El Chapo's new digs: a jail that held mobsters, terrorists

FILE- This March 12, 2009 photo shows the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The high security section of the facility where high-risk inmates that included Mafia boss John Gotti and several close associates of Osama bin Laden spent their time awaiting trial, will now house accused Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) (The Associated Press)

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A police convoy with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman leaves Brooklyn Federal Court following his arraignment, Friday Jan. 20, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) (The Associated Press)

A NYPD emergency unit detail arriveS for a convoy carrying Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman after his Brooklyn Federal Court, Friday Jan. 20, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK – The new home of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman (wah-KEEN' el CHAH'-poh gooz-MAHN') is a New York City federal lockup that's one of the most secure in the nation.

Guzman pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he ran one of the world's biggest drug-trafficking operations. He's being held without bail in the 12-story Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.

The center is where Gambino crime family boss John Gotti and several former close associates of Osama bin Laden spent time awaiting trial. It has a special 10th-floor unit where around a dozen prisoners spend 23 hours a day in 20-by-12-foot cells.

The inmates there are prohibited from communicating with one another. Meals are eaten in cells. Exercise is in a recreation area specifically for these inmates.