ON JANUARY 19, 2017, less than twenty-four hours before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, a plane landed on Long Island carrying a prized cargo: Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the kingpin of the Sinaloa Cartel. After escaping from prison twice in Mexico, he’d been recaptured and extradited to the United States to face seventeen charges, including trafficking cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and crystal meth. If, as prosecutors claim, his operation netted $14 billion, he will be the biggest trafficker the Drug Enforcement Administration has helped bring before an American judge. His trial is set to begin next month in federal district court in Brooklyn.
Back in Guzmán’s home state of Sinaloa, in northwest Mexico, rival factions fought for control of his empire. Squads of sicarios, or hit men, shot at…