NEW YORK: Mexican mobster Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was convicted on Tuesday of crimes spanning a quarter-century in a trial that laid bare his lavish lifestyle and penchant for extreme violence as the head of one of the world’s most powerful gangs.

The 61-year-old former boss of the notorious Sinaloa cartel — famed for his brazen escapes from Mexican prisons — faces life in prison for smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States. He was also found guilty on money laundering and weapons possession charges during a three-month trial in which witnesses described the mob boss beating, shooting and even burying alive those who got in his way.

“The verdict was a tremendous victory for the rule of law, for Mexico, the United States and other countries that have been victims of the Sinaloa cartel,” said Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Chapo Guzman was the world’s greatest drug lord of all time,” Vigil added. “He surpassed other drug lords, including Pablo Escobar.”

After sentencing on June 25, Guzman is likely to be transferred to a so-called “supermax” prison in Colorado, sometimes called the “Alcatraz of the Rockies” and considered one of the most secure in the US. His conviction is seen as a big win for the US, which failed to obtain the extradition of Escobar, the Colombian drug lord who was killed in a police operation in 1993.

During the trial, the government presented 56 witnesses and troves of incriminating material.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2019