PROSECUTORS SEEK $14B FORFEITURE FROM ‘EL CHAPO’

NEW YORK Saying they were bringing the world’s most notorious drug lord to justice, U.S. prosecutors on Friday described Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman as the murderous architect of a threedecade web of violence corruption and drug addiction and announced they were seeking a US$14-billion forfeiture from him.

Extradited Thursday, prosecutors have sought to bring Guzman to a U.S. court for years while he made brazen prison escapes and spent years on the run in Mexico.

“Today marks a milestone in our pursuit of Chapo Guzman,” said Robert Capers, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn. “He’s a man known for a life of crime, violence, death and destruction, and now he’ll have to answer for that.”

As boss of the Sinaloa cartel, Guzman presided over a syndicate that shipped tonnes of heroin and cocaine to the U. S., using tanker trucks, planes with secret landing strips, container ships, speedboats and even submarines, prosecutors said.

The cartel made billions of dollars in profits — prosecutors are seeking a $14 billion forfeiture — and employed hit men who carried out murders and kidnappings, according to prosecutors.