Mexican druglord El Chapo found guilty
NEWYORK: Mexican druglord Joaquin Guzman, alias “El Chapo,” was found guilty on Tuesday by a New York jury after a threemonth drug trafficking trial.
The verdict could result in life behind bars for the 61-year-old former head of the Sinaloa cartel, who was accused of smuggling 155 tonnes of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over a 25-year-period.
Guzman will be sentenced on June 25. The jurors found him guilty on all 10 counts, which include engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; international cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana manufacture and distribution conspiracy; use of firearms; and conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds.
The verdict came on the sixth day of deliberations by the jury, which grappled with the complicated case at a federal court- house in Brooklyn.
The trial testimony lasted nearly three months and the jurors have been tasked with deciding on 10 separate counts.
The evidence included testimony from 14 cooperators. Many described Guzman’s willingness to use violence against enemies of a cartel that prosecutors say smuggled at least 200 tonnes of cocaine into the US over two decades. The defence accused prosecution cooperators of making him a scapegoat for their own crimes.