Joaquin Guzman ‘El Chapo’ Loera will appear in Brooklyn federal court on Monday for jury selection
While El Chapo is locked up in solitary confinement, his sons have been running his drug empire in his absence.
The Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman ‘El Chapo’ Loera, who is believed to be 61, is due to appear on trial in Brooklyn federal court on Monday.
While he’s behind bars his billion dollar drug cartel continues to thrive under the leadership of his two favorite sons Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar.
According to a recent letter from the U.S. attorneys preparing to try Guzman, ‘the defendant’s sons remain in charge of his vast drug trafficking empire’.
On October 28 Federal Judge Brian Cogan was delivered a warning concerning the safety of witnesses who will testify against El Chapo.
‘There is no doubt that the defendant and his cartel have the capability, the resources and the will to harm cooperating witnesses and their families, even after they have been relocated,’ the lawyers said according to the New York Post.
While the druglord is behind bars, his sons Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar (left) and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar (right) have been running the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico in his absence
‘The brothers have engaged in significant violence. They have ambushed military people and they still have the resources to affect witnesses,’ a former Drug Enforcement Administration source said.
The brothers are said to have been groomed to take over the business.
They are the sons of the El Chapo’s first wife María Alejandrina Salazar Hernández, who he married in 1977. The couple had three children together. Their son Cesar was killed six years ago.
Last month Alfredo Guzman was added to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 10 Most Wanted List.
He was indicted in 2009 for drug trafficking in Illinois and information on his capture was set at $5million.
The brothers reportedly live in the lap of luxury and show off their riches to the rest of the world with their flashy lifestyle in Mexico.
Guzman was escorted to a Brooklyn prison on January 19, 2017 where he’s remained in solitary confinement for 22 months
The world’s most wanted drug trafficker was arrested in Mexico on January 9, 2016 after he escaped from a maximum-security prison six months prior
His family seem to be doing just fine during his imprisonment. His current wife Coronel Aispuro, 29, pictured above outside of the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse following a hearing for Guzman on February 3, 2017
‘Why haven’t the sons been whacked yet? It means they are very much in control. But unlike their father, who believed in keeping a low profile, they are not in hiding and they love to show off,’ a federal law enforcement source said to The Post.
Guzman’s current wife Coronel Aispuro, 29, doesn’t hold back in flaunting her riches on social media, recently showing off a lavish Barbie themed birthday party she threw for her twin daughters in Sinaloa.
Guzman is believed to have at least 15 children. A federal source said ‘there may be more’.
On Monday Guzman will appear in court as jury selection begins. The trial is expected to last as long as four months, according to the New York Daily News.
Some 1,000 jury summonses were mailed out, with 922 prospective jurors replying and filling out the forms.
Mike McGowan, a longtime ex-FBI agent who went undercover to cozy up to Guzman in prison, posing as an Italian mob boss, will testify in court.
Aispuro doesn’t hold back in flaunting her riches on social media, recently showing off a lavish Barbie themed birthday party she threw for her twin daughters in Sinaloa
Lap of Luxury: While Guzman is locked up his daughters and wife live on a lavish estate in Sinaloa, Mexico. The twins’ birthday party earlier this year pictured above
Opening arguments are set for November 13 after Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian M Cogan rejected defense motions to delay the prosecution.
In October the government announced 17 new alleged murder conspiracy victims.
‘It is almost as if the government believes that due to the breadth of their allegations against Mr. Guzman, he is entitled to diminished due process and only an illusory semblance of effective assistance of counsel,’ the defense said in a court filing dated October 27.
So far Guzman has pleaded innocent to 17 counts of drug trafficking, murder conspiracy and money laundering.
He was extradited to Brooklyn in January 2017 and has spent the last 22 months in solitary confinement.