November 28, 2018

El Chapo Goes to Trial: faces 17 criminal charges



In this courtroom sketch, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, surrounded by U.S. Marshals, waves to his wife Tuesday as he enters the courtroom at Brooklyn Federal Court. (Elizabeth Williams/AP)
The US trial of infamous Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin Guzmán, better known as El Chapo, is underway, with the prosecution and defense offering alternating portrayals of the man as a calculating bloodthirsty leader and a mere scapegoat. [AP / Tom Hays]
  • The defense's opening remarks predicted fiery court proceedings from the beginning, as a judge admonished Guzmán's attorney for comments that included accusing Mexican presidents of taking bribes. The judge went on to instruct the lawyer to stick to the evidence. [NBC New York / Gus Rosendale]
  • Security at the trial in New York is nearly unprecedented: Each juror, each prosecutor, and the judge have two guards on their side, and the 61-year-old Guzmán was made to promise he would not order the killing of any jurors. [Fox News / Hollie McKay]
  • Guzmán, who has been held in solitary confinement since his extradition to the United States early last year, has pleaded not guilty to 17 criminal charges that he amassed a fortune smuggling $14 billion worth of cocaine and other drugs in a supply chain that reached well north of the border. [AP / Tom Hays]
    • In this 2017 photo, U.S. authorities escort Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. (AP/AP)
  • After setting up small illegal stunts selling marijuana in Mexico, Guzmán built a fearsome narcotics empire: He revolutionized the way drugs make their way from Colombia, building tunnels under the US-Mexico border to transport them, and he zealously rooted out anyone he perceived to stand in his way. [Washington Post / Matt Zapotosky]
  • The prosecution must prove that Guzmán was indeed the mastermind of the Sinaloa Cartel responsible for a vast flow of drugs into the US. Reuters reports that the trial may last up to four months, and that former close associates of the drug lord are cooperating with authorities to testify against him. [Reuters / Brendan Pierson and Jonathan Stempel]
  • Prosecutors at the trial have repeatedly pushed back on claims made by the defense that Guzmán was framed to protect another alleged Mexican kingpin and that he was singled out due to government corruption. [AM New York via Newsday]