The charge
includes 26 drug-related violations and one murder conspiracy.
/ A.M. Costa Rica wire services photo.
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Justice Department reveals more details
about life sentence for
narco Chapo Guzman
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, known by various aliases,
including “El Chapo” and “El Rapido,” was sentenced on Wednesday
by U. S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan to life imprisonment plus
30 years to run consecutive to the life sentence for being a
principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise, the Mexican
organized crime syndicate known as the Sinaloa Cartel. The charge
includes 26 drug-related violations and one murder conspiracy.
The judge also ordered Guzmán Loera to pay $12.6 billion in
forfeiture.
The Justice Department also revealed more details on the Chapo
case.
Guzmán Loera was convicted by a federal jury Feb. 12, following a
three-month trial of all 10 counts of the indictment, including
narcotics trafficking, using a firearm in furtherance of his drug
crimes and participating in a money-laundering conspiracy.
The evidence at trial established that Guzmán Loera was a
principal leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexico-based
international drug trafficking organization responsible for
importing and distributing more than a million kilograms of
cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin in the United
States, the Justice Department said.
The evidence included testimony from 14 cooperating witnesses,
including Sinaloa Cartel members, summaries of narcotics seizures
totaling over 130,000 kilograms of cocaine and heroin; display of
weapons, including AK-47s and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
and exhibits of ledgers, text messages, videos, photographs and
intercepted recordings that detailed his drug trafficking activity
and that of his co-conspirators over 25 years from January 1989 to
December 2014.
From the mid-1980s until his arrest in México in 1993, Guzmán
Loera was a mid-level operative of the Sinaloa Cartel, earning a
name for himself and the nickname “El Rapido” for how quickly he
transported drugs from Mexico to the United States for the
Colombian cartels.
After he escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 by hiding in a
laundry cart, Guzman Loera formed an alliance with fugitive
co-defendant Ismael Zambada Garcia and, together, they became the
preeminent leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzman Loera enforced
his will and maintained control of his drug empire through an army
of lethal sicarios or hitmen and a sophisticated communications
network, the Justice Department said.
The trial highlighted the methods Guzmán Loera and his
organization used to transport the cartel’s multi-ton shipments of
narcotics into the United States, including fishing boats,
submarines, carbon fiber airplanes, trains with secret
compartments and transnational underground tunnels.
Once the narcotics were in the United States, they were sold to
wholesale distributors in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago,
Arizona, Los Angeles and elsewhere. Guzmán Loera then used
various methods to launder billions of dollars of drug proceeds,
including bulk cash smuggling from the United States to Mexico,
U.S.-based insurance companies, reloadable debit cards and
numerous shell companies, including a juice company and a fish
flour company, the department said
Guzmán Loera and his organization relied upon violence to maintain
its power throughout the region and beyond. Numerous
co-conspirators testified that Guzmán Loera directed his hitmen to
kidnap, interrogate, torture and slaughter members of rival drug
organizations, at times carrying out acts of violence himself.
As part of its arsenal, the Sinaloa Cartel had access to weapons,
including grenades and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Guzmán Loera’s personal arsenal included a gold plated AK-47 and
three diamond-encrusted .38 caliber handguns, one emblazoned with
his initials, JGL.
Guzman Loera and his organization also relied on a vast network of
corrupt government officials and employees to protect and further
the interests of the Sinaloa Cartel. They included local law
enforcement officers, prison guards, high-ranking members of the
armed forces, and elected office holders. In exchange, the Cartel
paid these individuals millions of dollars in bribes.
“Guzmán Loera’s day of reckoning has finally come. Never again
will he pour poison into our country, or make millions as innocent
lives are lost. We cannot undo the violence, misery and
devastation inflicted on countless individuals and communities as
result of his organization’s sale of tons of illegal drugs for
more than two decades, but we can ensure that he spends every
minute of every day in prison,” stated U. S. Attorney Richard P.
Donoghue. “The same fate awaits those who would take his place.
I thank the brave members of law enforcement, here and abroad, for
their tireless efforts that have finally secured justice in this
case.”
“Today’s sentencing is the culmination of years of effort from
numerous local, state, federal, and international partners,” said
Christopher A. Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. “It highlights the dedication and determination of
men and women in law enforcement to bring one of the world's most
notorious drug traffickers to justice. The FBI has no tolerance
for those who endanger our communities and destroy lives through
drugs and violence. We’ll continue to work day and night to find
and stop those who distribute illegal substances and commit
unimaginable violence.”
The case also was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in cooperation with Mexican, Ecuadorian, Netherlands, Dominican
and Colombian law enforcement authorities, said the department.
“This case is the result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized
Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a partnership that brings
together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies,” said the Department of
Justice in its statement. “ The principal mission of the program
is to identify, disrupt, dismantle and prosecute high level
members of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money
laundering organizations and enterprises.”
The full detailed report on Chapo’s life prison sentence can be
reached at U.S. Justice web here*
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Which of all the facts mentioned in the sentence, what has
impressed you more?We would like to know your
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