Story highlights Mexican cartel leader extradited on eve of Trump inauguration

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been in custody for about a year

(CNN) Drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a legend in Mexico through his dramatic prison escapes and years of staying just ahead of the law, arrived late Thursday in New York after his extradition to the United States.

Guzman will appear Friday in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn, where he will stand trial at a later date. Stringent security measures were being put in place around the Manhattan jail where Guzman is to be held, a law enforcement source said. The Brooklyn Bridge will be closed while the drug lord is being transported to court.

The extradition may have been timed. Mexican authorities wanted to turn over Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel, before Friday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a US official told CNN. Trump angered Mexico during his campaign by demanding it pay for a border wall.

A Mexican deputy attorney general, however, said Trump's pending inauguration "had nothing to do with it."

"It was resolved today, and in terms of the international treaty, we had to immediately hand over the person requested by the United States," Alberto Elias Beltran said. "Not doing so would generate a nonfulfillment to the international norms, specifically with the treaty shared between Mexico and the United States."