In the nationwide sweepstakes among federal jurisdictions to put Mexican drug kingpin and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on trial, the place currently leading the pack is far from the border: Brooklyn.
US Department of Justice officials in Washington still are not commenting on the closely watched decision involving seven prosecutor’s offices that have indicted Guzman on drug conspiracy and other charges over the past two decades, but two law enforcement officials familiar with the process told The Associated Press that it is likely that if transferred from Mexican to US custody in the coming months, Guzman would be sent to the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.
The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the decision.
Brooklyn, an office once run by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, has long been rumored to be the frontrunner, while Guzman has been vigorously fighting extradition, an effort that could drag out indefinitely.
Wherever he ends up in the US, Guzman is certain to cause a media frenzy and present a security challenge that has bedeviled Mexican authorities. Last year, the boss of the cutthroat Sinaloa cartel escaped prison for a second time — using a tunnel and help from crooked guards — and spent several months on the run before being recaptured in January after a bloody shootout in the coastal town of Los Mochis.
His apprehension, along with the Mexican authorities’ decision to transfer him to a jail just across the border from El Paso in Ciudad Juarez, renewed speculation about a possible US prosecution in one of the seven districts — Brooklyn, Manhattan, Chicago, Miami, San Diego, El Paso and New Hampshire.
US indictments in those cities accuse him of overseeing a drug empire that poisoned US streets by smuggling countless tonnes of cocaine, heroin and marijuana via tunnels or secret compartments in cars, trucks and rail cars.
In a move seen as aimed at smoothing the path to extradition, prosecutors in Brooklyn quietly revised their indictment last month to drop more than a dozen death-penalty-eligible accusations of specific murders by his henchmen in Mexico, while preserving murder conspiracy charges that could still result in a life sentence. At the same time, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had sought and received “sufficient guarantees” from US officials that Guzman would not be executed.
Weighing heavily in Brooklyn’s favor is vast experience prosecuting international drug cartel cases. Starting in the 1990s, the office has built several complex cases strong enough to convince distant governments in Asia and South America to extradite defendants now serving lengthy sentences in US prisons.
Whether Guzman will turn up in the US anytime soon is uncertain. On paper, he is fighting extradition with appeals, but news reports out of Mexico have suggested he would be open to travel to the US in hope of a plea deal that would rescue him what he claims are abusive conditions in Mexico. One of his lawyers has said that decision would be “an act of desperation.”
Guzman “has reached his limit,” the attorney said.
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