After a three-month drug trial in New York and a week of jury deliberations, Mexican cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman was found guilty on all 10 counts on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
The trial detailed how Guzman's organization smuggled tons of drugs into the United States while spreading brutal violence and corruption across Mexico to cement its control of the region.
The guilty verdict now ends the lifelong criminal career of Guzman, who became a folk hero in Mexico for his unique smuggling tactics, two previous prison escapes, and ability to elude the authorities for years.
Jurors were responsible for making 53 decisions about whether the prosecution successfully proved different elements of the case.
Prosecutors in the Federal District Court in Brooklyn presented testimony from more than 55 witnesses, 14 of whom used to work for or with Guzman, who now faces life in prison in the U.S. at his sentencing after the guilty verdicts.
Guzman was convicted of running a large-scale smuggling operation so the 61-year-old criminal boss will likely face being detained in a maximum-security U.S. prison for several decades or the rest of his life.
CNN reported after the guilty verdict was announced, Guzman looked to his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, to smile at her while she touched her hand to her heart and smiled back.
The jurors in the case, who had their identities kept secret due to security concerns involving the violent cartel, spent nearly a week deliberating on the "avalanche" of evidence prosecutors revealed federal investigators had amassed over the last thirty years on the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Prosecutors detailed how Guzman led the group to make billions by smuggling cocaine, heroin, meth, and marijuana into the U.S. by using secret tunnels, hollowed out jalapeno cans, or even tanker trucks.
Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants described their often violent operation, which was corroborated by El Chapo's own computer encryption expert who led the FBI to see intimidate communications between the brutal leader and his wife and girlfriend.
One witness testified how Guzman not only relegated violence to others, but also once punished a Sinaloan who worked for another cartel by personally kidnapping, beating, and shooting him before his men buried the victim while he was still alive.
Guzman's lawyers claimed their client was not the head of the cartel and was only on trial for the U.S.-government to make an example out of someone.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said the jury shouldn't believe the government witnesses who"lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people."
-WN.com, Maureen Foody