Mexico Officially Begins Extradition of 'El Chapo' to U.S.

[Blackrook]

Mexico Officially Begins Extradition of 'El Chapo' to U.S.

The extradition process to send drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States was begun today, the Mexican Attorney General's office announced.

The drug kingpin, who was recaptured Friday after six months on the run following his escape from a Mexican prison, was issued two orders of detention for the purpose of extradition while in prison today, according to the Mexican prosecutor.

Interpol agents served Guzman with the formal orders at the Altiplano prison where he was being held. His legal team will have time to submit paperwork to fight extradition.

Fugitive Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Gave Interview to Sean Penn

'El Chapo' Guzman's Desire to Make Biopic Helped Lead to His Capture

Mexican Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Captured After Months on the Run


He escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City July 11, launching an active manhunt. When guards realized that he was missing from his cell, they found that a ventilated tunnel had been constructed and had an exit via the bathtub inside Guzman's cell. The tunnel extended for about a mile underground and featured an adapted motorcycle on rails that officials believe was used to transport the tools used to create the tunnel, Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of the Mexican national security commission, said in July.

Guzman had been sent to Altiplano after he was arrested in February 2014. He spent more than 10 years on the run. after escaping from a different prison in 2001. It's unclear exactly how he had escaped, but he did receive help from prison guards who were prosecuted and convicted.

Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was once described by the U.S. Treasury as "the most powerful drug trafficker in the world." The Sinaloa cartel allegedly uses elaborate tunnels for drug trafficking and has been estimated to be responsible for 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. through Mexico.

Guzman has also long been ranked among the richest men in the world by Forbes. Drug enforcement experts have conservatively estimated the cartel's revenues at more than $3 billion annually.

*****

This story highlights the incompetence of the Mexican justice system. The followeres of Guzman built a mile long tunnel, and the government knew nothing about it, or they chose to not know about it.

But Mexico has realized that it can't hold Guzman any more, so they will allow the United States to take him out of their hands.

The most probable fate for Guzman is that he will be put in solitary confinement for the rest of his life, with 23 hours in his cell, and one hour in a small exercise yard.

Voices from Solitary: A Sentence Worse Than Death

 

[waltky]

Extradition of El Chapo not gonna be easy...

Prosecutors in these seven U.S. courtrooms want 'El Chapo'
12 Jan.`16 | The expected extradition of Mexican drug lord and prison escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States may take months, but it already has caused a tug of war among federal prosecutors in the key jurisdictions that want to put him on trial — San Diego, Chicago and New York City.

U.S. attorneys in seven jurisdictions have charged Guzman, who was recaptured Friday in Mexico, with organized crime, murder and drug trafficking in his role as head of the Sinaloa cartel. Under Guzman, prosecutors say, the cartel dramatically increased the flow of illegal narcotics into the U.S. by partnering with Colombian producers. The network ultimately became the largest bulk smuggler of marijuana, cocaine and heroin to the U.S. and Europe. Indictments against Guzman are pending in the Southern District of California, the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern District of New York, the Western District of Texas based in El Paso, the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, the U.S. District of New Hampshire and the Southern District of Florida in Miami.

SAN DIEGO

Prosecutors in San Diego brought the first federal charges against Guzman in 1996 in a push to dismantle a cocaine ring that ran from Southern California to the East Coast. The Justice Department filed an extradition request for him last summer based on the San Diego charges shortly before he made global headlines by escaping from a high-security prison near Mexico City.

CHICAGO

In Chicago, Guzman and 10 others were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2008 on charges of shipping tons of drugs to the Midwest and threatening to behead the agent in charge of the local Drug Enforcement Administration office. Authorities labeled Guzman "Public Enemy No. 1," a moniker previously reserved for Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone. The Chicago case has the best chance to persuade Mexican authorities to extradite Guzman to the U.S., because prosecutors in Chicago have more "live witnesses" who can take the stand and testify against him, according to Carl Pike, a former high-level official in the DEA. The son of one of Guzman's top lieutenants is in custody in Chicago and is cooperating with authorities. Vicente Zambada-Niebla pleaded guilty to intent to distribute multiple tons of cocaine and heroin in 2013, and his reported knowledge of Guzman's role could make a prosecution there more likely.

The Office of International Affairs in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department manages extradition requests from federal prosecutors. When there are competing requests, as with Guzman, officials there recommend the jurisdiction with the strongest case. "They will pick the ... case with the highest chance of success," said Pike, who recently retired after 27 years as a DEA agent. But where Guzman stands trial may ultimately be decided by Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch.

BROOKLYN

See also:

U.S. facing hurdles in extraditing El Chapo
Sunday 10th January, 2016 -- The lengthy, uncertain extradition process for drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has begun as Guzman's lawyer filed six injunctions challenging the motion.

After receiving notification, a defendant has three days to file an appeal to prevent being extradited, as per Mexican law. Guzman's lawyer has reportedly filed six separate injunctions to block extradition. Once a defendant formally appeals, the matter is argued and examined for about 20 working days in Mexico City's District of Federal Criminal Proceedings. Mexican district judges will then decide if Guzman's appeal against extradition is a success or if Guzman will be sent to the United States to face the U.S. Department of Justice. But Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will make the final extradition decision -- which Guzman can also appeal in both Mexico's District Court and Federal Circuit Court.

In September, Mexican federal judges "gave the orders of detention for international extradition against" Guzman -- meaning the United States' recent formal requests for Guzman's extradition -- submitted in June and August -- were approved by Mexico. The New York Times reports that various hurdles could prevent Guzman from ever being prosecuted in the United States. The White House has yet to comment on the potential extradition and the Justice Department remains ambivalent. "Is it possible yes," an anonymous Justice Department official told The New York Times about Guzman's extradition to the United States. "But I have not heard anything definitive."

As per the Mexican government's statement on Guzman's extradition, the drug kingpin will be extradited as long as Guzman's appeal does not succeed. "With the recapture of Guzman Loera, it shall begin the respective extradition proceedings, which, according to the Extradition Act, have different phases," the Mexican government wrote. "Once the district judges issued the respective legal opinion, the courts will be required to transmit the files to the Foreign Ministry to enable it within a period of 20 working days to issue a relevant ruling, where the delivery of the extradition of the person sought will be determined."

In short, Guzman's extradition proceedings, including appeals, could take far more than 40 days and there are no guaranteed results. Guzman was captured on Friday in the city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa. Five suspected Sinoloa Cartel members were killed and one Mexican marine was wounded during the capture operation.

US facing hurdles in extraditing El Chapo

 

[Claudette]

Why bother.

Mexican officials should take the son of bitch out behind the jail and blow his brains out.

That would save loads of money and the time it would take to prosecute the bastard.

Works for me.

 

[charwin95]

When they raided his hideout where 5 or 6 of his goons got killed. Why didn't they just shoot and kill this SOB instead of taking him alive. That will be the end of this crap.
Then will end up feeding this bastard.

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says dem womens'll mess ya up ever' time...

Mexican officials say infatuation with actress led to drug kingpin’s recapture
Thu, Jan 14, 2016 - Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was infatuated with actress Kate del Castillo and his desire to see her again contributed to his downfall after six months on the run, officials said on Tuesday.

Del Castillo, a Mexican-American who played a drug kingpin in a television series, brokered the now-notorious meeting between Guzman and US actor Sean Penn at an undisclosed jungle clearing in October last year, three months before the fugitive’s capture. The government officials said investigators had monitored Penn and Del Castillo, taking photographs of the actors when they landed in Mexico, before their get-together with Guzman. Following the meeting, troops entered Guzman’s remote mountain stronghold in northwestern Mexico in order to flush him out “toward a city,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.

Mexican Marines nearly captured Guzman in the mountains straddling the states of Sinaloa and Durango on Oct. 6, but Guzman grabbed his cook’s daughter and used her “as a human shield,” holding her in front of him as a helicopter hovered overhead, prompting the soldier to hold fire, the official said. Guzman eventually made his way last week to the seaside city of Los Mochis in his native Sinaloa state, where he was captured on Friday last week in a deadly military operation. The other factor that led Guzman to Los Mochis was that he was “really very interested in meeting the actress again,” the government official told reporters. “This was an almost obsessive interest that turned into another incentive to go down to the city, where he wanted to meet with her,” the official said, adding that Guzman did not see the 43-year-old actress again.

Another official said Guzman, 58, used the codename hermosa (“beautiful”) when referring to the actress, who became famous for her role as a drug lord in the TV series The Queen of the South. DVDs of the show were found in the house that marines raided in Los Mochis. Guzman fled the house through a tunnel during a gunfight between troops and his henchmen, but he was caught later after he had stolen a car, capping a months-long manhunt involving 2,500 investigators and federal forces, officials said. One of the world’s most-wanted criminals was returned to the same prison — Altiplano maximum-security prison, about 90km west of Mexico City — that he escaped from six months ago when his henchmen dug a 1.5km tunnel that opened into a hole in his cell’s shower.

MORE

See also:

Mexico moving recaptured drug lord Guzman from cell to cell
January 13, 2016 | Mexico's government is moving Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman constantly from cell to cell inside the maximum security prison where he is being held, the same lockup the elusive drug lord escaped from through a tunnel six months ago.

Government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said Guzman has been moved eight times at the Altiplano prison after he was recaptured Friday. The prison also now has 24-hour video surveillance of Guzman including all parts of his cell. The cell from which he escaped in July had a blind spot around the shower, which officials at the time was intended to protect inmates' privacy. "He is being changed from cell to cell without a pattern... he is only spending hours or a couple of days in the same cell," Sanchez said late Tuesday night.

July's escape was Guzman's second from a maximum security prison and it deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto. It also created friction with Washington, which had sought his extradition to the United States. This time around, Mexican officials have said they are willing to extradite Guzman but warn the process could take a year. In the meantime, they appear to be taking extraordinary measure to prevent a third escape. "Since he arrived, he has been in eight different cells," Sanchez said of Guzman's time in prison. Guzman's recapture followed the most intensive manhunt in modern Mexican history, with at least 2,500 security and intelligence agents dedicated to getting him.

The government says the hunt involved piecing together information from intelligence, data, interrogations and raids — as well as monitoring actors Sean Penn and Kate del Castillo as they came to interview the world's most wanted trafficker. Federal officials who were not authorized to be quoted by name said that a significant part of the 2,500-strong force hunting the drug lord were soldiers sent into the mountains where he was hiding, to set up a security perimeter. While Penn expressed surprise that a soldier at a checkpoint allowed his vehicle through on the way to the meeting with Guzman in October, one of the officials said that action had proved "very useful" in the hunt, suggesting it was part of the plan.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Like playin' Whack-a-mole - there'll always be someone to take his place as long as we have the appetite for drugs...

Why The Capture Of 'El Chapo' Guzman Won't Stop His Cartel
1/14/2016 - Organized crime expert Steven Dudley discusses the future of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Every week, The WorldPost asks an expert to shed light on a topic driving headlines around the world. Today, we speak with Steven Dudley, the co-founder of Insight Crime, about El Chapo and the Mexican drug war. For over two decades, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera has presided over one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico, the Sinaloa cartel. Mexican Marines arrested Guzmán last week, six months after he broke out of a maximum security prison for the second time. He is now facing possible extradition to the U.S. The Sinaloa cartel emerged as one of the major traffickers of drugs like cocaine and heroin to the U.S. in the 1990s. Recent data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration suggests that the cartel remains the main player controlling the drug trade in most U.S. states.

Prior to his arrest, Guzmán played down his personal role in the flow of drugs into the U.S. in a controversial interview with Hollywood actor Sean Penn, published by Rolling Stone magazine on Saturday. "The day I don't exist, it's not going to decrease in any way at all," the drug lord said. "Drug trafficking does not depend on just one person." Despite his outsize reputation, experts say El Chapo is likely right on that front -- the Sinaloa cartel can continue without him. The WorldPost spoke to Steven Dudley, co-director of InSight Crime, a group that tracks organized crime in Latin America, about how Guzmán's capture is likely to impact the Sinaloa cartel and Mexico's drug war.

Under Guzmán's leadership, the Sinaloa cartel grew into one of the largest drug operations in the world. How did he make it so powerful?

It’s important to note that the Sinaloa cartel is really a number of different organizations with a number of different people at the top. We often think of this very vertical structure and El Chapo making all the decisions, when in fact it’s run much more like a franchise, and there are different pieces of the organization that operate semi-independently throughout the distribution chain. Having said that, El Chapo and his close cohorts were able to create this massive enterprise. Probably their biggest success is that they focused on what they did best -- transporting illegal narcotics and later, mass production and transport of illegal narcotics. This is what has set them apart from many of the other organizations that, in an effort to protect themselves and become wealthier, diversified their revenue streams, getting into things like kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking, piracy and prostitution rings.

Fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera was recaptured in Mexico last week. Despite his outsize reputation, experts say the Sinaloa cartel can continue without him.​

This often got them into trouble. Diversification causes organizations to fragment. Competing interests emerge, and the lower levels of the organization become less in need of the bosses. This has happened to many criminal organizations over the years, not just in Mexico. But the Sinaloa cartel remained focused on moving the illegal narcotics, and they have done it for three decades or more. The horizontal structure of the Sinaloa cartel was also a critical part of how they’re able to function for decades in many different countries. The way the distribution chain works, you have to depend on numerous local contractors along the way.

The Sinaloa cartel made more of an effort to understand and align themselves with local affiliates, because they have understood for a long time that those from the area were often the best partners. So they will contract out the Hondurans in the Honduran phase of the chain, Guatemalans for the Guatemalan phase of the chain. This has been something that has differentiated the Sinaloa cartel from their cohorts, who have often tried to usurp or fight the locals, rather than try and incorporate them into their distribution chain.

Will Guzmán’s recapture affect the Sinaloa cartel’s operations very much?

 

[Weatherman2020]

Just in time for Obama to grant him a pardon at the end of the year.

 

[waltky]

Woofy keepin' Chapo up at night...

'El Chapo' says he can't sleep partly because of scary guard dog
Jan. 27, 2016 -- Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman said he can't get a good night's sleep in prison partly because of a scary guard dog.

Guzman's lawyer, Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza, provided a message dated Jan. 16 from the incarcerated drug kingpin to the media in which he describes his uncomfortable stay in Mexico's Altiplano Federal Prison. "They wake me for roll call in the day every hour and in the night every two hours, and there is a dog on the side that barks a lot and also scares my sleep," Guzman writes in the communiqué.

Guzman and his lawyers continuously assert the drug lord is being mistreated since his Jan. 8 arrest in the city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa. Earlier this month, Mexican government officials denied allegations by Guzman's lawyers that he is being treated worse than Adolf Hitler would be in prison.

Gonzalez Meza told Radio Formula the Mexican government has been treating his client inhumanely. "He has no access to his family, he has no access to his lawyers, he has no access to the most basic needs," Gonzalez Meza said. "He can't take his food, he can't sleep, that is, I think that even if they caught Adolf Hitler alive, they would not do to him what they are doing to Mr. Guzman Loera."

Mexico's Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong then denied accusations that Guzman was being mistreated by prison officials, adding that Guzman had recently been visited by a lawyer. "We're not going to make the mistake of violating due process and hand him an excuse to find a possible way out," Chong said.

'El Chapo' says he can't sleep partly because of scary guard dog

See also:

Mexico probing actress Kate del Castillo's links to 'El Chapo'
Jan. 20, 2016 ) -- Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who helped Sean Penn set up an interview with drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has been subpoenaed in a money-laundering investigation.

Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez told El Universal that del Castillo was called in to give authorities a statement. She has not been charged with a crime. The investigation will look into del Castillo's links with Guzman and into the finances of her Honor Del Castillo tequila brand in an effort to determine if drug money went into her business.

Gomez said there are indications Guzman provided funds to del Castillo's business, but the links have not been proven. "Even where there are indications, we need legal certainty," Gomez said, adding that indications include messages between del Castillo, Guzman and his lawyers that said "we're in business" and "we're in this together." Del Castillo has denied the allegations. "Thank you for your support over the past days. Not surprisingly, many have chosen to make up items they think will make good stories that aren't truthful," del Castillo shared on Twitter. "I look forward to sharing my story with you."

Cast member Kate del Castillo attends the premiere of the motion picture biographical drama "The 33" as part of the AFI Fest in Los Angeles on November 11, 2015. She recently helped Sean Penn set up an interview with Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.​

On July 11, Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum security prison for the second time using a mile-long tunnel, which could have taken a year to build. He was captured Jan. 8 in the city of Los Mochis in his home state of Sinaloa. Fox News reports that officials found a .50-caliber rifle at a hideout belonging to Guzman in Los Mochis that was funneled through the Fast and Furious Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program, which involved federal agents allowing criminals to buy guns with the intent of tracking them down once they made their way to Mexico.

This is the third time a weapon from the Fast and Furious program was recovered at a high-profile Mexican crime scene. Federal officials said an investigation was launched to figure out which of Guzman's weapons originated from the United States. But officials lost track of about 1,400 of the 2,000 guns involved. Officials said Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel used .50-caliber rifles specifically to shoot down Mexican police helicopters that would conduct raids in cartel territory. "El Chapo" -- meaning "The Short One" or "shorty" -- so dubbed because of his 5-foot-6-inch frame, was captured in Guatemala in 1993 and then extradited to Mexico to face murder and drug-trafficking charges. He escaped from prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart after bribing prison guards and was recaptured in February 2014.

Mexico probing actress Kate del Castillo's links to 'El Chapo'

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

Just in time for Obama to grant him a pardon at the end of the year.

Pardon? Hell, Obama will make him the official drug czar.

 

[waltky]

Mexico lookin' for Miss Kate...

Mexico orders 'El Chapo'-linked actress Kate del Castillo to be located
Feb. 4, 2016 -- Mexico's Attorney General office has ordered for Kate del Castillo to be located as it mounts pressure to make the actress linked to drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman testify.

Attorney general officials said Del Castillo ignored the agency's initial request for her testify. Del Castillo has been ordered to present herself and authorities have been ordered to locate her whereabouts. Mexico's federal judiciary council on Wednesday confirmed Del Castillo filed a court petition seeking an injunction against her possible arrest as it relates to her relationship with Guzman. She has not been charged with a crime yet but may face contempt charges if she fails to report.

Mexico's Attorney General has ordered for Kate del Castillo to be located as it mounts pressure to make the actress linked to drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman testify. Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez previously said there are indications Guzman provided funds to del Castillo's business, but the links have not been proven.​

Del Castillo was subpoenaed in January as part of a money-laundering investigation related to her links with Guzman and into the finances of her Honor Del Castillo tequila brand in an effort to determine if drug money went into her business. Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez previously said there are indications Guzman provided funds to del Castillo's business, but the links have not been proven. The United States also initiated an inquiry.

"Even where there are indications, we need legal certainty," Gomez said, adding that indications include messages between del Castillo, Guzman and his lawyers that said "we're in business" and "we're in this together."

Mexico orders 'El Chapo'-linked actress Kate del Castillo to be located

 

[Blackrook]

Giving an interview with Sean Penn wasn't a bright idea either.

 

[waltky]

Hearing was yesterday...

Mexico judge to weigh 'Chapo' US extradition this month
Thursday 15th September, 2016: A Mexican judge will weigh the extradition of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman this month, and he could be in US custody later this year, a US official said on Wednesday (Sep 14).

The US government official told AFP that the judge in Mexico City is expected to rule on the extradition on Sep 26, but Guzman could appeal the decision. His lawyers say the process could take months or years to conclude, but the US official expects the extradition of the Sinaloa drug cartel leader to move much faster. "We are still on track for him to be extradited before the end of the year," the official said on condition of anonymity to be able to speak freely about the case. Mexico's foreign ministry gave the green light to Guzman's extradition in May, but the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel leader obtained an injunction in June.

If the judge rejects Guzman's legal petition, his lawyers would have 10 days to appeal to a higher court. One of Guzman's lawyers, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said the lower court judge could issue his ruling on Sep 26 but that "usually" such decisions can take a few days or even weeks. In any case, Rodriguez said his client instructed him to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. The US official, however, said the Supreme Court could simply refuse to take the case, paving the way for his extradition.

GUZMAN 'NOT WELL'

The powerful drug lord was arrested in January, six months after he brazenly escaped prison in a 1.5-kilometre (one-mile) tunnel, humiliating President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. Pena Nieto had opposed Guzman's extradition before his Jul 15 escape, preferring to prosecute the slippery prisoner in Mexico. But the president called on the attorney general to expedite the extradition after Guzman's January arrest. His extradition would set up a major US trial against a man whose cartel is accused of generating much of the violence in Mexico and providing tons of drugs to the United States.

The foreign ministry accepted in May two US extradition requests. He faces cocaine smuggling charges in California and multiple accusations, including murder, in Texas. Guzman was transferred in May from a maximum-security prison near Mexico City to a penitentiary in Ciudad Juarez, which lies at the border with the United States. "He's not doing well. He's isolated, he doesn't go out with other inmates in the prison yard, they don't let him speak with anybody," his other lawyer, Andres Granados, told Radio Formula.

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