Drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman gets life

NEW YORK — The Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced Wednesday to life behind bars in a U.S. prison, a humbling end for a drug lord notorious for his ability to kill, bribe or tunnel his way out of trouble.

A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence, five months after Guzman’s conviction in an epic drugtrafficking case.

The 62yearold drug lord, who had been protected in Mexico by an army of gangsters and an elaborate corruption operation, was brought to the U.S. to stand trial after he twice escaped from Mexican prisons.

Guzman, sporting his trademark mustache after being cleanshaven during his trial, spoke in court Wednesday for what may be the last time the public hears from him. Before his sentencing, he complained about the conditions of his confinement and told the judge he was denied a fair trial. He said U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan failed to thoroughly investigate claims of juror misconduct.

“My case was stained, and you denied me a fair trial when the whole world was watching,” Guzman said through an interpreter. “When I was extradited to the United States, I expected to have a fair trial, but what happened was exactly the opposite.”

He also thanked his family for giving him “the strength to bear this torture that I have been under for the past 30 months.”

The sentence— life plus 30 years— was preordained. The guilty verdict in February at Guzman’s 11week trial triggered a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Cogan also ordered Guzman to pay $12.6 billion in illgotten proceeds— money his drugtrafficking organization made distributing cocaine and other drugs around the U.S.

The evidence showed that under Guzman’s orders, the Sinaloa cartel was responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the U.S. during his 25year reign, prosecutors said. They also said his “army of sicarios” was under orders to kidnap, torture and murder anyone who got in his way.

The defense argued he was framed by other traffickers who became government witnesses so they could get breaks in their own cases.

Experts say he will likely wind up at the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colo., known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”