Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' Guzman is extradited to US

AP | By PETER ORSI And BRADLEY KLAPPER

Published January 19, 2017 07:38PM EST



MEXICO CITY (AP) — Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most notorious cartel kingpin who twice made brazen prison escapes and spent years on the run as the country's most wanted man, was extradited to the U.S. Thursday to face drug trafficking and other charges.

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department announced Guzman was handed over to U.S. authorities for transportation to the U.S. on Thursday, the last full day of President Barack Obama's administration and a day before Donald Trump is to be inaugurated.

The U.S. Justice Department issued a statement confirming that Guzman was en route to the United States and expressed gratitude to Mexico for its cooperation.

A senior U.S. official said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration took custody of Guzman in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas, and a plane carrying him departed for New York at 5:31 p.m. EST. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and agreed to give the information only if not quoted by name.

The convicted boss of the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world's largest drug trafficking organizations, had been held most recently at a prison near Ciudad Juarez. He was recaptured a year ago after escaping from a second maximum-security prison through a tunnel dug to his cell.

The 2015 escape was highly embarrassing for the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto, and Mexican officials were seen as eager to hand the headache off to the United States afterward. Guzman's lawyers have fought extradition since his recapture.

"It was illegal. They didn't even notify us," said lawyer Andres Granados, who accused the government of extraditing his client to distract from nationwide gasoline protests. "They handled it politically to obscure the situation of the gas price hike. It's totally political."

Guzman, who is in his late 50s, faces the possibility of life in a U.S. prison under multiple indictments in six jurisdictions around the United States, including New York, San Diego, Chicago and Miami.

A federal indictment in the Eastern District of New York, where Guzman is expected to be prosecuted, accuses him of overseeing a trafficking cartel with thousands of members and billions of dollars in profits laundered back to Mexico. It says Guzman and other members of the Sinaloa cartel employed hit men who carried out murders, kidnappings and acts of torture.

He was first indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in July 2009. A superseding indictment was issued in May charging him and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada with a variety of drug, gun and money laundering charges as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise.

The Mexican Foreign Relations Department's statement said a court had ruled against Guzman's appeal and found that his extradition would be constitutional.

"The criminal Joaquin Guzman Loera was extradited this afternoon to face his pending legal cases," Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong tweeted.

Guzman's first prison break was in 2001. He spent more than a decade at large before being captured in 2014. The following year he broke out through the mile-long tunnel dug directly to the shower in his cell.

It was while on the lam a second time, in fall 2015, that he held a secret meeting with actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo. The encounter was the subject of a lengthy article Penn published in Rolling Stone last January, right after Mexican marines re-arrested Guzman in the western state of Sinaloa.

In the interview, Guzman was unapologetic about his criminal activities, saying he had turned to drug trafficking at age 15 simply to survive.

"The only way to have money to buy food, to survive, is to grow poppy, marijuana, and at that age, I began to grow it, to cultivate it and to sell it. That is what I can tell you," he was quoted as saying in Penn's article.

Guzman was initially returned to the Altiplano prison outside Mexico City where he escaped through the tunnel. Last May, officials abruptly moved him to the prison in the desert near Juarez.

The White House, which was down to a skeleton staff hours before Trump takes office, said it had no immediate comment.

___

Associated Press writer Peter Orsi reported this story in Mexico City and AP writer Bradley Klapper reported from Washington. AP writers Alicia Caldwell and Eric Tucker in Washington and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

http://www.twcc.com/articles/2017/01/19/...ted-to-us0

Will Sean Penn be visiting him in jail again?

is there any cache in saying you snorted some of el chapo's drugs?

(01-20-2017 09:25 AM)Lush Wrote:  is there any cache in saying you snorted some of el chapo's drugs?

prolly not.

(01-20-2017 11:23 AM)ctipton Wrote:  

(01-20-2017 09:25 AM)Lush Wrote:  is there any cache in saying you snorted some of el chapo's drugs?

prolly not.

Maybe some South American street cred.

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his pubic hair.

The Latest: Lawyer for El Chapo: No evidence of wrongdoing

AP | Associated Press

Published January 20, 2017 03:41PM EST



NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman facing drug trafficking and other charges in the United States (all times local):

3:40 p.m.

A U.S. lawyer for Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman says he hasn't seen any evidence that indicates Guzman has "done anything wrong."

Attorney Michael Schneider said Friday that Guzman and his lawyers look forward to addressing the drug-trafficking and other allegations against him in court. Schneider also suggests they're also interested in exploring whether Guzman's extradition was appropriate.

Guzman is charged with running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings. Through his court-appointed lawyers, he entered a not-guilty plea Friday in a Brooklyn federal court.

He's being held without bail.

As the convicted leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzman has repeatedly been imprisoned and escaped in Mexico. U.S. authorities have pursued him for years.

He was extradited Thursday.

___

2:30 p.m.

Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has made an appearance in a New York City courtroom, where a federal public defender entered a not-guilty plea for him.

A hush fell over the Brooklyn courtroom moments before Guzman entered Friday. He looked dazed and wore a dark blue T-shirt, dark blue pants and sneakers.

An indictment charges Guzman with running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings.

Guzman answered questions through an interpreter standing to his right and said he could understand the judge's English.

No bail was sought.

Prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty as a condition of the extradition of Guzman, who's the convicted leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

___

11:05 a.m.

U.S. officials say they didn't learn until Thursday that Mexico was extraditing drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers in New York says prosecutors weren't aware it was going to happen but were nonetheless prepared for it.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco thanked Mexican officials "for their unwavering support" and "their commitment to justice."

Prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty as a condition of the extradition.

The U.S. is seeking a $14 billion forfeiture order as part of its prosecution.

The convicted leader of the Sinaloa cartel was awaiting an arraignment in Brooklyn. The case is a joint prosecution with the U.S. attorney in Miami.

Guzman's lawyer says his extradition is politically motivated.

___

10:30 a.m.

A U.S. attorney in New York says the government is seeking a $14 billion forfeiture order as part of its prosecution of the notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The convicted leader of the Sinaloa cartel was brought into a Brooklyn courthouse Friday to await his arraignment.

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers spoke at a press conference about the joint prosecution with the U.S. attorney in Miami.

He likened the drug trafficking to a cancerous tumor that spread, leading to "misery" for legions of Americans.

An indictment charges Guzman with running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings.

Guzman has twice escaped from maximum-security Mexican prisons, most recently in 2015.

His lawyer says his Thursday extradition was politically motivated.

___

8:30 a.m.

Notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is in a U.S. courthouse, two decades after he was first sought by federal authorities.

The convicted leader of the Sinaloa cartel was brought into a Brooklyn courthouse on Friday to await his appearance before a federal judge.

An indictment charges Guzman with running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings.

Guzman has twice escaped from maximum-security Mexican prisons, most recently in 2015 via a hole in the floor of his cell shower.

His lawyer says his Thursday extradition was politically motivated.

Now in his late 50s, Guzman was first indicted in Southern California in the early 1990s.

___

1:15 a.m.

Notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman will stand in a U.S. courtroom, two decades after he was first sought by federal authorities.

The convicted leader of the Sinaloa cartel is expected to appear in a Brooklyn federal courthouse Friday.

An indictment charges Guzman with running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings.

Guzman has twice escaped from maximum-security Mexican prisons, most recently in 2015 via a hole in the floor of his cell shower.

The brazen slip was highly embarrassing for the Mexican government. Guzman has fought extradition since his recapture last year.

His lawyer says his Thursday extradition was politically-motivated.

Now in his late 50s, Guzman was first indicted in Southern California in the early 1990s.

http://www.twcc.com/articles/2017/01/20/...courthouse

(01-20-2017 02:39 PM)chatcat Wrote:  May the fleas of a thousand camels infest his pubic hair.

shouldn't the fleas infest the genitals of the agencies that created him?

I met a french bulldog at Washington Park named Pablo Escobar, III.

I may name my next english bulldog puppy El Chompo.