From In Homeland Security
Nearly three years after his most recent arrest in Mexico, the trial of the Sinaloa cartel’s notorious former boss is set to begin in a Brooklyn federal courthouse. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán served as the head of one of Mexico’s largest drug cartels for decades—a reign during which he was arrested, jailed, and busted out of prison more than once. After a hard-fought extradition to the U.S., he is now being tried on charges related to trafficking almost half a million pounds of cocaine.
Murder, Conspiracy, Money Laundering
Guzmán’s 17-count indictment also includes charges of murder, conspiracy, and money laundering that covers a span of over 25 years, according to NBC News. The indictment describes the Sinaloa cartel as “the largest drug trafficking organization in the world,” and stated that its thousands of members “manufactured and imported multi-ton quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana into the United States,” generating “billions of dollars in profit.
The Sinaloa Federation, as the cartel is formally known, has evolved considerably since Guzmán gained control shortly after the demise of the original “Godfather of drug trafficking,” Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, in the late 1980s. He survived several bloody wars with rival cartels—most notably the Juárez cartel under the control of his former allies, the Carrillo Fuentes family. That affair resulted in years of unprecedented bloodshed a stone’s throw across the border from El Paso, Texas, and led to Ciudad Juárez earning the nickname “Murder City.”
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