Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is likely to die in jail after being sentenced to life plus 30 years for smuggling drugs into the US over a violent, decades-long career.

Jurors found the 62-year-old guilty of drug trafficking, money laundering and the use of firearms in February after an 11-week trial.

Speaking to the court before his sentencing, he said his solitary confinement in the US had been "psychological, emotional, mental torture 24 hours a day".

El Chapo: Drug lord's empire and jailbreaks

Image: El Chapo pictured after his extradition to the US in 2017

He also said he had been denied a fair trial and that jurors had been influenced by media reports of the case.

Judge Brian Cogan sentenced him to life plus 30 years, the mandatory sentence, at the hearing in Brooklyn, New York.


During the trial, prosecutors gave an extraordinary glimpse into the brutal and lucrative world of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and how El Chapo became its mastermind, trafficking thousands of kilos of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine.

"The overwhelming evidence at trial showed that the defendant was a ruthless and bloodthirsty leader," lawyers said.

"A life sentence is just punishment for this defendant."

Prosecutors said his "army of sicarios" was under orders to kidnap, torture and murder anyone who tried to stop him.

El Chapo's lawyers spent just 30 minutes presenting their client's defence, and argued that he was simply a scapegoat acting on someone else's orders.

Guzman refused to testify at his trial and the jury convicted him on all 10 counts after hearing testimonies from more than 50 witnesses.

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Before his recapture in 2016, Guzman had twice escaped from high-security prisons in Mexico.

The most elaborate was in July 2015 when he fled through a one-mile tunnel, equipped with a motorbike on rails, that was dug to the shower in his cell.

Image: A motorbike on rails was found in the tunnel through which El Chapo escaped jail in 2015

The government said he eventually blew his cover through a number of slip-ups, including trying to make a movie about his life - even meeting Hollywood actor Sean Penn for an interview while he was on the run.

He was finally extradited to the US in 2017.

Guzman is now likely to be locked up in a "supermax" jail in the state of Colorado - known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" - where inmates' view of the world is through a four-inch cell window.

Image: El Chapo's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was at court for the sentencing

Image: This diamond encrusted pistol allegedly belonged to El Chapo

His lawyers have said they intend to appeal against the guilty verdict.

El Chapo's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was mobbed by reporters as she arrived at court for the sentencing.

In what could be his last public remarks, he also used his speech to thank his family for giving him "the strength to bear this torture that I have been under for the past 30 months".