Federal prosecutors ask for life in prison plus 30 years for 'El Chapo'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The captured Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman should spend the rest of his life in prison plus another 30 years, federal prosecutors wrote in court documents filed Wednesday.
In a letter sent to Judge Brian Cogan, the prosecutors portrayed Guzman as a “ruthless and bloodthirsty” leader of “one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.”
Prosecutors wrote, “The horrific nature and circumstances of the defendant’s offense, his history and characteristics and the fact that the defendant committed some of the most serious crimes under federal law make a life sentence warranted.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“The letter is unnecessary because we all knew that if found guilty of the main charge of criminal enterprise then he would spend life in prison which is mandatory,” Guzman’s attorney Mariel Colon Miro told Fox News on Wednesday. “There is nothing less he could get on that charge”
Earlier this month, the judge denied Guzman’s request for an evidentiary hearing, saying the amount of evidence was overwhelming and even without other influencing factors, including media reports, a jury still would have convicted him because of all the evidence.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This past Friday, prosecutors proposed that the convicted kingpin give the U.S. government $12.7 billion, suggesting that Guzman made that money through his drug trafficking empire, Colon Miro confirmed to Fox News.
CRUELTY OF EL CHAPO'S SINALOA CARTEL KNOWS NO BOUNDS
Witnesses testified in court during Guzman’s trial that the drug lord lived a lavish life, owned personal planes and had a private zoo with a tiny train inside it, along with other over-the-top assets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s ridiculous for the government to think he has all this money,” Colon Miro told Fox News on Wednesday. “The government hasn’t been able to locate a single penny.”
Guzman, 62, was found guilty in February of trafficking tons of cocaine and other drugs into the U.S. as the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. The three-month trial detailed grisly killings, a bizarre escape and drugs hidden in jalapeno cans.
“El Chapo” was said to have escaped from a Mexican jail in 2001 by hiding in a laundry bin and managed to evade the law by stowing away in one of his mountainside hideaways.
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He was recaptured in 2014 but escaped a year later through a mile-long lighted tunnel. Guzman was captured again nearly six months later.
Guzman is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News’ Marta Dhanis, Lukas Mikelionis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.