Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ in the dock for the biggest narcotics trial in US history
- After two legendary prison breaks, Guzman was finally captured by Mexican marines in January 2016 and extradited to the United States in January 2017
- His Sinaloa cartel is synonymous with violence and drug addiction
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman goes on trial in New York on Monday, accused of running the world’s biggest drug cartel and spending a quarter of a century smuggling more than 155 tonnes of cocaine into the United States.
The mammoth trial in a Brooklyn federal court, which will cost millions of dollars and is expected to last more than four months, will see one of the world’s most notorious criminals face the US justice system.
Prosecutors spent years piecing together a sweeping case against Guzman, who was extradited in 2017 after twice escaping prison in Mexico – first hidden in a laundry cart, then slipping down a tunnel that reached his prison shower.
Guzman has been branded the world’s biggest drug lord since Colombia’s Pablo Escobar, who was dubbed “The King of Cocaine” and was one of the wealthiest men in the world until police shot him dead in 1993.
Experts say the government has a near watertight case likely to send Guzman, 61, to a maximum security US prison for the rest of his life. But at what price?
