JUST SAYINGEl Chapo will never go to trial.
Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is going to become a government witness for a plea deal that would send him to prison for dozens of years. Perhaps, a sentence that would make him eligible for parole when he is 92 years old. That is a small, but no less, a slight glimmer of hope to one day get out of his cage.
On Monday, a federal judge in New York postponed El Chapo’s trial and ordered that jury selection would begin on Nov. 5.
Defense lawyers told the judge that late production of potential evidence by prosecutors left them inadequate time to prepare for trial.
The lawyers said prosecutors recently turned over 117,000 sound files and 3,500 pages of witness interviews, with another 10,000 pages yet to be delivered.
Guzman has pleaded not guilty to charges his cartel laundered billions of dollars and oversaw a ruthless campaign of murders and kidnappings. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Faced with evidence piled up as high as Mount Everest and some, Chapo will agree to a plea deal with the feds.
Why?
Chapo doesn’t want to be buried alive at the Supermax federal underground prison in Colorado where it’s stone-cold quiet and very isolated. So much so that you can hear a roach break wind.
The plea deal will send Joaquin packing to a maximum federal prison where he will get more sunshine, some prison perks and be able to have some time to make friends with his cellmates.
Chapo is claustrophobic and needs some social interaction with other prisoners.
In Mexico, Chapo complained when he was put in isolation after being recaptured, the second time, that the prison guard harassed him. He said he was going crazy about not being able to sleep because of constantly being wakened up by the guards.
The DEA would love to interview Chapo about what he knows about drug trafficking in Mexico and throughout the world. Chapo is the Wikipedia of the drug trade.
Also governments from other countries would like to get a crack at Chapo’s immense drug trafficking knowledge.
It is a wealth of information. Afterall, Chapo wrote most of the playbook on the business of international drug smuggling. He made the rules and those that didn’t follow them or defied him ended up dead or being tortured, some permanently maimed or scarred. It wasn’t pretty.
Also the U.S. has spent billions and will spend billions more to stop drug trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border. Well, in San Diego, Chapo and company dug six tunnels, at last count, to smuggle drugs along with people into the U.S.
Elaborate and well-constructed tunnels that looked more like mini-London subways than tunnels used by drug dealers. Now, Donald Trump wants to put up a wall to stop “rapists, criminals” and some of the “good” Mexicans from sneaking into the United States.
Trump, a certified buffoon who has the IQ of a gnat, has never lived along the border. I have lived there much of my life, and I am convinced that the Mexicans would have built the pyramids in six weeks and upholstered them for the right amount of money.
There will be a way around, through or over the Trumpster’s wall.
What Chapo will give the feds in this plea deal will result in the takedown thousands of people and drug organizations throughout the world, including leaders and officials from many nations.
The feds will sweeten the pot to get inside Chapo’s head and offer to have Taco Tuesday Night at the prison.
Remember, it was Chapo’s love of tacos, the taste of city life and his belief that the Mexican Marines Special Forces weren’t going to take it personally and come looking for him with a vengeance after his second escape.
That is why El Chapo finds himself in a cage.
This time with Uncle Sam as his keeper unless Mexican ingenuity kicks into high gear, again.