El Chapo's sons charged with drug trafficking
Two sons of convicted Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman have been charged with drug trafficking, according to an indictment released Thursday by the Department of Justice. The brothers are believed to be in Mexico.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 34, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 28, are charged in a one-count indictment, which was unsealed last week, alleging from in or around April 2008 through April 2018, they conspired to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana from Mexico and elsewhere for importation into the U.S., according to DOJ's statement.
The indictment lays out the alleged conspiracy to distribute drugs: 5 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine; 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine; and 1,000 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana.
Thursday's revelation comes a little more than a week after El Chapo was convicted on all 10 counts by a jury in the Eastern District of New York for his role as the leader of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, including drug trafficking and money laundering.
A jury heard nearly three months of testimony and deliberated for six days. Prosecutors said he's responsible for smuggling at least 200 tons of cocaine into the U.S. and a wave of killings in turf wars with other cartels. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Richard Donoghue, said he expects the conviction will bring a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"It is a sentence from which there is no escape and no return," Donoghue said. "His conviction is a victory for the American people who have suffered so long and so much while Guzman made billions pouring poison over our southern border."
Guzman will be sentenced in June, but his attorneys said they plan to appeal the conviction.