Wednesday, January 25, 2017

El Chapo Extradited to the US, held in 'Guantanamo of New York'

Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has mesmerized the world for almost the last three decades, since taking charge of the Sinaloa cartel in the 1990s and growing it into the most violent, high profile and lucrative Mexican drug cartel in history.

Two escapes from prison, photo ops with Mexican pop stars and actresses, and even a clandestine meeting with American actor Sean Penn made El Chapo a media darling and pop culture icon for global drug trafficking.

El Chapo arrived in the United States on January 19th and was arraigned on January 20th, his first appearance in a U.S. courtroom. He's been indicted for running a "continuing criminal enterprise" from January 1989 to December 2014. El Chapo’s organization is accused of trafficking illicit drugs throughout the U.S. and Canada, amassing more than $14 billion in profits.

The infamous drug kingpin is being held in what some call the "Guantanamo of New York."


El Chapo is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The infamous facility, which is known for once housing John Gotti and a slew of high-profile terrorists, is one that El Chapo will find difficult to break out of.

New York attorney Joshua Dratel said that the facility "is worse than Guantanamo. It is about as soul-negating existence as there is in this country in the federal system.”