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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will be behind bars at the same prison where Diddy and Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other high-profile defendants were all housed while they awaited trial.
A source told Fox News that Maduro will be detained at Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, after the Venezuelan leader was captured in a “fortress”-like house during an early-morning operation by U.S. forces in the South American country. Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S. The indictment also lists his wife and son as defendants.
MDC Brooklyn also held other high-profile inmates like Ghislaine Maxwell, Sam Bankman Fried and Michael Cohen as they awaited trial.
Notably, Maduro will be housed at MDC Brooklyn at the same time as Luigi Mangione, who is awaiting trial after he allegedly assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
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President Donald Trump shared a photo of captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after strikes on Venezuela, on Saturday. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)
Judi Garrett, former assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, told Fox News Digital she expects Maduro to be held within a Special Housing Unit when he arrives at MDC Brooklyn.
“I would expect [Maduro] would be held in [a Special Housing Unit] at the outset and then moved into one of the “special” units where other high profile individuals have been held,” Garrett said.
Garrett said MDC Brooklyn has “substantial experience with high profile defendants.”
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Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro addresses supporters during a rally marking the anniversary of the 19th-century Battle of Santa Ines, Dec. 10, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
During an interview on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” President Donald Trump said Maduro got “bum rushed so fast” by American special forces.
“We waited four days. We were going to do this, four days ago, three days ago, two days ago. And then all of a sudden it opened up, and we said, ‘go,’” Trump said, adding that Maduro was in a “very highly-guarded” house.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch from Mar-a-Lago in Florida as the U.S. military carried out an operation and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, early Saturday. (Donald Trump via TruthSocial)
“He was in a house that was more like a fortress than a house. It had steel doors. It had what they call a safety space, where it’s, you know, solid steel all around. He didn’t get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum rushed so fast that he didn’t get into that,” Trump said. “We were prepared. We had, you know, massive blowtorches and everything else that you need to get through that steel. But we didn’t need it. He didn’t make it to that area of the house.”
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Maduro was ultimately captured by the Army’s Delta Force, a U.S. official briefed on the matter told Fox News.
The source said the CIA provided the intelligence to the Department of War that ultimately helped track down the Venezuelan dictator.