Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the captured leader of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, has hired a New York lawyer best known for successfully defending the son of convicted mafia boss John Gotti to represent him in his US criminal case.

The lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said in an email on Tuesday that Guzman hired him, along with three others: Marc Fernich, who has also represented Gotti's son, John Gotti, Jr; William Purpura, who represented Baltimore drug kingpin Richard Wilford; and Eduardo Balarezo, who represented Alfredo Beltran Leyva, head of another Mexican drug cartel.

Wilford and Beltran Leyva were both convicted and received long prison sentences.