El Chapo guilty of US drug offences

MEXICO’S most notorious drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been convicted of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political pay-offs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress.

Guzman (pictured) listened to a drumbeat of guilty verdicts on drug and conspiracy charges that could put the 61-yearold escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security US prison specifically selected to thwart another one of the breakouts that made him a folk hero in his native country.

A jury, whose members’ identities were kept secret as a security measure, reached a verdict after six days of deliberations in the case.

They sorted through what authorities called an “avalanche” of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tonnes of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the US.

As the judge read the verdict, Guzman stared at the jury, while his wife watched, both with resignation in their faces.

When the jurors were discharged and Guzman stood to leave the courtroom, the couple traded a thumbs-up.

US District Judge Brian Cogan yesterday lauded the jury’s meticulous attention to detail and the “remarkable” approach it took towards the deliberations.

Mr Cogan said it made him “very proud to be an American”.

Evidence showed drugs poured into the US through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks, concealed in the undercarriage of passenger cars and packed in rail cars passing through legitimate points of entry – suggesting that a border wall wouldn’t be much of a worry.

The prosecution’s case against Guzman, whose nickname translates to “Shorty”, included the testimony of several turncoats.

The defence case lasted just half an hour. Guzman’s lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was.

In closing arguments, his lawyer urged the jury not to believe government witnesses who “lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people”.