It's official: Chapo Guzman was just sentenced in Brooklyn to life in prison plus 30 years.
Guzman gave his most extensive comments in the case so far, saying that his conditions of confinement at the federal jail in Manhattan amounted to "psychological, emotional and mental torture." He said he's been forced to drink unsanitary water and gets little light or air.
He also complained he received an unfair trial, especially after Judge Brian Cogan denied his motion for a new trial following reports in Vice about potential juror misconduct.
"Since the govt of the United States is going to send me to a prison where my name will never heard again, I take advantage of this opportunity to say there was no justice here."
He honestly didn't look so hot in court today, arriving in a loose fitting grey suit, his tie askew and a new-growth mustache on his upper lip. He resembled nothing more than a traveling paper goods salesman who had spent a very long night in a railroad station bar.
The other bit of drama today was a so-called "victim impact" statement by Andrea Velez, the former personal assistant to Chapo's lieutenant, Alex Cifuentes. Guzman used Andrea over the years himself in schemes like his vanity movie project and various dirty trick operations.
Long story, but things went south between Andrea and Guzman, the kingpin paid the Hell's Angels $1 million to kill her. Didn't happen obviously, but Andrea today described the lingering nightmares and terror.
"I am a miracle of God," she said, "because Mr. Guzman tried to kill me."
Andrea said that when she first met Guzman she was impressed by his kindness and charisma and felt he and his Sinaloa cronies were her family. She came to see that was a kind of Stockholm syndrome and claims she eventually saved by the FBI for whom she became an undercover agent.
Andrea, as a "proactive cooperator," got all sorts of goodies on Guzman and Alex for the feds, including it appears some still unreleased video/audio recordings. As a parting message to Guzman she praised his abilities as a father and asked him for forgiveness.
"Mr. Guzman, the same as I ask for your forgiveness, I forgive you...Today, I want to close this painful chapter of my life. Today, I am strong. But yesterday, I was weak."
Honestly, Chapo, facing life, could have burned the house down today. Named names. Attacked American drug use as an insatiable demand he was merely supplying. He chose not to. He chose to attack his extradition, the narrow legal issue of juror misconduct and his confinement.
For instance: "When I was extradited to the US I expected to have a fair trial, where justice would be blind and my fame would not be a determining factor in the administration of justice."
He also complained that the air in his solitary cell where he's been kept for 30 months has given his headaches, ear aches and a sore throat. He said he has to use earplugs made of toilet paper to sleep over the racket of the air ducts.
"What happened here," he said, "makes it very clear that the United States is no better than any corrupt country."
Answering this, Gina Parlovecchio, a federal prosecutor, scoffed at the idea that Guzman was complaining about human rights and dignity when he showed little of either to his numerous victims both here and in Mexico.
Parlovecchio noted that most of his victims still remain voiceless: not the just dead and those he hunted, but the hundreds, if not thousands, who suffered from the drugs he "pumped onto the streets," earning him a vast fortune in "blood money."
Bottom line: the defense strategy--and there seemed to be one here--was to cast doubt on the verdict, the sentence, the trial, the entire US justice system. The prosecutors and Andrea Velez sought to uphold the essential equity of that same system.
