Notorious drug lord Joaquin Guzman, a.k.a. El Chapo, has been extradited to the US to stand trial for numerous drug offenses. The Justice Department has confirmed that Guzman was "en route to the United States to face criminal charges in connection with his leadership of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as the ‘Sinaloa Cartel'.” Guzman has been charged in six separate indictments by prosecutors in New York, San Diego, Miami, Chicago, and El Paso.
It is expected that Guzman will be tried in the Eastern District of New York, where he has been accused of overseeing the Sinaloa cartel, who are thought to be responsible for thousands of deaths and kidnappings. El Chapo allegedly oversaw the expansion of underground tunnel systems used to smuggle drugs across the border, and is believed to be at one time responsible for half of the illegal drugs smuggled into the United States from Mexico. A 2015 report by the DEA said that the Sinaloa cartel had the largest presence in the US of any Mexican drug trafficking organization.
Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001by reportedly hiding in a laundry basket, and more famously escaped from another high-security prison near Mexico City in 2015 using an underground tunnel.
He was recaptured in January of last year, and a Mexican judge approved his extradition to the US last May. The drug kingpin appealed the extradition request, but the appeal was denied in October. Now, El Chapo will stand trial in the US, where he could face life in an American prison.
