UPDATE – Kingpin El Chapo guilty in US court on drug charges

CHANGES DECK, ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT</p> <p>By Umar Farooq</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AA) – Mexican cartel leader Joaquin &quot;El Chapo&quot; Guzman was found guilty Tuesday for crimes related to smuggling drugs into the U.S.</p> <p>Guzman was found guilty in New York of 10 counts brought against him, including conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds and smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S.</p> <p>The three-month trial saw 56 witnesses testify, including Alex Cifuentes who said Guzman bribed ex-Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto with $100 million to call off a countrywide operation to capture him.</p> <p>The evidence against Guzman included narcotics seizures of over 130,000 kilograms of cocaine and heroin, weapons such as AK-47 rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, videos, photographs and intercepted recordings, according to the Justice Department.</p> <p>Prosecutors outlined Guzman's drug trafficking activity spanning a 25-year period from 1989 to 2014.</p> <p>&quot;The conviction of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin Guzman Loera strips the power from a man who employed horrific acts of violence to infect communities, throughout the United States and abroad, with the venom of illicit drugs,&quot; U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan said in a statement.</p> <p>El Chapo, described by the U.S. government as the &quot;world's most ruthless, dangerous and feared person,&quot; was first arrested near the Mexican-Guatemalan border in 1993 on drug charges.</p> <p>He was given a 20-year sentence but managed to escape from the Puente Grande jail in 2001.</p> <p>Guzman was captured a second time in February 2014, but again escaped five months later from the maximum security prison in Altiplano, near Mexico City.</p> <p>He was finally caught in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Mexico in January 2016, following a massive manhunt that lasted several months.</p> <p>Guzman, 61, was extradited to Washington in 2017 following his arrest by Mexican authorities. He was then held in solitary confinement for two years.</p> <p>He did not take the witness stand during the trial.</p> <p>The verdict means Guzman is now facing life in prison. He will be sentenced June 25.</p> <p> </p> <p>