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| El Chapo, Mexican Drug Kingpin, Extradited to the U.S. | El Chapo, Mexican Drug Kingpin, Extradited to the U.S. |
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| MEXICO CITY — Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the notorious drug lord known as El Chapo, who twice slipped out of high-security Mexican prisons and into criminal legend, was being extradited to the United States on Thursday night, officials said, drawing to a close a decades-long effort to successfully prosecute the head of one of the world’s largest narcotics organizations. | |
| A federal court in Mexico denied an appeal by Mr. Guzmán’s lawyers to block the extradition, clearing the way for his transfer to the American authorities in New York, where he faces numerous charges for his role as the chieftain of the Sinaloa cartel. | A federal court in Mexico denied an appeal by Mr. Guzmán’s lawyers to block the extradition, clearing the way for his transfer to the American authorities in New York, where he faces numerous charges for his role as the chieftain of the Sinaloa cartel. |
| He was then put on a plane in Ciudad Juárez, near the border of Texas. The decision to extradite Mr. Guzmán is an about-face for the Mexican government, which once insisted that he would serve his long sentence in Mexico first. However, following a Houdini-like escape in 2015, when his associates tunneled him out of Mexico’s most secure prison, officials began to reconsider. | He was then put on a plane in Ciudad Juárez, near the border of Texas. The decision to extradite Mr. Guzmán is an about-face for the Mexican government, which once insisted that he would serve his long sentence in Mexico first. However, following a Houdini-like escape in 2015, when his associates tunneled him out of Mexico’s most secure prison, officials began to reconsider. |
| Upon his recapture last year, they publicly said they would allow him to be extradited. | Upon his recapture last year, they publicly said they would allow him to be extradited. |
| In a statement on Thursday night, the United States Justice Department said it extended “its gratitude to the government of Mexico for their extensive cooperation and assistance in securing the extradition of Guzmán Loera to the United States.” | In a statement on Thursday night, the United States Justice Department said it extended “its gratitude to the government of Mexico for their extensive cooperation and assistance in securing the extradition of Guzmán Loera to the United States.” |
| The statement added that Mr. Guzmán faced six separate indictments in the United States. | The statement added that Mr. Guzmán faced six separate indictments in the United States. |
| Mr. Guzmán was the embodiment of an identity the country has fought to shed for decades. To some, the uneducated farm-boy-turned-cartel-magnate was a Robin Hood figure for modern times, revered for his fight against the government and generosity to the poor. For others, he was a heartless criminal who flooded America’s streets with narcotics and left Mexico’s streets strewn with bodies. | Mr. Guzmán was the embodiment of an identity the country has fought to shed for decades. To some, the uneducated farm-boy-turned-cartel-magnate was a Robin Hood figure for modern times, revered for his fight against the government and generosity to the poor. For others, he was a heartless criminal who flooded America’s streets with narcotics and left Mexico’s streets strewn with bodies. |
| But it was his dramatic escapes that caught the attention of the world. | But it was his dramatic escapes that caught the attention of the world. |
| El Chapo, which means “Shorty,” was a fugitive for 13 years after escaping from one prison, by many accounts in a laundry cart. During that time, he reigned over a worldwide, multibillion-dollar drug empire that supplied much of the cocaine and marijuana to the United States despite a widespread, yearslong manhunt by American and Mexican forces. | El Chapo, which means “Shorty,” was a fugitive for 13 years after escaping from one prison, by many accounts in a laundry cart. During that time, he reigned over a worldwide, multibillion-dollar drug empire that supplied much of the cocaine and marijuana to the United States despite a widespread, yearslong manhunt by American and Mexican forces. |
| That period of freedom ended with his relatively uneventful arrest in a condominium tower in Mazatlán, Mexico, in 2014. He was sent to the Altiplano maximum prison in Almoloya de Juárez. That was where Mr. Guzmán pulled off his most spectacular escape. He stepped into a shower in his cell in what was supposed to be the most secure wing of Mexico’s most secure prison. | That period of freedom ended with his relatively uneventful arrest in a condominium tower in Mazatlán, Mexico, in 2014. He was sent to the Altiplano maximum prison in Almoloya de Juárez. That was where Mr. Guzmán pulled off his most spectacular escape. He stepped into a shower in his cell in what was supposed to be the most secure wing of Mexico’s most secure prison. |
| An opening in the shower led to a mile-long tunnel leading to a construction site in the nearby neighborhood of Santa Juanita in Almoloya de Juárez, west of Mexico City. The tunnel was more than two feet wide and more than five feet high, tall enough for someone to walk standing upright, and was burrowed more than 30 feet underground. | An opening in the shower led to a mile-long tunnel leading to a construction site in the nearby neighborhood of Santa Juanita in Almoloya de Juárez, west of Mexico City. The tunnel was more than two feet wide and more than five feet high, tall enough for someone to walk standing upright, and was burrowed more than 30 feet underground. |
| It had been equipped with lighting, ventilation and a motorcycle on rails that was probably used to transport digging material and cart the dirt out. It was the sort of engineering project that Mr.Guzmán’s organization was familiar with: It had built many elaborate tunnels under the border with the United States to smuggle drugs. | It had been equipped with lighting, ventilation and a motorcycle on rails that was probably used to transport digging material and cart the dirt out. It was the sort of engineering project that Mr.Guzmán’s organization was familiar with: It had built many elaborate tunnels under the border with the United States to smuggle drugs. |
| That escape was a stinging embarrassment for the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, which had trumpeted his capture as a crucial victory in its bloody campaign against the narcotics trade. | That escape was a stinging embarrassment for the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, which had trumpeted his capture as a crucial victory in its bloody campaign against the narcotics trade. |
| The manhunt that followed led his pursuers into the remote wilds of the Golden Triangle, on the border of Durango and Sinaloa states, an area where Mr. Guzmán was revered. He evaded multiple raids by the Mexican authorities, including a close brush after he sat for an interview with the American actor Sean Penn. | The manhunt that followed led his pursuers into the remote wilds of the Golden Triangle, on the border of Durango and Sinaloa states, an area where Mr. Guzmán was revered. He evaded multiple raids by the Mexican authorities, including a close brush after he sat for an interview with the American actor Sean Penn. |
| He was finally tracked down last January after a raid on his hide-out and a chase through another tunnel — a sewer. | He was finally tracked down last January after a raid on his hide-out and a chase through another tunnel — a sewer. |