The everyday beast
El Chapo’s beauty queen wife arrested in Virginia on drug dealing charges
Spencer Platt The wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the infamous Mexican king who was sentenced to life in prison in 2019, has been arrested for her alleged role in the international drug trafficking program. Emma Coronel Aispuro, a 31-year-old former beauty queen, was arrested Monday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and is facing a slew of charges of “participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for import into the US” , the authorities said. Prosecutors allege that Coronel conspired to aid her husband in his escape from Altiplano prison on July 11, 2015. About six months later, after Guzman was arrested again, Coronel allegedly tried to plan another jailbreak before extradition. from her husband to the US in January 2017 El Chapo was convicted in 2019 for his role as leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and eventually sentenced to life. plus 30 years in prison. He’s serving his sentence at Administrative Maximum US Penitentiary, or ADX, in Florence, Colorado. Coronel attended her husband’s blockbuster trial in Brooklyn almost every day and listened to explicit testimony about Guzman and his illicit crimes – and many cases. At trial, she was reprimanded twice in the three-month trial after slipping a banned cell phone into court and interacting with Guzman illegally. The Kid Who Masterminded El Chapo’s Secret Phone Network In an interview with The New York Times, Coronel, a dual American-Mexican citizen, revealed that she admired her husband, whom she married on her 18th birthday and shares two daughters. According to the indictment filed Monday, Coronel’s family had a “ historic friendship with Guzman. ” “I don’t know my husband as the person they are trying to show him to,” Coronel said in 2019. “But I’d rather admire him as the person I met and the one I married. Prosecutors now allege that Coronel did more than admire her husband – but also worked with him for the Sinaloa Cartel. Prosecutors have previously alleged that the Mexican cartel was responsible for smuggling more than 100 tons of cocaine into the US for 30 years and that Guzman ordered the murder of dozens of people to protect himself and his smuggling empire. Coronel knew, “Guzman was a leader of The Sinaloa Cartel and Guzman coordinated the distribution of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana with the aim of unlawfully smuggling these narcotics into the United States for distribution,” said prosecutors. She was also aware that El Chapo’s sons were senior members of the cartel and that her father, Ines Coronel, coordinated the transportation of narcotics for the family. From 2012 to 2014, Coronel sent messages on behalf of Guzman while trying to prevented from being caught by Mexican authorities, prosecutors said. After El Chapo’s arrest in February 2014, she continued to deliver messages received from Guzman during her prison visits – which were not monitored by Mexican authorities. El Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel? Some of those messages, the complaint states, coordinated the sales and transportation logistics of the The cartel’s ongoing drug trafficking programs, making Coronel the “middleman and messenger” between her husband and the rest of the cartel. Prosecutors also allege that Coronel helped facilitate her husband’s infamous escape from Altiplano through an underground tunnel. Coronel reportedly enlisted the help of a person, who later began working with the government, and Guzman’s sons to carry out the escape plan and build the tunnel under the shower of El Chapo’s cell. The plan was successful, prosecutors say, and Guzman remained a fugitive until January 8, 2016, when he was arrested by Mexican authorities. After his arrest, federal authorities asked for his extradition to the US to be charged, prompting El Chapo to ask his wife again to plan another escape. According to Cooperating Witness 1, he / she met with Coronel about a month after Guzman’s arrest and detention on January 8, 2016. Coronel told Cooperating Witness 1 that Guzman wanted to escape again and wanted to know if Cooperating Witness 1 would help with the escape again. Cooperating Witness 1 agreed, ”the complaint states. At another meeting, Coronel gave the witness about $ 100.00 to help buy a plot of land near the Altiplano prison as part of another escape plan. The witness told authorities that they “received a total of about $ 1 million in promotion of this escape plan,” the authorities said. The complaint states that the plan was interrupted when Guzman was transferred to a facility in Juarez. After Guzman’s transfer, according to Cooperating Witness 1, Coronel told him / her that she and others were trying to facilitate Guzman’s transfer back to Altiplano Prison, where an escape would be possible. Coronel told Cooperating Witness 1 that about $ 2 million had been paid to the Mexican official overseeing Mexican prisons to facilitate the transfer, ”the complaint said. However, Guzman was never transferred from Juarez, and all hopes of his next escape faded when he was extradited to the United States prior to his trial. Read more at The Daily Beast. Do you have a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories delivered to your inbox every day. Register now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside takes a deeper look at the stories that matter to you. Find out more.