Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' faces Brooklyn federal judge

Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' faces Brooklyn federal judge; U.S. official vows he won't escape this time

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mexican-drug-lord-el-chapo-face-judge-brooklyn-article-1.2951179


A half-dozen federal agents carrying assault weapons flanked the entrance to the Brooklyn Federal courthouse Friday as notorious 59-year-old drug czar and escape artist Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman was arraigned on a laundry list of crimes as the head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Dozens of NYPD cops joined the agents, forming a protective ring around the Cadman Plaza West courthouse.
“We can assure you there will not be any tunnel being built from his bathroom,” Angel Melendez of the Homeland Security Department's Immigration Customs Enforcement said, referring to Guzman’s 2015 escape from Mexican prison.

Dressed in a navy blue prison smock, his fingers interlocked behind his back and surrounded by five burly U.S. Marshals, the billionaire drug lord pleaded not guilty to the 17-count indictment.
The charges included drug trafficking, money laundering and his involvement in 12 murder conspiracies.
“I didn’t know until now,” Guzman said about the charges, speaking through a translator, when asked if he understood what he was accused of.
Artwork by Aggie Kenny