Jurors in federal court in Brooklyn convicted the 61-year-old and head of the Sinaloa Cartel on all 10 counts brought by US prosecutors. Guzman, one of the major figures in Mexican drug wars that have roiled the country since 2006, become almost legendary for escaping from Mexican high-security jails twice and avoiding massive manhunts. Guzman's lawyers say he was set up as a “fall guy” by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a powerful drug lord from Sinaloa who remains at large. They told jurors how the Sinaloa Cartel gained power in the 1990s, eventually coming to control almost the entire Pacific coast of Mexico. In one of the trial's final days, Guzman told the judge he would not testify in his own defence.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 12, 2019 22:18 UTC