El Chapo’s spouse, Emma Coronel, might hold the secrets to Sinaloa Cartel

Two years after the conviction and life sentence of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the cartel he as soon as headed appears more powerful than ever.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration danger evaluation launched in March stated the Sinaloa cartel stays the most substantial such company in Mexico and “maintains the widest national influence” in the U.S. The cartel is now greatly associated with trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamines together with drug and heroin, the DEA stated.

It seems evidence that the company is much larger than one male. But what about one lady?

U.S. authorities apparently have high wish for a break in their three-decade war with the cartel following the arrest in February of Emma Coronel Aispuro, El Chapo’s spouse, and the mom of their twin children.

Coronel, 31, is being held without bail on a criminal grievance charging her with conspiracy to disperse narcotics, and with assisting El Chapo escape from a Mexican jail in 2014. But language in the 12-page grievance recommends the feds’ interest in the previous model, who wed El Chapo when she was 19, goes much deeper.

“Coronel grew up with knowledge of the narcotics trafficking industry,” the grievance states. “Coronel understood the scope of the Sinaloa cartel’s drug trafficking.”

That scope is huge, U.S. authorities state. The cartel manages drug trafficking in Mexico’s most essential locations — along the Pacific Coast and the northern and southern borders, and is the gatekeeper along the U.S. southwestern border, managing smuggling paths into California and Arizona. And the company is as violent at it is callous. U.S. district attorneys state the cartel has actually been understood to perform murders, assassinations and abuse simply to secure its grass. Some think Coronel might assist break the cycle of violence.

“She knows where all the bodies are buried, so to speak, and she can do a lot of damage to the Sinaloa cartel,” previous DEA chief of worldwide operations Mike Vigil stated in an interview with CNBC’s “American Greed.”

Vigil, whose 6 books about the worldwide drug trade consist of “Afghan Warlord,” released last fall, thinks Coronel will eventually cut an offer with U.S. authorities in hopes of safeguarding her children. He stated she might do some genuine damage to the company.

“She can give a lot of information, the drug routes, the sources of supply for cocaine, corrupt public officials, members of the Sinaloa cartel, things of that nature,” Vigil stated.

Coronel, who has actually U.S. and Mexican citizenship and was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has not gone into a plea. In March, she waived her right to an initial hearing.

“We’re working on a possible plea deal,” her New York-based lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, stated in an e-mail to “American Greed.” “Things may be resolved in the next couple weeks.” He did not state whether an arrangement may consist of Coronel’s cooperation. 

Lichtman has actually formerly called reports about Coronel’s possible cooperation “despicable,” caution that they put his customer’s and her children’ lives at threat.

In March, Lichtman informed NBCUniversal’s Telemundo that his customer does not have as much details as individuals believe.

“That is a popular belief, but it is based on speculation,” Lichtman stated, keeping in mind that El Chapo has actually lagged bars for much of the time the couple has actually been wed. “It is not like he has been on the phone telling her secrets from the prison.”

Another professional on the drug trade, Mexico City-based reporter Ioan Grillo, informed “American Greed” that the Sinaloa cartel is so vast and decentralized that even Coronel would not have the tricks authorities would require to bring it down.

“I don’t think there’s any serious case it would be a major blow,” stated Grillo, whose most current book, “Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs and Cartels,” came out this year.

He stated the cartel can quickly move to other paths if its existing supply lines are jeopardized. And even if she had the ability to quit corrupt federal government authorities, there are plenty more where they originated from.

“You could give away information about political protection, but even in the case you do that, then there’s other political protection people can get,” he stated.

Vigil thinks the cartel might currently be making changes simply in case.

“The Sinaloa cartel is a very resilient cartel,” he stated.

Still, Lichtman has actually not taken an offer for his customer off the table.

“I think that anyone charged with a federal crime who faces a minimum sentence of 10 years will certainly be open to hearing what the government has to say in terms of a negotiated settlement,” he informed Telemundo in March.

If Coronel were to turn, she would not be the very first Sinaloa expert to do so.

El Chapo’s 2019 criminal trial included no less than 14 complying witnesses. They consisted of Chicago twins Peter and Jay Flores, high-level traffickers for the company who kept the drugs streaming to America’s heartland, and the cash streaming to El Chapo.

Today, the Flores twins remain in hiding, however their other halves spoke solely with “American Greed.” Olivia Flores, who is wed to Jay, and Mia Flores, who is wed to Peter, take substantial safety measures too. They live under presumed names, and “American Greed” accepted keep the place of the interview a trick.

“Our husbands were able to maneuver in both the streets of Chicago, all the way up to the mountaintops of Sinaloa. And they were able to navigate both worlds,” Olivia informed “American Greed.”

But the much deeper they entered business, the more complex life ended up being.

“The more money they made, the more problems they had. Every good moment in our family was always overshadowed by a bad moment,” stated Mia.

Ultimately, captured in the middle of an internal cartel skirmish, the twins connected to U.S. district attorneys to cut an offer.

Another expert who switched on El Chapo was Vicente Zambada Niebla, earliest child of the present kingpin of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

Vicente Zambada, who is serving a 15-year jail term after pleading guilty to decreased charges, affirmed versus El Chapo while Coronel enjoyed in the courtroom. That has additional sustained speculation that Coronel may be happy to switch on the company.

The reality that the company appears to hardly miss out on a beat even as its leaders switch on one another reveals the recklessness of U.S. police’s long-running method of targeting drug kingpins, Vigil and Grillo informed “American Greed.”

“The war on drugs conceptually was a failure,” Grillo stated, “And the kingpin strategy was a failure.”

Grillo stated that while it is very important not to let drug lords run with impunity, a much better method includes taking goal at the stakes in the drug trade.

“I believe we have to look at the idea of harm reduction, and harm reduction being reducing the harm that drugs do to Americans in terms of overdose deaths and addiction and reducing the harm of violence involved with the drug trade,” he stated.

He stated that suggests more resources to deal with drug dependency and to take goal at the mob and corruption in Mexico.

Vigil concurred, and he stated that in his 30 years with the DEA, he never ever concurred with the focus on drug kingpins.

“We here in the United States have to do a better job in terms of reducing the demand for drugs,” he stated. “Because until we do that, if it’s not Mexico, it’s going to be in another country.”

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the moms and dad business of CNBC and Telemundo.

See the special, scoop of how 2 Chicago bros assisted lower the most infamous drug lord worldwide. Watch an ALL NEW episode of “American Greed,” Monday, June 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT just on CNBC.