Joaquín Guzmán, 61, could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted following three-month New York trial
The notorious cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has been found guilty of 10 counts of drug trafficking, at the end of a three-month New York trial that featured dramatic testimony of prison escapes, gruesome killings and million-dollar political payoffs.
Related: Behind the El Chapo trial: what's been left unsaid in a New York courtroom
Continue reading...Jury has surprised observers and unnerved prosecutors by asking for transcripts of ‘snitch’ witnesses
Whatever happens in the jury room in Brooklyn this Monday morning, people outside are starting to think the unthinkable: that Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán might get off.
It would be a reckless gambler that would bet on acquittal for the accused Mexican drug lord, but the odds shorten with each day of indecision. This is not the slam-dunk conviction prosecutors – and most of the rest of the world – were expecting.
Continue reading...As the jury begins deliberations, we recap three months of amazing stories and allegations
Until his trial began, much of the public perception of accused Mexican drug lord El Chapo, real name Joaquín Guzmán, had come from rumours and legend. But over the past three months we have heard what the lead prosecutor, Andrea Goldbarg, called “a mountain of evidence” against the notorious leader of the Sinaloa cartel, including allegations of decades of murder, torture, bribery and corruption.
Related: Is Emma Coronel the devoted wife of El Chapo, or is she being used as a prop?
Continue reading...Unsealed documents made public just as jury is about to start deliberations in Joaquín Guzmán’s drug-trafficking case
Unsealed documents about the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán contain claims by witnesses that he had sex with minors he called “vitamins”. The disturbing allegation comes just as a jury is about to start deliberating in the US drug-trafficking case.
Related: Betrayal, torture and a $100m bribe: what the El Chapo trial has revealed
Continue reading...Largest drugs haul in Italy in 25 years comes after sting operation involving Colombia and Spain
Italian police have taken possession of more than two tonnes of cocaine in the largest drugs seizure in the country in 25 years, after a sting operation involving three other nations across two continents.
The drugs, discovered in 60 bags in a cargo container at the Port of Genoa, have a total value of €500m (£436m) and were found with the help of the British, Colombian and Spanish police.
Continue reading...Italian police have seized more than two tonnes of cocaine in the largest drugs seizure in the country in 25 years, during a sting operation involving three other nations across two continents. The drugs, discovered in 60 bags in a cargo container at the port of Genoa, have a total value of €500m (£436m) and were found with the help of the British, Colombian and Spanish police
Continue reading...Prosecution case against accused Mexican drug lord had lasted 11 weeks
After a prosecution that spanned 11 weeks and had its share of bombshells, the defense case at the US trial of the alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán clocked in on Tuesday at a mere 30 minutes.
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman called one witness and entered one document into evidence before resting the defense’s case. The jury was sent home for the day with closing arguments set to begin on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Guzmán alleged to have committed three murders, marking first time in three-month trial he has been personally accused
A former bodyguard for the accused Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has told a court that he watched his boss personally carry out three murders, including one in which the victim was buried alive.
The killings described by Isaías Valdéz Ríos in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, were the first in the three-month-old trial to be attributed to Guzmán himself, rather than underlings following his orders.
Continue reading...Dámaso López Núñez told the jury at Guzmán’s trial that Emma Coronel Aispuro ‘was giving us his orders’
The wife of the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán played a key role in his infamous 2015 escape from prison through a tunnel dug into the shower of his cell, one of Guzmán’s top lieutenants told a court in New York.
Dámaso López Núñez told the jury at Guzmán’s trial that Emma Coronel Aispuro helped her husband trade messages with his sons and others who coordinated the breakout at Altiplano prison in central Mexico.
Continue reading...Prohibition makes our world a more dangerous place, trapping people in poverty
I have spoken out on many issues during my career, but there is one that leaders in poorer countries passionately lobby me to campaign on: the prohibition of drugs.
The “war on drugs” is harming the most vulnerable and criminalising poverty. It is not a war on drugs – despite decades of prohibition, drug production and consumption is on the increase globally – it is a war on the poor. Prohibition damages people and the planet.
Continue reading...A New York court has heard how the Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán eluded capture with his mistress while paying millions to politicians and police
That Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán – on trial in New York for heading the world’s biggest drug cartel – escaped a raid through a tunnel beneath his bath is legend; what is not known is that he did so stark naked with the mistress with whom he was abed when the Mexican marines arrived.
That Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel bribed politicians and senior military officers is presumed by most Mexicans; that he bribed presidents would surprise few – what we had not heard is that he allegedly haggled down a presidential demand for $250m protection money to $100m.
Continue reading...Guzmán’s electronic life was revealed thanks to evidence from an undercover FBI agent and the IT fixer he recruited
The recorded, wiretapped life of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has dominated this week’s evidence at his trial for allegedly running the world’s biggest narco-traffic organisation.
Related: Behind the El Chapo trial: what's been left unsaid in a New York courtroom
Continue reading...Vicente Zambada Niebla, son of the Joaquín Guzmán’s longtime partner, had been groomed to take over Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel
One of the greatest betrayals in mafia history emerged into open court this week at the New York trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, as the former heir-apparent to Guzmán’s Sinaloa federation turned against his own boss, the cartel – and apparently even his own father.
Related: Behind the El Chapo trial: what's been left unsaid in a New York courtroom
Continue reading...Laila Haidari risks her life to run the country’s only private rehabilitation centre, helping hundreds of addicts a year
Laila Haidari is considered a criminal, despite never committing a crime. The 40-year-old works with drug addicts in Kabul. “The addicts I work with are considered criminal and dangerous and by extension I am considered criminal,” she says.
Despite opposition and death threats, eight years ago, Haidari opened the city’s only private drug rehabilitation centre, which so far has helped nearly 4,800 Afghans who would otherwise have ended up on the streets, or worse, dead.
Continue reading...