El Chapo Found Guilty Of 10 Counts After 3-Month Trial, Faces Life In Prison
At least 57 witnesses testified against the feared Mexican cartel boss.
Feb. 12 2019, Updated 4:46 p.m. ET
Mexican cartel boss Joaquín Guzmán, also known as El Chapo, was found guilty of all 10 counts after a three-month drug trial.
This Tuesday, February 12, at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, NY, the jurors announced their decision. He is facing life in prison.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, the investigation and trial exposed the Sinaloa Cartel's bizarre inner workings, and the heinous crimes that occurred at the hands of Guzmán, 61.
The drug kingpin was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 after Mexican authorities finally captured him in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, after various failed attempts.
With the help of his friends and staffers, Guzmán was able to escape from prison in 2001 — in a laundry cart pushed by a jailhouse janitor — when he was first arrested for his connection to the cartel. In 2012, he resurfaced, but escaped the F.B.I. and the Mexican federal police — which he corrupted — by rushing through the back door of his Los Cabos mansion. Two years later, he was arrested in a hotel in Mazatlán and tossed behind bars, but he again escaped, this time through a mile-long tunnel that opened in the shower of his cell. He was naked.
Finally, in 2016, Guzmán was captured during a gun fight in Los Mochis, Mexico, and extradited to a Brooklyn prison, where he's been held in solitary confinement for the last two years.
When his trial began, the feared drug boss pleaded not guilty to a collection of charges 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.
Following his plea, at least 56 witnesses testified against him, including one of his mistresses, who bizarrely professed her love to her while spilling his secrets to the jury.
Prosecutors say Guzmán smuggled at least 200 tons of cocaine into the U.S. for more than two decades, and earned about $14 billion.
During his final trial, the cartel boss and his wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, appeared in court wearing matching red velvet smoking jackets.
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