Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, arrives in federal court in New York in February 2019.
Mark Lennihan / AP
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Mark Lennihan / AP
Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, arrives in federal court in New York in February 2019.
Mark Lennihan / AP
The wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday after Admit to help her husband run his multi-billion dollar crime empire.
Emma Coronel Aispuro also helps her husband plan a dramatic escape through a tunnel Prosecutors said they dug underneath a Mexican prison in 2015 by smuggling a GPS watch to disguise itself as a food item. That helped the tunnelers pinpoint his exact location and approach him. The leader of the Sinaloa gang is take it back next year.
Prosecutors asked for four years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras applied a shorter term, saying her role was a small part of a much larger organization. Her arrest does not appear to reduce the harm caused by the cartel, he said. “There seems to be no shortage of people willing to participate,” he said.
She faced a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, but was subject to a so-called “safety valve” provision because she had no criminal record, was not seen as a leader and was not involved in violence.
Defense attorneys also pointed out that she was a 17-year-old from an impoverished family when she met Guzmán and married him on her 18th birthday. “This started when she was a very impressionable minor married to a powerful man for more than three decades,” says Jeffrey Lichtman.
Coronel Aispuro expressed “really regret for any and all harm” as she spoke through a Spanish interpreter in court. “I’m here before you, begging for forgiveness,” she said. She asked for a sentence that would allow her to watch her nine-year-old twin daughters grow up.
She previously pleaded guilty to three federal charges as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. She also surrendered $1.5 million.
The charges include knowingly and intentionally distributing heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine over several years. She also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and engaging in transactions with a foreign drug dealer.
She also helped buy land for the tunnel and smuggled Guzmán’s messages to his subordinates while he was in prison, which allowed him to take control of the Sinaloa gang while behind bars.
“He chose her to pass those messages on to the people who worked for him,” said prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi, who referred to her as “a cog in a very large wheel.”
The 32-year-old was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been jailed ever since. She will also serve four years of supervised release following her prison sentence.
