US Government Will Seek the Extradition of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán

The leader of the criminal organization "El cartel de Sinaloa", Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, might face American justice after local media reported that a court in New York will seek the extradition of the drug trafficker.

The news come a few days after the most wanted criminal in the world, Chicago's Public Enemy No. 1, and leader of a Mexican drug cartel was arrested in Sinaloa on Saturday, Feb. 22 by Mexican Marines in collaboration with American agencies, according to Reuters.

Besides being one of the most wanted cartel leaders for the past 13 years, after escaping the maximum security prison of Puente Grande, Jalisco, in 2001, Guzmán faces a series of charges in at least five American jurisdictions.

Related News: Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, Arrested in Mexico (Spanish)

According to EFE, the office of the attorney general in the east district of New York, Loretta Lynch, has been the first to announce it will ask for the extradition of the Mexican criminal.

These statements come after the Chicago director of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Jack Riley, announced on Saturday, the same day Guzmán was captured, that he would request the extradition of the drug trafficker so he can be tried in that city, reported the quoted source.

The AFP reported that Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán has been said to be one of the men responsible for the drug-related violence that in recent years has caused more than 77,000 deaths in Mexico.

The capture of the drug trafficking leader on Saturday in the state of Sinaloa was achieved after a months-long investigation by Mexican intelligence services along with the DEA, in a known resort in the touristic area of Mazatlán.

Jesús Murillo, the Attorney General of the Republic, told the media that Guzmán's arrest happened "without a single shot fired, Marines were able to capture him silently," according to Reuters.

In Feb. 2013, the DEA and the President of the Chicago Crime Commission (CCC), J. R. Davis, said in a joint press release that the drug trafficker, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, had become Public Enemy No. 1, an infamous title that was granted for the first time to Al Capone.

In Feb. of that same year, a rumor about Joaquín Guzmán's death in Guatemala started spreading. The Secretary of the Interior of Guatemala, Mauricio López Bonilla, said that in a confrontation between organized crime members that left many dead, "El Chapo" Guzmán might have been one of the dead, information that was dismissed by the Mexican government.