Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will be rest of his life behind bars. A judge sentenced the drug lord to life in prison plus 30 years in federal court in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday.

Related: UPDATE: Got To Be Kidding: El Chapo Just Went For The Three-Peat

He has also been ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture. Guzman, 62, was convicted in February by a jury of all 10 counts he faced, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and drug trafficking charges, among others.

Prosecutors have called him a “ruthless and bloodthirsty leader” of the Sinaloa cartel and are seeking a life sentence. Witnesses during the trial testified that Guzman ordered and sometimes took part in the torture and murder of perceived cartel enemies.

Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Sentenced to Life Behind Bars was originally published on wolbbaltimore.com </s> MEXICAN drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.

Guzman, 62, was found guilty of 10 charges - including drug trafficking and money laundering - after an 11-week trial at federal court in New York which ended in February.

The world's most feared drugs kingpin famously tunnelled out of a jail cell in 2015 and fled to freedom on a makeshift motorbike.

He was later arrested and was extradited to the US in 2017.

Guzman's Sinaloa cartel was said to be the biggest supplier of drugs to the US and during the trial witnesses said he tortured his cartel's enemies.

Mexico has tried to bring Guzmán to justice before, but he has twice escaped from maximum security prisons in his homeland.

During his imprisonment in 2001, he enlisted the help of the prison guards to sneak him to safety — hiding in a laundry cart.

He famously escaped again in 2015, breaking out of Mexico’s most secure prison by motorbike via a mile-long tunnel and evading capture for six months.

What was the verdict of his trial?

On February 12 2019 El Chapo was found guilty of all counts against him.

He was sentenced to life behind bars on July 17, a humbling end for a drug lord notorious for his ability to kill, bribe or tunnel his way out of trouble.

A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence, five months after Guzman's conviction in an epic drug-trafficking case.

Prior to his sentencing, he complained about the conditions of his confinement and told the judge he was denied a fair trial.

He said: "I take advantage of the opportunity to say there was no justice here. My case was stained and you denied me a fair trial while the whole world was watching. The United States is no better than any other corrupt country."

The life sentence was the minimum he could face and the additional 30 years were for unlawful uses of firearms including machine guns.

He was also ordered to pay 10 billion pounds in forfeiture - money his drug-trafficking organization made distributing cocaine and other drugs around the US.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan told the former kingpin, who's nickname means "shorty": "We're here for sentencing. There's not much I have to say about that because Congress has mandated that I impose life plus 30 years' imprisonment. That's the law."



The cartel chief rose from poverty in rural Mexico and through the ranks of the country’s underworld. He was jailed for 20 years in Mexico on trafficking and bribery charges but cut his sentence short in 2001, escaping in a laundry cart.

The following years were spent moving from one mountain hideout to another - guarded by a private army.

Eventually recaptured and thrown in a maximum-security prison in 2014, Guzman pulled off his best-known escape a year later digging below the shower cubicle in his cell and escaping through a mile long tunnel just wide enough for the drug lord to ride away on a makeshift motorcycle which ran on rails.

Where will he now be held?

His chance of escaping again appear slim as he is expected to serve his sentence at notorious lock-up ADX Florence, America's highest security prison in Colorado.

Prosecutors described the prison as"tonnes of steel".

No one has escaped from the prison since it opened in 1994, and Guzman would join a long list of the most infamous of criminals and terrorists who call it home.

What impact will it have in Mexico?

The sentencing was headline news in Mexico, but it was seen as unlikely to make a ripple in terms of the country's politics, security or the unabated drug trade.

Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope said Guzman's fate will have "no impact" on trafficking. In the wake of Guzman's arrest and extradition, alleged capo Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is believed to have long-ago consolidated control of the Sinaloa cartel.

"El Chapo is now an old story," Hope said. </s> Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will be rest of his life behind bars. A judge sentenced the drug lord to life in prison plus 30 years in federal court in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday.

He has also been ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture. Guzman, 62, was convicted in February by a jury of all 10 counts he faced, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and drug trafficking charges, among others.

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Prosecutors have called him a “ruthless and bloodthirsty leader” of the Sinaloa cartel and are seeking a life sentence. Witnesses during the trial testified that Guzman ordered and sometimes took part in the torture and murder of perceived cartel enemies.

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Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Sentenced To Life In Prison was originally published on wolbbaltimore.com </s> A United States judge on Wednesday sentenced Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzman alias El Chapo to life in prison plus 30 years, BBC reported. A New York court found Guzmán, 62, guilty of 10 charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering.

The additional 30 years have been given for illegal use of firearms. The judge also ordered Guzman to pay a fine of $12.6 billion (Rs 86,749 crore).

A jury had in February found Guzman guilty of smuggling cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States, as well as using firearms and conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds. Mexico had extradited Guzmán to the United States in January 2017. His trial began in November 2018.

At present, Chapo is being held in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, The Guardian reported. US District Judge Brian Cogan last month rejected Chapo’s request for more time to exercise on the jail’s roof, as prosecutors said this might lead to his escape.

Guzman said before Wednesday’s verdict that his solitary confinement had amounted to “psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day”. He also alleged that he had been given an unfair trial. “It’s been torture, the most inhumane situation I have lived in my entire life,” he said, according to CNN. “There was no justice here.”

“The long road that led ‘El Chapo’ Guzman from the mountains of Sinaloa to the courthouse was paved with death, drugs and destruction, but it ended today with justice,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A Benczkowski said. Defence lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said it was very likely that Guzman would be imprisoned in a high-security prison in Colorado. </s> Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as 'El Chapo' is transported to Maximum Security Prison of El Altiplano in Mexico City, Mexico on January 08, 2016.

The Mexican drug lord known as "El Chapo" was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison plus thirty years at a hearing where he accused the U.S. government of corruption and of torturing him during his confinement.

El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman Loera, also was ordered to forfeit $12.6 billion during his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York.

Judge Brian Cogan, who cited what he called Guzman's "overwhelming evil" in announcing the mandated sentence, will determine later how much he must pay in restitution.

The kingpin, who had twice escaped maximum security prisons in Mexico, was convicted earlier this year of presiding over a vast criminal operation, the Sinaloa Cartel, which funneled immense quantities of narcotics, including heroin and methamphetamine, into the United States.

Guzman did not testify during the three-month trial, but broke his silence Wednesday.

He claimed, in a tear-choked statement, that he had been denied justice during his trial and confinement in New York City.

"Since the government will send me to a jail where my name will not ever be heard again, I take this opportunity to say: There was no justice here," El Chapo told Cogan, according to the New York Daily News.

"I drink unsanitary water, no air or sunlight, and the air pumped in makes my ears and throat hurt. In order to sleep, I put toilet paper in my ears. My wife had not been allowed to visit, and I can't hug my daughters," he said, according to NBC News. "This has been psychological, emotional and mental torture 24 hours a day."

"My case was stained and you denied me a fair trial when the world was watching. What happened here is the U.S. is not better than any other corrupt country," Guzman added.

Guzman spoke in Spanish. His comments were translated by one of his lawyers.

The defense indicated to Cogan that they plan to appeal on the grounds of juror misconduct, according to Vice News, which was at the hearing.

A juror told that news outlet in February that jurors violated the judge's orders barring them from following the case in the media.

"What occurred here was not justice. How we treat our most reviled is a measuring stick for our own society," defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said, according to NBC News.

But prosecutors said that Guzman was "uniquely deserving" of the harsh sentence.

"There were countless victims of his orders to kill," prosecutor Gina Parlovecchio said. "He has shown no remorse."

One of Guzman's alleged victims, Andrea Velez Fernandez, spoke at the sentencig.

"Today I come here a miracle of god," Velez Fernandez said. "Mr. Guzman used me as bait to kidnap someone in Ecuador. He offered one million dollars to Hells Angels to end my life. Fortunately I found out and escaped with the help of the FBI. </s> A federal jury in New York has found Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera guilty of all 10 criminal counts against him, including the top charge of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated roughly 34 hours over 6 days.

Jurors have reached a verdict in the case of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, the Mexican druglord accused of carrying out a sprawling criminal enterprise as chief of the Sinaloa cartel.

The jury deliberated more than 30 hours over six days.

Guzmán, 61, faces 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms. He has pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Over the course of two and a half months, a jury of eight women and four men in Brooklyn federal court heard testimony about unspeakable torture and ghastly murders, epic corruption at nearly every level of Mexico’s government, narco-mistresses and naked subterranean escapes, gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed, diamond-encrusted pistols.

The prosecution’s case featured 200 hours of testimony from 56 witnesses. Fourteen of those witnesses — mostly admitted drug traffickers and cartel associates — were cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their own prison sentences.

There were also surveillance photos, intercepted phone calls and text messages involving Guzmán, as well as exhibits of blingy firepower and bricks of cocaine that dropped with the force of potato sacks.

In contrast, defense attorneys called just one witness and focused on undermining the credibility of cooperating witnesses. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said these witnesses had “lied every day of their lives — their miserable, selfish lives.”

Guzmán, once listed on Forbes’ Billionaires List, has long been a slippery and near-mythical figure. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry cart and again in 2015 through a tunnel. After he was recaptured in 2016, he was extradited to the US to face American federal charges. </s> A US judge has sentenced Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán to life in prison plus 30 years.

Guzmán, 62, was found guilty of 10 charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering, by a federal court in New York in February.

He escaped a Mexican jail through a tunnel in 2016, but was later arrested. He was extradited to the US in 2017.

He is a former head of the Sinaloa cartel, which officials say was the biggest supplier of drugs to the US.

During the trial, witnesses said he had tortured his cartel's enemies.

Speaking through an interpreter just before Wednesday's sentencing, Guzmán said in the Brooklyn courtroom his confinement in the US had amounted to "psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day".

He also said he had received an unfair trial, accusing jurors of misconduct. </s> New York (CNN) Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzm á n Loera, who once headed a criminal enterprise that spanned continents and triggered waves of bloodshed throughout his native Mexico, was found guilty Tuesday of all 10 federal criminal counts against him.

The vast Brooklyn, New York, courtroom fell silent as the verdict was read. Jurors did not look at the defendant, who pocketed nearly $14 billion as the decadeslong head of the murderous Sinaloa cartel.

There was no visible reaction from Guzmán, whose conviction on the top charge of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise carries a mandatory term of life in prison. He will be sentenced on June 25.

"It is a sentence of which there is no escape and no return, " US Attorney for the Eastern District Richard Donoghue said.

US District Judge Brian Cogan confirmed the verdicts with each of the eight women and four men on the jury, telling them later their conduct on the panel "made me very proud to be an American."

One of Guzmán's lawyers described him as "extremely upbeat" after the verdict.

"He's a fighter," defense attorney Michael Lambert said. "He's not done yet by far."

After jurors left the room, Guzmán waved and smiled at his wife, Emma Coronel, a former beauty queen and courtroom regular who smiled back and touched her hand to her heart.

"Good, thank you," she said in Spanish when asked how she felt after the verdict.

The partially sequestered and anonymous jury deliberated roughly 34 hours over six days.

Over 2½ months, they sat through testimony about unspeakable torture and ghastly murders, epic corruption at nearly every level of Mexico's government, narco-mistresses and naked subterranean escapes, gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed, diamond-encrusted pistols.

"We are obviously disappointed with the jury's verdict in the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera but are respectful of the process and the jury's decision," defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo said. "We were faced with extraordinary and unprecedented obstacles in defending Joaquín. ..."

Another member of the defense team, Jeffrey Lichtman, said they waged a vigorous defense against an "avalanche" of evidence and cooperating witnesses. They plan to file an appeal on a number of issues.

"He was bringing our spirits up, which was surprising. Usually it's the other way around," Lichtman said of his client after the verdict. "He's always been a gentleman, always been supportive, always been happy and appreciative of all our efforts."

Donoghue said the case represented a victory for the American people, for Mexicans who had lost loved ones in drug wars, and for every family who has lost someone to drug addiction.

"There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong," he said.

The case, Donoghue said, pulled back the curtain on international drug trafficking in a way no trial ever has, revealing the endemic corruption that allowed the Sinaloa cartel to operate.

"This is a day of reckoning, but there are more days of reckoning to come," he said.

Gold-plated AK-47s and diamond-encrusted pistols

Guzmán, 61, was convicted of 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms.

He faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for leading a continuing criminal enterprise, and a sentence of up to life imprisonment on the remaining drug counts.

Federal prosecutors said they will seek a forfeiture judgment for billions of dollars constituting the cartel's illegal drug-trafficking proceeds.

The prosecution's case featured 200 hours of testimony from 56 witnesses. Fourteen of those witnesses -- mostly admitted drug traffickers and cartel associates -- cooperated with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their own prison sentences.

There were also surveillance photos, intercepted phone calls and text messages involving Guzmán, as well as exhibits of blingy firepower and bricks of cocaine that dropped with the force of potato sacks.

In contrast, defense attorneys called just one witness and focused on undermining the credibility of cooperating witnesses. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said these witnesses had "lied every day of their lives -- their miserable, selfish lives."

Guzmán, once listed on Forbes' Billionaires List, has long been a slippery and near-mythical figure. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry cart and again in 2015 through a tunnel. After he was recaptured in 2016, he was extradited to the US to face American federal charges.

The high-profile trial centered on the struggles and actions of El Chapo, who came from humble origins in the heart of Mexico's rugged three-state Golden Triangle to become its most infamous native son.

The 12-week proceedings were conducted in part during the partial government shutdown over funding for a border wall. It showed that such fortification would have failed to stop tons of drugs the cartel moved from Mexico to the United States via fishing boats, trains, tractor-trailers, radar-evading airplanes, passenger cars at legal ports of entry, submarines, oil tankers, cocaine-laden cans of jalapeños and cross-border tunnels.

It included stunning testimony of corruption at nearly every echelon of Mexico's government, from police and military commanders to local and state officials to former presidents who vehemently denied the allegations.

The courtroom drama drew celebrities and so-called narco-tourists attracted to the Latin American soap opera atmosphere of the proceedings. Guzmán appeared in a suit and tie each morning, delivering a wave and smile to Coronel in the second row.

Under El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel smuggled narcotics to wholesale distributors in Arizona, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York.

About noon Tuesday, the court learned there was a verdict.

Some court-watchers had suggested the longer jurors considered the case, the better the chances they would acquit Guzmán or hang on any of the 10 counts. Others said jurors seemed simply to be doing their due diligence, sifting through hundreds of hours of testimony.

Still, Guzmán's plainclothes visits to the courthouse and his interactions, however minimal, with his allies had lightened his mood these last months, defense attorney Michael Lambert said. It was in sharp contrast with solitary confinement, with little to no human interaction for as many as 23 hours a day.

"Once the trial started, he seemed a little happier, a little more engaged," he said. "Just sitting there in a suit without handcuffs on is a privilege in itself. It makes him feel human." </s> Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord who pocketed nearly $14 billion as the decadeslong head of the murderous Sinaloa cartel, was found guilty Tuesday of all 10 federal criminal counts against him, including the top charge of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.

There was no visible reaction from Guzmán, who faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. After the jury left, he waved and smiled at his wife, Emma Coronel, a courtroom regular who smiled back and touched her hand to her heart.

“Good, thank you,” she said when asked how she felt after the verdict.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated roughly 34 hours over six days.

“We are obviously disappointed with the jury’s verdict in the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera but are respectful of the process and the jury’s decision,” defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo said. “We were faced with extraordinary and unprecedented obstacles in defending Joaquín …”

Guzmán, 61, faced 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms.

Over two and a half months, the jury in federal court in Brooklyn heard testimony about unspeakable torture and ghastly murders, epic corruption at nearly every level of Mexico’s government, narco-mistresses and naked subterranean escapes, gold-plated AK-47s and monogrammed, diamond-encrusted pistols.

The prosecution’s case featured 200 hours of testimony from 56 witnesses. Fourteen of those witnesses — mostly admitted drug traffickers and cartel associates — cooperated with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their own prison sentences.

There were also surveillance photos, intercepted phone calls and text messages involving Guzmán, as well as exhibits of blingy firepower and bricks of cocaine that dropped with the force of potato sacks.

In contrast, defense attorneys called just one witness and focused on undermining the credibility of cooperating witnesses. Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said these witnesses had “lied every day of their lives — their miserable, selfish lives.”

Guzmán, once listed on Forbes’ Billionaires List, has long been a slippery and near-mythical figure. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry cart and again in 2015 through a tunnel. After he was recaptured in 2016, he was extradited to the US to face American federal charges.
Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is sentenced to life in prison plus thirty years, and is ordered to forfeit US$12.6 billion. He accused the U.S. government of "torture and corruption" during his sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York. He will likely be sent to ADX Florence in Colorado to serve his sentence.