Notorious Mexican drug kingpin 'El Chapo' will appear in New York court in person

Mexican druglord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is set to appear at a New York court in person, rather than via video link on Friday (3 February).

The leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was extradited from Mexico to face 17 federal charges in the US, despite fighting to remain south of the border.

US prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life imprisonment for him and have also asked for an order to seize $14bn (£11.3bn) of his assets.

Guzman — also known as "Shorty" — faces 17 counts of criminal charges including money laundering, drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities such as Chicago, Miami and New York in the US.

He appeared in US federal court in Brooklyn on 20 January to plead not guilty to the charges against him, and will make his second appearance this Friday – in person as opposed to via video link, which had been suggested, Pix 11 reported.

When asked by judge James Orenstein at his previous hearing if he understood the accusations against him, the infamous drug lord said: "Well, I didn't know until now". However, later when asked again, he responded that he understood.

The cartel leader has escaped from prison in Mexico twice – once through a tunnel out of Altiplano prison that was followed by six months on the run, during which time it is believed he entered the US on a number of occasions.

And a Mexican prison gang has pledged to break Guzman out of prison in the US if he faces jail time – as is expected – according to video circulating on 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

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".