Big news just out, El Chapo has been found guilty on all counts!
Reports are that this will lead to a sentence of life without parole.
Now before we jump into the details, do you remember when El Chapo threatened to kill Trump?
I do!
Isn’t it funny how everyone who threatens to harm Donald Trump ends up being harmed themselves?
From 2015, remember this story, from the Telegraph:
Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman, the fugitive Mexican drug lord, appeared on Monday night to be taunting authorities and threatening US presidential hopeful Donald Trump while on the run.
The country’s most notorious cartel leader broke out of a maximum-security jail at the weekend in a Hollywood-style escape that saw him scurrying down an elaborate, mile-long tunnel dug under his cell.
Guzman and his supporters wasted no time lambasting Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto as a “coward” but reserved particular ire for Mr Trump, who has accused Mexico of sending rapists and criminals to America.
A post riddled with obscenities on a Twitter account, reportedly run by the drug lord’s son Ivan, said the billionaire businessman would be made to “swallow his words”.
That was immediately followed by a post suggesting someone would be killed, although it was not clear if that referred to Mr Trump. Associates who had betrayed Guzman were also targeted.
He posted a message to Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto saying: ”And you @EPN, don’t call me a delinquent because I give people work unlike you you cowardly politician.’
It could not be determined who had made the comments but the account went on to proclaim that “no cage could hold” El Chapo.
On a separate account linked to Ivan Guzman he had appeared to foretell his father’s escape a week ago, saying: “Good things come to those who wait.”
Guzman, who is believed to be 58, was widely considered the world’s richest and most powerful drug trafficker before his capture, last year, and cultivated a Robin Hood image among his followers as he ruled over the Sinaloa cartel.
After he escaped guards at Altiplano prison, 55 miles west of Mexico City, entered his cell and found a hole 10 metres deep with a ladder.
It led to a tunnel a mile long and 1.7 metres high, which allowed the diminutive drug lord to walk upright to freedom.
Mr Trump had seized on the prison escape to back up his calls for a wall between the two countries, and said it proved the extent of corruption in Mexico.
He added: “Can you envision Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton negotiating with El Chapo…Trump, however, would kick his ass!”
The entrepreneur’s poll numbers have been rising since last month when he began controversially attacking Mexican illegal immigrants as the cause of problems in the US.
He appeared to be unfazed after being targeted by Guzman and his supporters on social media.
Mr Trump responded: “El Chapo and the Mexican drug cartels use the border unimpeded like it was a vacuum cleaner, sucking drugs and death right into the US. We get the killers, drugs and crime, they get the money.”
But Mr Trump said he had contacted the FBI to investigate the apparent threat.
The property mogul told TMZ: “I’m fighting for much more than myself. I’m fighting for the future of our country which is being overrun by criminals. You can’t be intimidated. It’s too important.”
Kick his ass, Trump did.
Four years later, the saga has culminated in El Chapo behind bars, a GUILTY verdict, and probably a life sentence coming soon!
Hey, looks like they were right, good things DO come to those who wait!
Twitter was on fire with the news:
Here are more details, from the NY Post:
A Brooklyn jury on Tuesday found Mexican kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman guilty of running a massive, violent trafficking operation that for decades pumped billions of dollars worth of drugs into the U.S.
The drug lord looked stunned as the panel handed down the verdict on its sixth day of deliberations — convicting him on all counts, including operating a continuing criminal enterprise, use of firearms and various charges of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
Dressed in a gray suit, Guzman then looked for his wife, ex-beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, in the gallery — who flashed him a supportive thumbs up as her eyes welled with tears.
The jurors deliberated for almost 35 hours — peppering Brooklyn federal court Judge Brian Cogan with requests to review witness testimony and questions about the charges — and Cogan told the panelists their diligence made him “very proud to be an American.”
Guzman, who twice escaped prison in Mexico, now faces up to life behind bars. He is set to be sentenced on June 25.
“It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return,” US Attorney Richard Donohue said outside the court.
“This conviction is a victory for the am people, who have suffered so long and so much while Guzman made billions pouring poison over our southern border …There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong.”
Homeland Security Investigations’ Special Agent in Charge Angel Melendez added that Chapo’s conviction will send a message to other kingpins: “You are not unreachable, you are not untouchable, and your day will come.”
Meanwhile, defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said his team “fought like complete savages” for Guzman, but acknowledged the evidence against his client “was overwhelming.”
Seize the Funds?
But the most exciting part of the story to me is the idea of seizing El Chapo's funds, widely estimated to be in the range of $14 BILLION and using them to Bulid the Wall!
How perfectly poetic would that be?
Ted Cruz has introduced a Bill called "The El Chapo Act" that would do just that.
So I want to know what you think, please vote in our new Poll:
POLL: Should Trump seize El Chapo's $14.8 billion to help fund the border wall? YES or NO
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