Former Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Jack Riley told Hill.TV on Monday that drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán ran one of the “most well-organized” criminal entities the DEA ever encountered.
“He’s a mass murderer, but he’s also one heck of a corporate CEO,” Riley, author of “Drug Warrior: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo and the Rise of America’s Opioid Crisis,” told hosts Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball on “Rising.” “His cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, which he built was really on top for over 20 years, and even today is still holds most of the drug markets here in the United States, and overseas.”
“He was a logistics genius. He was the guy that really fathered the use of tunnels under the border and under the fence,” he continued.
“He, quite frankly, was one of the most vicious human beings I’ve ever run across in my career,” Riley said. “I think his organization may be one of the most vicious, well-financed, well-organized criminal entities we’ve ever encountered.”
Guzmán was found guilty earlier this month in a New York court on drug-trafficking, weapons and money-laundering charges.
He faces life without parole for an organized crime conviction, and up to seven life sentences for drug convictions.
The drug lord is widely known for escaping Mexican authorities twice.
To catch the rest of Riley’s interview click here.
— Julia Manchester
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