BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A Brooklyn jury found Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman guilty Tuesday of a vast drug-smuggling conspiracy, officials said.
Guzman could face life in prison after the Brooklyn Federal Court jury found him guilty of smuggling at least 200 tons of cocaine into the U.S. in a billions-of-dollars enterprise as chief of the Sinaloa cartel, prosecutors said.
“This conviction is a victory for the American people, who have suffered so long and so much while Guzman made billions pouring poison over our southern border,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donaghue told reporters outside Brooklyn Federal Court.
“There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting,” Donahue added. Those people are wrong.”
Donahue said he expects Guzman to be life sentence without parole, “a sentence from which there is no escape and no return.”
During the three-month trial, Brooklyn prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg charged Guzman, 61, with pocketing almost $14 billion as the cartel chief and plotting a prison breakout to escape charges in 2017, when he was first sent the U.S., where he has since been held in solitary confinement.
And court documents unsealed last week revealed “El Chapo” may have raped girls as young as 13, whom he referred to as vitamins because they gave him “life,” according to a Washington Post report.
The documents, which accuse “El Chapo” of paying $5,000 for each teen he raped at one of his ranches, were unsealed just three days before the jury began its deliberations. Guzman’s attorneys said their client denies the allegations.
The jury reached its verdict after more than a week of deliberations.
During closing arguments, Guzman’s attorney Jeffrey Lichtman argued that his client’s role in the cartel was exaggerated and the prosecutors’ case relied on witnesses who “lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people.”
Guzman pleaded not guilty to 10 counts, which include engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Photo by Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images
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