CHAPO IN WILD GOOSE CHASTE
Drug lord whines he can’t see wife
Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo isn’t getting the royal treatment in the United States.
His lawyers whined in Brooklyn federal court Friday that the cartel boss is stuck in solitary confinement, can’t even get water when they meet — and is being denied a chance to visit with his much-younger wife.
Emma Coronel, 27, had a frontrow seat during her 59-year-old hubby’s court appearance, though she’s unlikely to get any closer. She dressed for the occasion in skintight jeans and platform boots.
El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán, was stone-faced as he entered the courtroom in shackles and a blue jumpsuit, giving only a brief nod to Coronel.
Defense lawyer Michelle Gelernt said the guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center are so tough on her client that, “when we go for a visit, we are not even allowed to give Mr. Guzmán water.”
And that, she griped, also leaves the lawyers high and dry. It means, she said, “we cannot have a glass of water.’’
She also groused that Guzmán, who staged a daring escape from a Mexican prison in 2015, spends 23 hours a day in solitary and is not allowed visits or even phone calls from his family.
Guzmán wants to talk to relatives about hiring private lawyers, she said. He’s being represented by Federal Defenders of NY.
But Judge Brian M. Cogan was unmoved. “Based on what I know of this case, there are grounds for taking additional security measures,” he said. “I have to defer to [the Bureau of Prisons.]”
The judge had originally barred Guzmán from the court, saying he could watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit hookup.
But Cogan relented and allowed him to appear in person.
Outside the courthouse, Gelernt told reporters that Coronel — the daughter of a Sinaloa Cartel member — desperately wants see him.
Coronel stood silently by as photographers snapped away.
“I think this has been very difficult for her,” Gelernt said. “This is the first time she’s seen him since he was brought to the US. We believe he should be allowed to at least visit with his wife.”
Guzmán pleaded not guilty at his Jan. 20 arraignment to a 17count indictment charging him with manufacturing and distributing heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, as well as money-laundering.
In their 56-page indictment, Brooklyn federal prosecutors laid out a strong case against Guzmán that could send him to a federal pen for the rest of his life.
Prosecutors arranged for dozens of cooperating witnesses who had face-to-face meetings with Guzmán to testify about his “power, corruption and violence” within his Sinaloa Cartel — the largest drug-trafficking network in the world,’’ court papers charge.
Prosecutors will also show that Guzmán is “extremely violent” and “maintains caches of weapons . . . to punish those who act against Guzmán’s interests,” according to the documents.