– EVEN WHILE ON TRIAL IN U.S.!
MEXICAN DRUG LORD STILL RUNNING BILLION-DOLLAR OPERATION
THE world’s most feared drug trafficker — Joaquín “El
Chapo” Guzmán — is under heavy guard while on trial in New York, but The National ENQUIRER has exclusively learned he is still conducting his billion-dollar drug business from federal prison!
The bloodthirsty fiend — who sat at the top of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Most Wanted list before his capture — is still calling the shots at his Sinaloa cartel, ensuring business as usual for the drug empire responsible for most of the heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine smuggled into the U.S. Although El Chapo faces life in prison on trafficking, murder conspiracy and money-laundering charges, foot soldiers remain loyal to the 61-year-old kingpin.
“Even if he’s not here, we gotta keep going. Whether he’s here or not, we’re still in the mafia with him,” said one of his minions.
One of El Chapo’s top lieutenants, his cousin Pedro, added: “He’s good to us. All I can say is that people here in the mountains love him.”
Pedro oversees the empire’s day-to-day operations and claims El Chapo’s arrest and trial have done little to disrupt the drug don’s position in the ultraviolent criminal organization — a situation that’s sure to embarrass U.S. prosecutors!
In fact, during a visit to the cartel’s secret packaging facility hidden deep in the Mexican jungle, Pedro bragged that El Chapo’s cocaine and heroin shipments to the U.S. are protected by deadly “Sicarios” — machinegun-toting hitmen loyal to the murderous gang leader!
The ENQUIRER has even seen El Chapo’s foot soldiers — including one wearing a mask of his boss — use tape to package pure Colombian cocaine that’s destined to be sold on the streets of
Los Angeles after a journey involving motor boats.
As El Chapo’s trial unfolds in New York, details of his life and previous prison escape sound like scenes from a movie!
Prosecutors have presented a parade of former henchmen and lieutenants who testified that at the height of his power in the ’90s, El Chapo had four wives, four planes, a yacht, a string of beach houses, a diamond-encrusted handgun and a small train he used to tour his private zoo with lions, tigers, panthers and deer!
He also launched fearsome campaigns of vengeance against his enemies, and his attempts to kill Miguel Angel Martinez — who is currently testifying against him at trial — included hiring a mariachi band to perform a murder ballad outside of his prison cell for an entire night and throwing grenades into his cell.
Stabbing attacks on his life were so bad, Miguel eventually got a padlock to secure himself in his cell at night!
The five-foot-six drug lord — whose nickname means “Shorty” — was eventually arrested by Mexican police in 2014, but he grabbed worldwide headlines after his ferocious underlings freed him from Mexico’s toughest maximum-security prison in 2015.
After bribing guards with millions of dollars, El Chapo escaped through a shower drain and down a ladder into a sophisticated mile-long tunnel equipped with lights, oxygen pipes and a motorcycle. He sped off to freedom on the bike and vanished. However, he was smoked out a year later when the lovestruck drug boss agreed to meet with sexy Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and Oscar winner Sean Penn for a televised interview.
The thug was extradited to the U.S. a year later — triggering the assassination of 82 Mexican politicians who allegedly didn't do enough to
stop the government’s men from shipping him across the border to face American justice!
Despite Penn’s reputation for playing tough guys on screen, the star was spooked by El Chapo’s underworld clout and remains worried to this day. “He honestly believes there’s a price on his head and he’s constantly looking over his shoulder,” said a source close to the 58-year-old actor. With El Chapo’s trial playing out in a Brooklyn courtroom, his lawyers are expected to argue that he’s just a flunky in the notorious Mexican cartel.