Mexican drug lord ‘El Chapo’ Guzman is extradited to US

NEW YORK — Infamous Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who twice escaped from maximum-security prisons in his country, was extradited at the request of the United States to face drug trafficking and other charges and landed in New York late Thursday, a federal law enforcement official said.

Guzman, the convicted leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations, was expected to spend the night in a New York jail before his first appearance in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Friday, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss Guzman’s case and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mexico’s Department of Foreign Relations announced Guzman was handed over to U.S. authorities for transportation to the U.S. earlier Thursday, the last full day of Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration and a day before Republican Donald Trump’s scheduled inauguration.



Besides New York, Guzman faces charges in five other U.S. jurisdictions, including San Diego, Chicago and Miami.