Mexican inmates vow to bust drug kingpin El Chapo out of prison in the US

A Mexican prison gang has pledged to break notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman out of prison, according to video circulating the internet.

The group of "hitmen" whose faces were partially concealed with cloth, sunglasses and hats, stand inside a prison cell in a privately operated prison under contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in California, where they declared their plans.

Guzman was extradited from Mexico to New York last week and appeared in court on Friday 20 January to deny a 17 count indictment that included money laundering, drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in US cities such as Chicago, Miami and New York in the US.

Guzman, also known as "Shorty" due to his small stature, faces life imprisonment if he is convicted of his alleged American crimes.

And the five prisoners are banking on the notorious leader of the murderous Sinaloa Cartel to be heading to their prison after claiming they had "bought" off all the prison guards.

"We are the hitmen who are going to take care of him," the men say in Spanish. "We want to tell the people this: If you bring 'el señor' here and if 'el señor' asks us to free him, we are going to take him out immediately".

During the three-minute clip the men take turns to speak to the camera, where they claimed to have a total control over the prison.

"Everything is ready for you. What you say is the law. Here you have more than 3,500 soldiers," An inmate named "Chucky" says in the video.

Jill Tyson, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said in a statement issued to the LA Times: "Upon learning of the video, BOP oversight staff on-site at the facility began working with the contractor to investigate the allegations of irregularities at the facility".

The 59-year-old is renowned for his two infamous prison breaks in Mexico, yet he was recaptured both times.

Once the world's most wanted drug dealer, Guzman was jailed for 20 years in 1993. He escaped from prison first in 2001, concealed in laundry, before being recaptured in February 2014.

Then, in July 2015, he escaped again after a tunnel was drilled under his shower and he sped off underground on a customised motorbike. However, after almost six months on the run, he was recaptured in Los Mochis, Sinaloa State, in January 2016.