El Chapo Guzman’s indictment in New York could mean extradition

A federal court in New York has unsealed an indictment of notorious Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” Guzman, preparing the way for an extradition on accusations that he committed 12 murders.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn have charged the man the “New York Daily News” calls the world’s biggest drug lord with the 12 murders related to drug smuggling activities in the United States.  Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been detained in a Mexican jail since February, after an elaborate operation that included the Mexican Military, U.S DEA and Marshals Office to arrest him in Mexico.

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It looks like the U.S. now wants him a little closer to home to try him in a court of law.

The Daily News also reported: “Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Goldbarg and Steve Tiscione also presented new evidence to a grand jury last month of several murder conspiracies and the laundering of $14 billion in drug money overseen by the kingpins, according to court documents.”

However, extradition doesn’t appear to be imminent at the time. The U.S. government hasn’t made a formal request for Guzman’s extradition. He also faces federal charges in several other districts in the U.S. and was previously indicted in Brooklyn for the first time in 2009—only on drug-trafficking charges.

SEE ALSO: 5 things El Chapo Guzman’s arrest teaches us

The indictment alleges Guzman and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, his successor as head of the Sinaloa cartel, employed hit men (sicarios), “who carried out hundreds of acts of violence, including murders, assaults, kidnappings, assassinations and acts of torture.”