Mexican Drug Kingpin 'El Chapo' Sentenced To Life In Prison
Jul. 17 2019, Updated 3:02 p.m. ET
The infamous Mexican drug kingpin known as “El Chapo” has been sentenced to life behind bars plus 30 years.
A judge handed down the sentence on Wednesday, July 17, when the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel appeared at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Earlier this year, El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman Loera, was convicted for overseeing a huge network of criminals who trafficked in heroin, meth, and other drugs that ended up in the United States, earning him billions of dollars.
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As part of his sentence, the court also ordered El Chapo to forfeit $12.6 billion.
“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 reportedly said of the verdict.
Before his sentencing in New York, the convicted felon made headlines after he managed to escape twice from prisons in Mexico.
Despite El Chapo’s capture and conviction, the Sinaloa Cartel remains a major Mexican-based drug trafficking operation.