NYT: 'El Chapo' would be tried in Brooklyn if he is extradited

MEXICO CITY (WABC) -- Could 'El Chapo' be coming to Brooklyn?

According to the New York Times, drug kingpin Joaqun Guzmn would be tried in Brooklyn federal court if Mexico agrees to extradite him.

Guzman, known as El Chapo, has been indicted in a number of United States cities, including New York.

It's believed his cartel was the largest supplier of cocaine to our area for a number of years.

Mexico has begun the process of extraditing Guzman to the United States, but that process will probably take "one year or longer," the head of Mexico's extradition office, Manuel Merino, has said. He said the process had lasted as long as six years, in one case because of legal challenges.

In the meantime, Guzman was being held at the same prison from which he escaped through a tunnel in July. But a Mexican security official said he is being held in a different cell. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Both his original cell and the mile-long tunnel he had built have been "made unusable," the official said, without specifying how.

The prison is now ringed by soldiers, marines and federal police. Some of the soldiers are riding in armored personnel carriers.

Guzman's powerful Sinaloa cartel smuggles multi-ton shipments of cocaine and marijuana as well as manufacturing and transporting methamphetamines and heroin, mostly to the U.S. His July escape deeply embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto and strained ties between the countries.

Guzman's attorney Juan Pablo Badillo has said the defense has already filed six motions to challenge extradition requests.

Badillo said that his client shouldn't be extradited to the U.S. because "our country must respect national sovereignty, the sovereignty of its institutions to impart justice."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.