According to US Attorney's Office spokesman Bob Nardoza for the Eastern District of New York on Sunday, the US government is looking to extradite Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the notorious Mexican drug lord. Law enforcement captured the drug kingpin on Saturday in Mazatlan, an earlier CNN report said.
Guzman is lauded as one of the most powerful and deadly bosses in drug trafficking operations and has evaded capture for over twelve years. As head of the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexican and US authorities have launched a series of operations meant to cripple the organization and eventually into capture of Guzman by seizing several of his purported lieutenants, CNN said. Authorities have said that Guzman ws captured in a surprise raise at in a oceanview hotel-condominium tower in a Mexican resort.
Guzman, said CNN, is currently awaiting trial for various cases, but the news agency said it was not clear whether which cases are given priority. A legal expert also said that despite the fact that the US is itching to hold Guzman for trial, the captured drug lord will not be going to the US anytime soon.
Law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes told CNN on Sunday, "Mexico is going to want to prosecute him. They're going to want the first shot at him. The extradition to the U.S. could happen at a later date, but I doubt it. I think that the Mexicans are going to want him, and they're going to want to keep him in prison down there."
CNN said Guzman and his henchmen had been named in several indictments related to marijuana, cocaine and heroin trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder from the courts of New York to Chicago, Texas to San Diego. Guzman's notoriety is evident in Chicago, as its crime commissioner had named him Public Enemy Number 1 in 2013.
Fuentes added, "He's responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. He's considered one of the richest men in the world, and the Sinaloa cartel...is considered the most prolific drug-trafficking organization in the world."
