Lawyers for Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán claim the drug kingpin’s extradition from Mexico to Brooklyn was illegal – and now they want the court documents to prove it.
In a letter filed Friday, Chapo’s team of lawyers accuses prosecutors of refusing to turn over paperwork related to his transfer to US custody in January.
They said they need the papers in order to challenge his extradition and claim that the government has admitted that extradition requests to Mexico didn’t include the slew of drug-trafficking and murder charges he faces in Brooklyn.
“The government’s attempts to prevent Mr. Guzman from even seeing the documents bearing on his extradition are unfair and have no basis in law,” the defense wrote in the letter. “Those documents are material to whether his extradition was improper and whether he has the standing to challenge it.”
Now, Chapo’s lawyers want Brooklyn federal court Judge Brian Cogan to force prosecutors to hand over the papers, which the government has “consistently moved to frustrate,” the filing says.
Prosecutors said the defense is seeking to challenge the Mexican government’s decision to extradite Chapo and argued that the US courts “cannot second-guess another country’s grant of extradition to the United States,” according to court papers filed late last month.
Chapo, whose nickname means “Shorty,” faces life in prison for running the violent Sinaloa Cartel, the largest drug-trafficking network in the world.
He also faces federal charges in other states, including Texas and California.
Chapo’s trial is scheduled for April of next year.
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