MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Extradited drug lord El Chapo to face Brooklyn court on Friday

Guzman arrived around 9:30 p.m. at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y., located about 50 miles east of Manhattan

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican drug lord who was recaptured last year after six months on the run, arrived in the U.S. Thursday night just hours after the Mexican attorney general's office confirmed he was being extradited to the United States, the Department of Justice announced.

 Guzman arrived around 9:30 p.m. at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y., located about 50 miles east of Manhattan, where he was met by dozens of law enforcement personnel.

He is expected to be driven to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan and is expected to make his first court appearance on Friday in Brooklyn.

The drug kingpin is being charged in six separate indictments throughout the U.S., the Department of Justice said. The department also gave credit to the Mexican government for its “extensive cooperation and assistance” in securing Guzman's extradition.

In a radio interview Thursday, former DEA Administrator Jack Riley, who helped bring a case against Guzman, called today the best of his life. “He's going to face justice. He's not going to get his own prison,” Riley said. “He's not going to dig a tunnel out. He's not going to bribe the officials.”

In June, Guzman's pending extradition was suspended until a judge could make a decision on the appeal filed by his team. His extradition had been approved the month before under the condition that U.S. authorities would not seek the death penalty

American officials in Texas were looking to charge Guzman with a slew of offenses, including murder, money laundering and conspiracy.