Loretta Lynch may be reason El Chapo is being tried in Brooklyn

February 8, 2017 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The motorcade with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán leaves Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday, Jan. 20. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

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The case of drug kingpin Joaquin Guzmán, better known as “El Chapo,” has captured the imagination of the entire country, but regardless of the fact that he was officially indicted in seven different states, he is being tried right here in Brooklyn.

The reason likely has to do with Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama’s former attorney general, who previously served in Brooklyn as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY).

“He was indicted in seven states, involved in conspiracy, the sale of drugs, murder in all of these different jurisdictions,” explained Arthur Aidala, immediate past president of the Brooklyn Bar Association. “The Department of Justice has to determine where to hold the case, and considering the fact that Loretta Lynch was attorney general, she probably helped to steer it towards the Eastern District of New York because that’s where she is most familiar and comfortable.”

With high-profile cases such as Guzmán’s, the decision can — and often is — highly political with the various jurisdictions vying for the opportunity. However, Aidala, who often practices in federal court, suggested that the most important factor comes down to the idea that the Department of Justice wants to avoid looking bad.

“That’s her home turf, she knows it inside and out,” Aidala said referring to the EDNY. “The Eastern District is second to none when it comes to professionalism and she knows that it’s up to the task of going after him.”

The facilities certainly play a role. Guzmán has twice escaped imprisonment, a fact that likely played a role in the reason he is being housed in a Manhattan-based prison facility rather than the Sunset Park jail, according to a report by the Brooklyn Paper.

Sunset Park’s Metropolitan Detention Center has had its share of embarrassment over the past two decades and Brooklyn’s federal judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered an investigation into its practices as recently as 2013 after convicted cop-killer Ronell Wilson impregnated a guard there.

Guzmán was initially indicted by the EDNY on Sept. 25, 2014. Court documents alleged that he conspired to kill Mexican law enforcement officers and government officials. Documents claim that Guzmán hired hitmen to carry out acts of violence that included murder, kidnappings and assassinations. His drug-trafficking empire, alleged to have laundered $14 billion, was said to have extended throughout the U.S. including in New York which is what gave Lynch the standing to bring the case to the EDNY.

“It may be the facilities, and the ability to actually accommodate his penchant for escapism, but they take into account the quality of the prosecutors and judges,” Aidala said. “The whole Eastern District setup is the consummate professional environment. They’re really restricting him. I read in the paper that they’re not even giving the guy water. They don’t like to be made fools of.”