The Feds Take Down El Chapo's Wife, Emma Coronel, & Detail How She Helped Run His Empire

If you're an aspiring drug kingpin and you're looking for the ultimate woman to have at your side while you're pulling off some of the crazy stunts drug kingpins do over their lifetimes, you need to study up on Emma Coronel Aispuro. She's the 31-year-old wife of El Chapo Guzman, the most notorious Mexican drug lord in the history of drugs who's currently sitting behind bars in a U.S. prison.

Now it's Emma Coronel who finds herself in jail. She was arrested Monday and charged with helping El Chapo run his criminal empire. U.S. prosecutors also believe that Emma helped create the plot that led to El Chapo escaping a Mexican prison in 2015 by sliding down into a tunnel.

If El Chapo was looking for the ultimate life partner who would stick with him through thick and thin, he found the soulmate all of you guys should be looking for. She claimed in 2019 that she didn't even see her husband as a drug lord. “I admire him as the human being that I met,” Coronel told the New York Times, “and the one that I married.”

The story goes that El Chapo married Emma, who has dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, in 2007 when she turned 18. The Times notes that Chapo has either been in jail or on the run their entire marriage, yet somehow through everything, the couple managed to have twin daughters. During his trial, text messages between the couple were revealed, including an exchange where one of the world's most wanted men told his wife that her enchiladas made him fall in love with her.

Yes, Chapo had his mistresses. Yes, he was unfaithful to Emma. Yes, he was out doing bad things. But Emma Coronel never swayed in her loyalty to her husband, even when he was sent away for life. Sunday, at Dulles International Airport, Emma was taken in by agents and charged with international drug trafficking. The feds allege a conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, pot and meth. She now faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison.

The woman who allegedly masterminded the tunnel that included lighting, ventilation and a motorcycle on rails to get El Chapo out of a Mexican prison now finds herself in an American jail now, with yet another fascinating court case on the horizon.

“Coronel knows and understands the Sinaloa cartel is the most prolific cartel in Mexico,” FBI special agent Eric McGuire said in an affidavit filed in a Washington DC court. “Coronel was aware of multi-ton cocaine shipments, multi-kilo heroin production, multi-ton marijuana shipments, and ton quantity methamphetamine shipments.”

The government also claims to have handwritten letters from El Chapo giving instructions to his workers on how things will be run.

“The twins’ mother will tell you and my children something. Please be alert, compadre. She will explain. The twins’ mother will bring a message to all of you, so that you all see it personally.”

The U.S. government says that Coronel grew up "with knowledge of the narcotics trafficking industry" because her father and brothers were in the business as mid-tier Sinaola cartel members.

The greatest hits from the El Chapo-Emma Coronel text exchanges that the FBI had on wiretaps:

Chapo to Emma: “Our Kiki is fearless. I’m going to give her an AK-47 so she can hang with me."

Chapo to Emma: “You go ahead and lead a normal life — they just want to see if you’re coming to where I am.”

“Do you have a gun?” Chapo texted. “Yes, I have one of yours,” she replied. “Put it in (the) hidden compartment, darling."