How Many Other People Will El Chapo Take Down With Him?

As many as 40 witnesses could testify this April in what could be the trial of the century.

October 22, 2017 9:00 am
Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera aka 'el Chapo Guzman' (C), is escorted by marines as he is presented to the press on February 22, 2014 in Mexico City. The Sinaloa cartel leader - the most wanted by US and Mexican anti-drug agencies - was arrested early this morning by Mexican marines at a resort in Mazatlan, northern Mexico. AFP PHOTO/Alfredo Estrella (Getty Images)
Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera aka 'el Chapo Guzman' (C), is escorted by marines as he is presented to the press on February 22, 2014 in Mexico City. The Sinaloa cartel leader - the most wanted by US and Mexican anti-drug agencies - was arrested early this morning by Mexican marines at a resort in Mazatlan, northern Mexico. AFP PHOTO/Alfredo Estrella (Getty Images)

The Mexican drug lord Joaquin Archivaldo Guzmán Loera — better known as ‘El Chapo’ — is preparing for trial in April 2018, and a new investigation by Newsweek reveals that if he decides to take the stand, the number of assassins, politicians, policemen and drug lords he could take down is innumerable.

Though his apex of power stretched from 2001 to 2011, those affected won’t be limited to henchmen or assassins of decades past.  One former Mexican intelligence official told Newsweek that the outcome of the trial — and information involving political correction specifically — will effect the upcoming Mexican election, scheduled for June 2, 2018.

“The information [Guzmán will] give to the U.S. government…can be used to put political pressure on the current government and the next—and even influence the elections,” the official told Newsweek.

The Mexican government won’t be the only one affected, either. The U.S. government — and specifically, the DEA — may have reason to squirm.

“During the Calderón administration, the DEA was leaking to the press that the [Mexican] government was in bed with the Sinaloa cartel,” the intelligence official told Newsweek. “And look who turned out to be in bed with the Sinaloa cartel.”

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