Notorious drug lord sentenced to life in prison

A federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Wednesday sentenced Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to life in prison plus 30 years. The 62-year-old drug lord, who led an army of gangsters and an elaborate corruption operation in Mexico, was brought to the United States to stand trial after he twice escaped from Mexican prisons. The evidence showed that under Guzman’s orders, the Sinaloa cartel smuggled close to 200 tons of cocaine and other drugs into the United States and kidnapped, tortured, and murdered anyone who got in the way.

At his sentencing hearing, Guzman complained about the conditions of his imprisonment and said he did not receive a fair trial, accusing U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan of not thoroughly investing claims of juror misconduct.

Experts say Guzman, who has been held in solitary confinement at an ultra-secure unit at a jail in Manhattan, will likely end up at the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colo., known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” Most inmates at Supermax are given a television, but their only actual view of the outside world is a 4-inch window. They have minimal interaction with other people and eat all their meals in their cells. Cogan also ordered Guzman to pay $12.6 billion in restitution to the U.S. government for his drug activity, an amount he likely will not pay.