Maduro Checks Into NYC Jail: Cocaine Kingpin Seeks American Justice Upgrade

KEY POINTS

•Nicolás Maduro appeared in a Manhattan federal court Monday fighting charges including narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking.
•His legal defense includes Barry Pollack, known for representing Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, while his wife is defended by Texas attorney Mark Donnelly.
•The indictment extends back 25 years and names Maduro’s political allies, son, and gang leader Hector Guerrero as co-defendants.

Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's ousted ‘strongman’ turned narco-hero, made his courtroom debut Monday in Manhattan, charged with a 25-year cocaine trafficking saga that Hollywood would envy but Netflix already deleted. Pleading ‘innocent’ with wife Cilia Flores, they face Judge Alvin Hellerstein (aka Clinton-era justice with no chill). Representing Maduro? Barry Pollack, veteran of WikiLeaks drama. His son, ‘The Prince,’ apparently ferried kilos to Miami on private jets because why not? Meanwhile, ‘The Big Eyebrow,’ leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, adds a touch of villainous eyebrow-raising to the mix. The U.S. operation that captured Maduro has world leaders clutching their pearls or phones—Brazil, China, Russia, and Mexico’s politically poetic ‘prisoner of war’ claims all in the mix. Meanwhile, Maduro’s likely headed to a shady jail hall of fame that once housed Ghislaine Maxwell. Downtown New York just got way more narco-terrorist than Broadway.