Inside life of El Chapo’s beauty queen wife as she ‘prepares to accept deal’

Reports suggest that the wife of notorious drug lord El Chapo is set to "admit helping to run his criminal empire" in exchange for a plea deal.

Emma Coronel Aispuro is set to enter her plea in a New York court on Thursday after accepting a deal with prosecutors meaning she will not have to provide details about her husband's affairs.

She was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Virginia by US authorities before she was charged with participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for importation into the US.

Emma is also accused of conspiring to help El Chapo escape from Altiplano prison in Mexico in 2015, and with a second escape attempt the following year.

But who is the stunning brunette and how did her life become entangled with a man who was once the most powerful drug kingpin in the world, whose Sinaloa cartel was responsible for smuggling huge amounts of drugs into the US over a 25-year period?

Emma met El Chapo, real name Joaquín Guzmán, when she was aged just 18 and competing in a beauty pageant in 2007.

El Chapo was approaching 50 at the time and had travelled to the pageant, held in Canelas, Mexico, with the specific intention of meeting Emma.

The pair would agree to marry that day and she would become the criminal's fourth wife.

She was born near San Francisco, California, while her mother was visiting relatives there. Emma consequently has dual American-Mexican nationality.

Her dad, Inés Coronel Barreras, is a longtime pal of El Chapo's and was a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on April 28, 2017, for drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms.

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Her brother Édgar Coronel was also arrested on drug charges and accusations he helped with El Chapo's first prison break. He is currently incarcerated in Mexico.

After Emma and El Chapo married they welcomed twins Maria Joaquina and Emami into the world in August 2011.

The mum is said to have the father's name blank on the birth certificate in a bid to protect El Chapo's identity.

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  El Chapo's beauty queen wife will 'admit to helping run his drug empire in plea deal'

It took the prolific El Chapo's child count to at least 11, although estimates for the definitive figure vary.

The drug lord was arrested by the Mexican authorities in February 2014 before he escaped in July of the following year.

Emma is accused of being among those who helped him escape but El Chapo was arrested again in January 2016.

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He was extradited to the US in January 2017 and two years later, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murder, money laundering, drug trafficking, racketeering and organized crime.

Dutiful wife Emma sat through the 11-week trial in Brooklyn, but as her husband began his life sentence at a maximum security federal prison in Colorado, she continued living a life of glamour and excess.

She appeared on reality TV and launched a clothing line that she said is inspired by her and her husband's style.

But now it is thought she could face up to 10 years in prison.

The indictment against Emma says she grew up with knowledge of the narcotics trafficking industry due to her family's close ties to the cartel.

Despite El Chapo's life sentence, the US Drug Enforcement Administration said in March that "the Sinoloa Cartel maintains the widest national influence" in the United States.

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