of ballads
called "narcorridos," a subgenre dedicated to cartels and their
narco-violence.
For years, the notorious cartel
leader proved slippery, staying just ahead of the law. He is known for using
intricate tunnel systems for both evading authorities and moving the massive
quantities of drugs that made the Sinaloa Cartel so powerful.
Guzman's recapture in January 2016,
after six months on the lam, represented a major success in what has been an
embarrassing ordeal for Mexico. For many, "El Chapo" is a symbol of
the Mexican government's corruption.
In 2001, he escaped from a prison in
Jalisco in a laundry cart. Guzman was apprehended in February 2014 and escaped
from Altiplano prison in July 2015 by crawling through an opening in the shower
area of his cell block leading to a mile-long tunnel.
In August, Guzman's son was
kidnapped from a Puerto Vallarta restaurant, in what was perceived as an
attempt to exploit the cartel's vulnerability. He was later freed.
Source:CNN
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