*GUILTY* EL Chapo - Drug Cartel Chief, arrested Trafficking/conspiracy/firearms

[YESorNO]

The Tornado News‏ @TheTornadoNews 11h11 hours ago
An recap of the days events at the Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman trial. Testimony will resume on Monday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Jurors hear El Chapo negotiate six-ton cocaine deal in secretly recorded phone call

DEC 13, 2018

"It’s a recording that could tip the scales at cocaine kingpin Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán’s trafficking trial in Brooklyn.

The secretly taped phone call, played for jurors Thursday, features Chapo negotiating the purchase of six tons of Colombian cocaine from the South American country’s FARC guerrilla group in May 2010...

Prosecutors played the call as former Colombian drug lord Jorge Cifuentes testified for a third day....

Cifuentes said the intercepted call was not encrypted — as most of the cartel’s communications normally were — because Chapo’s security engineer failed to renew a license for an encryption service...."

Jurors hear El Chapo negotiate six-ton cocaine deal in secretly recorded phone call - NY Daily News


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
Why, if the jury isn't even in the room, does Judge Brian M. Cogan keep sealing sidebars at the Chapo trial? There are genuine legal reasons to w/hold information from jurors at a trial, but what is the purpose of withholding it from the public? @balarezolaw @NYCDefenseLaw


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
Several sidebars, at which important issues have been discussed, have been conducted in complete secrecy. It fosters an atmosphere of cynicism and gives the appearance that an alternate trial is taking place out of public view.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 9h9 hours ago
Recap of a wild week in the world of Jorge Cifuentes by @alanfeuer, including how he used Chapo’s crashed helicopter in an insurance fraud scam https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html …

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3m3 minutes ago
In the govt's latest Chapo case letter, it appears the judge has decided not to let the defense question Vicente Zambada-Niebla about his claims that he was an informant for the DEA when he appears as a witness at the trial in the next few weeks.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 52s53 seconds ago
I say "appears" b/c, as has often happened, the prosecutors' letter is heavily redacted. It seems the argument is that since another judge ruled that Vicente could not use this "public authority" defense in his own case, it shouldn't be allowed in Chapo's,


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 48s49 seconds ago
Vicente will be a crucial witness. He is the son of Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, Chapo's partner, and will presumably have vast knowledge of the Sinaloa cartel. Before he pleaded guilty in Nov., he tried for yrs to say the DEA let him deal drugs in exchange for info on other cartels.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 11m11 minutes ago
The US govt has denied Vicente's allegations (and the other judge agreed they were false.) Chapo's lawyers, meanwhile, have built their defense strategy around the claim that Mayo Zambada, still at large in Mexico, was (and is) the real mastermind of the cartel.
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[Niner]

Geez - those drug lord tombs - one looks like it could be an apartment (the one with the glass).

Oh I love Ray Donovan! Bro just uploaded some episodes of the new season for me!

Thanks for all the tweets & articles!

 

[YESorNO]

El Chapo Trial: Witness Alleges Cartel Connection to Colombian Guerilla Group
Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa testified that Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán worked closely with armed Colombian revolutionaries FARC

DECEMBER 14, 2018

"Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera worked with a Colombian guerilla group to ship cocaine from South America to Mexico, according to new evidence heard Thursday in Brooklyn federal court.

In a recording of a phone call between Guzmán and a representative of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, El Chapo was heard negotiating details of a six-ton shipment of cocaine that he was trying to buy from the group, which had long financed its war against the Colombian state by taxing drug traffickers and, over time, taking a direct role in the smuggling of cocaine.

In the recording, Chapo and the unidentified FARC representative agreed that Guzmán would buy two tons of coke with cash and get the other four tons on credit, with a plan to sign over properties held by an associate as collateral. Guzmán also offered to send his nephew to Colombia, essentially as a hostage, so the FARC could be guaranteed he paid for the rest of the shipment.

The recording, which prosecutors said was from May 2010, was the first time jurors heard at length direct evidence of El Chapo’s involvement in the nitty-gritty details of his alleged drug operation, including a back-and-forth in which Guzmán appears not to hear — or pretends not to hear — the FARC man, identified in a transcript of the call as UM2, insist on a price of $2,100 per kilo, as opposed to the $2,000 Guzmán apparently wants to pay...."

El Chapo Had Connections to Colombian Guerilla Groups: Witness – Rolling Stone

(Photo: US Department of Justice/Brooklyn Federal Court)
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Arthur Frommer: Mexico has solidified its standing as a desirable destination for winter vacations

Dec 13, 2018

"... there are indications that the former drug wars of Mexico have somewhat diminished. In the judicial trial involving Mexican drug lord Joaquin (“El Chapo”) Guzman, it has been pointed out that the chief products whose sales created most of his astonishing income were cocaine and marijuana. Since recreational marijuana is now legalized in 11 U.S. states, it has been largely removed as a basis for criminal products. This must inevitably result in a decline in the violence that has often threatened the American tourist...."

Arthur Frommer: Mexico has solidified its standing as a desirable destination for winter vacations
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[YESorNO]

Is Emma Coronel the devoted wife of El Chapo, or is she being used as a prop?
Some think El Chapo’s team is using Coronel, and her popular Instagram account and media appearances, as a distraction

15 Dec 2018

"....Who is Emma Coronel, and what is her role? “It seems like the defence team is showcasing Emma and the kids in public”, says Derek Maltz, former agent for the DEA’s special operations division in New York “so people may feel sorry for this man who will most likely be in jail for the rest of his life”.

“Do these people covering the trial really believe in the beautiful love story between El Chapo and Emma?” says Anabel Hernández, who conducted a first interview with Ms Coronel in 2016. “Oh come on. She’s a distraction, and that in itself is important to El Chapo and the lawyers”. But as Hernández goes on to explain, there’s more to it than that...."

Is Emma Coronel the devoted wife of El Chapo, or is she being used as a prop?
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[Niner]

Monday, Dec. 17th:
*Trial continues (Day 19) (@ 9am ET) - NY – *Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (El Chapo) (~61) arrested & charged with smuggled 155 tons of cocaine into U.S. Sinaloa drug cartel chief. Guzmán faces 17-count indictment charging him with drug trafficking, murder conspiracy & money laundering spanning nearly three decades. Plead not guilty to all charges. No bail.
Prosecutors say Guzmán ran Mexico's Sinaloa cartel from 1989 to 2014. In that time, they allege the cartel brought cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine & marijuana into the U.S. Prosecutors also charged Guzmán in connection with the assassinations of thousands of competitors. Plead not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Trial expected to last several months. Also for trafficking, conspiracy & firearms in California, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida & New York.
Skipping over Day 1 thru 13. (I deleted them anyway...)
12/10/18 Day 14: Prosecutors say his wife Emma Coronel used a cellphone to communicate w/him during the trial, violating court-ordered security measures. Motion for sanctions against a member of the defense over the phone. Another sealed motion by the government to limit testimony. State witness: Tirso Martinez-Sachez "El Futbolista" a trafficker who worked for the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels in the '90s and early 2000s.
12/11/18 Day 15: State witnesses: Tirso Martinez-Sachez "El Futbolista”. FBI analyst (no name) introduced 2015 Rolling Stone interview with Sean Penn, parts of which were played in court late Tuesday. Colombian trafficker, Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa. Trial continues on 12/12.
12/12/18 Day 16: State witness: Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa. Trial continues on 12/13.
12/13/18 Day 17: State witness: Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa.
12/14/17 Day 18: The secretly taped phone call, played for jurors Thursday, features Chapo negotiating the purchase of six tons of Colombian cocaine from the South American country’s FARC guerrilla group in May 2010. Prosecutors played the call as former Colombian drug lord Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa testified for a third day. Moments after proceedings stopped for the day, Judge Brian Cogan gave jurors an early Christmas present. “I can’t make any promises,” he warned, before revealing that the trial was moving much faster than expected. Jurors who’d been told they might be held as late as March could now tentatively plan on being free by the end of January." Trial continues 12/17.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from day 18 and week 6 of El Chapo's trial. Expecting more cross-examination of Jorge Cifuentes, followed by law enforcement witnesses. Next could be Pedro and Margarito Flores, subjects of the eighth and final episode of our podcast.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GXfOInuGWBMQlgyR9bR0W … @vicenews



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Stories last week @vicenews on trial:

What the government doesn't want the jury to hear https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pa5xpk/prosecutors-dont-want-el-chapos-jury-to-hear-how-the-us-government-sent-guns-to-the-sinaloa-cartel …

A potential devil's bargain by Chapo's prosecutors https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kzvkqz/the-cartel-leaders-suspected-of-killing-a-legendary-mexican-journalist-could-testify-against-el-chapo …

How El Chapo got caught on tape haggling over 6 tons of cocaine El Chapo got wiretapped because the cartel’s IT guy screwed up

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
When we left off with Jorge Cifuentes on Thursday, he was getting grilled by Chapo's lawyer @NYCDefenseLaw about his criminal exploits and past lies to law enforcement. Expect that to continue first thing this morning.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Not officially confirmed that the Flores brothers are the next witnesses, but prosecutors have focused recently on huge cocaine and heroin seizures in Chicago. They also showed the jury mugshots of the twins. And one of Chapo's lawyers was spotted reading the book Cartel Wives.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Cartel Wives is a book by Olivia and Mia Flores, the Chicago women who married the Flores twins. They told us why Pedro and Margarito became informants for the DEA and described what life was like inside the highest echelon of the Sinaloa cartel. Listen:

EP 8: The Trial


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Episode 8 is the last full installment in our series, but we'll be releasing some bonus content in the coming weeks to keep up with El Chapo's trial. Also stay tuned to hear our very intense interview with a cartel hitman.

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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13m13 minutes ago
The webs of death and corruption were especially thick in this morning's testimony at the Chapo trial. The Colombian drug lord Jorge Cifuentes is still on the stand. He made clear how in cartel-land, murder often leads murder and one act of corruption leads to another.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10m10 minutes ago
For instance: He said he once tried to negotiate moving coke thru the Quito airport thru a corrupt official. Except, he found out the official wasn't really an official. He was lying. So Cifuentes had the guy tortured & murdered. The assassin taped the torture & sent him a copy.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10m10 minutes ago
Jorge then ordered the death of the guy who had killed the fake airport official, luring him to a cocaine warehouse where someone else murdered him.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 9m9 minutes ago
In another death chain, Jorge said he once ordered the killing of a man who had helped kill his brother--the same brother who had once killed Jorge's mentor in the drug trade.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Morning break at the trial. Some testy exchanges between Chapo's lawyer Jeff Lichtman and witness Jorge Cifuentes. We've heard Jorge admit to ordering at least 3 murders and bribing Ignacio Morales Lechuga, Mexico's attorney general in the early '90s under Pres. Carolos Salinas.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Memorable exchange just now w/ Jorge Cifuentes. He previously testified about seeing a meth lab explode at Chapo's hideout in the mountains, said he wouldn't supply the Sinaloa cartel with chemicals to make meth because kids become addicted to it.

Now we have the back story.



Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Cifuentes again has proven he had no moral center. He admitted to bribing a gemologist to certify that a mine he invested in had emeralds in it when in reality he was using the mine to launder drug profits. He admitted paying a Panamanian judge $1.2 to set his partner free.



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge later found out that his sister Dolly and brother Alex were sending ephedrine to El Chapo behind his back. The giveaway: A plane crashed in the mountains of Mexico carrying cocaine and ephedrine from Colombia. Jorge confronted his siblings, they admitted it. He was mad.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Quote of the morning from Jorge Cifuentes: "Don Joaquin knows I didn't like to around with ephedrine."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge: "Later on, when I was on the run in Venezuela, I changed my mind. I tried to find out about ephedrine for him.…Hunger made me change my mind."

Chapo's lawyer: "Hunger made you change your morality, isn't that right?"

Jorge: "Yes, that's correct."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chapo's lawyer bellowed that Jorge didn't seem to have any qualms about causing addiction when he shipped 220 tons of cocaine to the US.

Jeff Lichtman: "Is cocaine good for young people?!"

Judge Cogan: "Mr. Lichtman, no yelling in the courtroom."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Lichtman also asked Jorge whether he'd ever tried to bribe DEA agents or US law enforcement. Jorge said no, but explained how somebody in Colombia gave him a USB drive that included all the evidence US agents had collected against him, including wiretapped calls.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
He said in 2010, a man he thought was a Colombian naval intel officer showed him virtually the DEA's entire investigation of him & his family: wiretaps, organization charts, etc. He offered the informant $10 million to end the investigation. The guy said he'd be killed if he did.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Lichtman suggested the leak was from the DEA's SIU or Sensitive Investigations Unit, a specially trained and vetted unit in the Colombian police. Jorge responded: "The first time I've ever heard that name is from you." Said his leaker was from a Colombian naval intelligence unit.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Asked directly if he thought some DEA agents were corrupt, Cifuentes said yes. He mentioned that one of his associates had a cousin in the DEA who was leaking info to the Colombian cartels.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
He also said he was planning to pay a woman named Adriana Gonzalez $16 million to make a US federal case against him in Miami "go away." (We didn't learn much else about this woman.)


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chapo's lawyer pressed Jorge about murders that he'd ordered. Most notable one was a guy in Mexico named Flaco who worked for Jorge.

Using Jorge's money, Flaco put 70 Mexican federal police officers on his payroll. Then Flaco turned on his boss and sent the federales after him.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
When the federales came calling, Jorge paid them a $500,000 bribe and sent them back after Flaco, who was later stabbed to death at a cocaine warehouse.

Jorge told the jury he felt about this because he promised Flaco's father on his deathbed that he would protect Flaco.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge was combative under cross-examination. His exchanges with Lichtman got absurd. There was along digression about the color pen that Jorge used to take notes when meeting with a corrupt law enforcement officer, and what happened to the note afterward.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge said he used a blue pen and that he ripped up the note afterward and flushed it down the toilet at his sister's house. Members of the jury were laughing but Judge Cogan didn't seem amused.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
The breadth of Jorge's criminality was staggering. In addition to smuggling cocaine, we heard that he invested $5 million in a Colombian emerald mine as a money laundering scheme. They paid off a gemologist to lie about the value of land and planned to export stolen gems.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
One of Jorge's past statements to the US government: "Everything I've breathed and eaten in my life is from drug trafficking."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge also admitted that he gave 5,000 weapons, including rocket launchers and machine guns, to a Colombian paramilitary group, along with 5 million rounds of ammo. Jorge said the arms and bullets were handed over "all for free" because he wanted revenge against FARC guerrillas.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chapo's lawyer was using the terms guerrilla and paramilitary interchangeably. Jorge tried to explain the difference before concluding, "They are as equally terrorist, equally killers, and equally traffickers of drugs."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge told Chapo's lawyer he tried to explain, "Because you have mistakes on your notes and I wanted to help and contribute something."

Jeff Lichtman: "You've contributed plenty."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Jorge is clever but on the whole the cross-examination has been effective. At first he seemed like a mild-mannered nerd who got wrapped up in drugs after his older brother was murdered. Now he seems like a ruthless and manipulative drug kingpin testifying to save his own *advertiser censored*.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
More cross-examination coming after the lunch break. Stay tuned for updates.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 30m30 minutes ago
Not much to report from this afternoon. Jeff Lichtman's cross-examination of Jorge Cifuentes interrupted by government calling law enforcement witnesses drugs seized in Ecuador. The highlight was learning that a police K9 that found 500+ kilos of cocaine was named Zeus.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 51m51 minutes ago
Listen to Episode 8 of our podcast. It covers what's been happening so far in El Chapo's trial and tells the story of Pedro and Margarito Flores, twin brothers from Chicago who became informants for the DEA. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GXfOInuGWBMQlgyR9bR0W …


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2m2 minutes ago
Last witness of the day was an official from Ecuador's federal prosecutor's office. She was involved in the seizure of 7.5 tons of cocaine from a house in Quito. They had to return three separate times to find it all. Chapo's lawyer called it "the house that keeps on giving."
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 50m50 minutes ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Ignacio R. Morales Lechuga

The former Mexican attorney general that Jorge Cifuentes testified today was corrupt denies the allegation…

----Ignacio R. Morales Lechuga‏ @irmoralesl
Son totalmente falsas y por lo tanto calumniosas y difamadoras las acusaciones hechas en mi contra por parte de un narcotraficante en el juicio de Joaquín Guzman. Estas afirmaciones generan, cuando menos, responsabilidad civil. Me reservo el derecho para hacerlo valer.

11:15 AM - 17 Dec 2018

(translated- Google Translate:

The accusations made against me by a narco-trafficker in the trial of Joaquín Guzman are totally false and therefore slanderous and defamatory. These affirmations generate, at least, civil responsibility. I reserve the right to assert it. )
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 47m47 minutes ago
There was one strange moment during the cross examination of Cifuentes. Chapo's lawyer, Jeff Lichtman, was basically shouting at him & Judge Cogan said: "Mr. Lichtman, no yelling in the courtroom." So Lichtman started whispering questions. And Cifuentes whispered his answers.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 46m46 minutes ago
The exchange was about meth. Cifuentes had said he didn't touch the drug because it "hurt young people." But that wasn't exactly true. He quickly admitted that when he needed to deal in meth to make a quick buck (when he was on the run in Venezuela), he did.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 43m43 minutes ago
Lichtman's point was that Cifuentes had already admitted to dealing hundreds of tons of cocaine, which is just as bad. That's when the whispers came in. Lichtman (sotto voce): "Is cocaine good for young people?" Cifuentes (sotto voce): "No, sir."
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[YESorNO]

Drug ring tied to 'El Chapo' took in $19 million in two years, agents say

December 17, 2018

"Sea cucumbers are big in Southeast Asia and parts of Europe.

In China, the marine animals are a delicacy, a high-priced, special-occasion food whose popularity is rising to the point where some worry about overfishing.

And in Buffalo?

By all accounts, sea cucumbers still lag behind wings and pizza in popularity here, so how do you explain $19 million in sea cucumber sales in Western New York?

You don't. Federal agents say the dollar figure is right – but it was really cocaine, heroin and fentanyl being sold here under the guise of sea cucumbers.

The $19 million in alleged drug proceeds, revealed in court last week, is the latest evidence of what investigators are calling one of the largest drug rings ever prosecuted in Buffalo.

Now at the center of a federal court trial in Buffalo, the drug trafficking organization is also tied to the Sinaloa Cartel, the violent Mexican crime organization once led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

"We wanted the source of supply," Shane Nastoff, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Buffalo, told a jury last week. "That's the ultimate goal – to cut the head off the snake, as they say."..."

Drug ring tied to 'El Chapo' took in $19 million in two years, agents say
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Man linked to 'El Chapo' goes on trial in high-security drug case

November 14, 2018

"When jurors in the Herman Aguirre trial arrive in court each day, they come cloaked in secrecy.

Only the judge and lawyers know their names and where they live.

And whenever they leave, court security officers escort them from the building.

These extraordinary security measures – which also follow reported threats against witnesses – are because of Aguirre's alleged ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, a drug trafficking organization considered one of the most powerful and violent in the world.

Prosecutors claim the cartel was led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the accused drug kingpin standing trial amidst even tighter security in New York City.

Aguirre's trial is unfolding in Buffalo federal court where he and another man, Troy R. Gillon, are accused of taking part in what one prosecutor called a drug ring, "the likes of which Western New York has never seen."

"We have the cooperating witnesses, currency and kilos to prove it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan A. Tokash told a jury in opening statements Wednesday....

Indicted with 15 others, Aguirre and Gil were accused of being leaders of the drug ring, and prosecutors said both men had ties to the cartel. They also claim Guzman, aka "El Chapo," was among those who oversaw the drug shipments here....

The case against Aguirre and Gillon is expected to last at least four weeks and include at least a dozen "protected" witnesses, some of them co-defendants who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify.

Aguirre's trial is taking place while Guzman stands trial in New York City, where security is even more intense...."

Man linked to 'El Chapo' goes on trial in high-security drug case
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'They found me and tried to kidnap me,' witness says of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel

November 18, 2018

"Blindfolded and surrounded by armed guards, Jose Ruben Gil said he never knew where he was going, but when the helicopter landed at an undisclosed location in Mexico, the first thing he saw was a mansion on a hill.

It was 2003 and Gil, eager to increase the supply of drugs flowing his way, said he was summoned by leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world's most powerful and violent organized crime organizations.

Gil, who took the witness stand in Buffalo federal court last week, said it was his first and only face-to-face meeting with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

"It may seem like something out of Hollywood, but it isn't," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan A. Tokash. "It's real life."

Gil's account of his meeting with Guzmán and Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García came during the trial of two men accused of overseeing one of the largest drug rings to ever operate in Western New York...."

'They found me and tried to kidnap me,' witness says of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel
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Federal authorities make largest drug bust in U.S. history

Aug 05, 2015

"WIVB - BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Over $3.5 million in dangerous drugs have been taken off the streets of western New York in a historic drug bust. Now officials are alerting the public to how they seized the mass quantities of heroin, fentanyl and more.

U.S. Attorney William Hochul says authorities seized the largest combination drug bust in U.S. history in March after a multi-agency effort. The investigation, which started with a wire tap over a year ago, allowed police to seize drugs in Nebraska, California and western New York....

Locals charged in the case are Troy Gillon, Darryl Williams, Maulana Lucas, Shirley Grigsby, Michael Mitchell and Trent Hamilton. Police also charged Herman Aguirre, a California man who they say headed up sourcing of the drugs...."

Federal authorities make largest drug bust in U.S. history

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New indictment ups the ante for WNY drug network linked to Mexican cartel

August 23, 2017

"Like a good crime novel, the prosecution of Jose Ruben Gil and 15 others has all the elements to keep you reading.

First, there’s the link to the deadly El Chapo drug cartel in Mexico.

Second is the way Gil, a former Mexican mayor, and his co-defendants allegedly shipped the drugs from California to Buffalo — in boxes labeled “sea cucumbers.”

And finally, there’s the amount of drugs — tons of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine — that the government claims found its way here.

A new grand jury indictment levies new charges against the defendants and, for the first time, makes it clear the large amount of fentanyl involved in the case could lead to mandatory prison sentences...."

New indictment ups the ante for WNY drug network linked to Mexican cartel - GFarma.news
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 20m20 minutes ago
This is what 7.5 tons of cocaine looks like.

Most of the stash was found hidden behind false walls inside a house in Ecuador rented by Jaime Alberto Roll, nephew of Jorge Cifuentes, who testified that the shipment belonged to El Chapo.

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 17m17 minutes ago
Here's how the 7.5 tons of cocaine was packaged and hidden behind one of the false walls inside the house in Ecuador.

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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 11m11 minutes ago
The witness today, Jorge Cifuentes, Colombian trafficker extraordinaire, named names saying a former Mexican attorney general, Ignacio Morales Lechuga, took bribes (Morales denied the charge--on Twitter.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7m7 minutes ago
Cifuentes admitted on the stand to making a remarkable statement to investigators when he first surrendered: "Everything I've breathed or eaten in my life is from drug trafficking."
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[YESorNO]

El Chapo secretly sourced meth ingredients from sister of Colombian drug lord who refused: witness

DEC 17, 2018

"When El Chapo wanted to crank out methamphetamine for his Sinaloa drug cartel, he didn’t mind going behind the back of one of his main cocaine suppliers, jurors heard Monday.

Colombian narco Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa returned to the witness stand at Chapo’s trafficking trial in Brooklyn and said the Mexican drug lord cut a secret side deal with his siblings after Cifuentes himself refused...."

El Chapo secretly sourced meth ingredients from sister of Colombian drug lord who refused: witness - NY Daily News
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[Niner]

Tuesday, Dec. 18th:
*Trial continues (Day 20) (@ 9am ET) - NY – *Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (El Chapo) (~61) arrested & charged with smuggled 155 tons of cocaine into U.S. Sinaloa drug cartel chief. Guzmán faces 17-count indictment charging him with drug trafficking, murder conspiracy & money laundering spanning nearly three decades. Plead not guilty to all charges. No bail.
Prosecutors say Guzmán ran Mexico's Sinaloa cartel from 1989 to 2014. In that time, they allege the cartel brought cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine & marijuana into the U.S. Prosecutors also charged Guzmán in connection with the assassinations of thousands of competitors. Plead not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Trial expected to last several months. Also for trafficking, conspiracy & firearms in California, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida & New York.
Skipping over Day 1 thru 16 (deleted anyway....)
12/13/18 Day 17: State witness: Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa.
12/14/17 Day 18: The secretly taped phone call, played for jurors Thursday, features Chapo negotiating the purchase of six tons of Colombian cocaine from the South American country’s FARC guerrilla group in May 2010. Prosecutors played the call as former Colombian drug lord Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa testified for a third day. Moments after proceedings stopped for the day, Judge Brian Cogan gave jurors an early Christmas present. “I can’t make any promises,” he warned, before revealing that the trial was moving much faster than expected. Jurors who’d been told they might be held as late as March could now tentatively plan on being free by the end of January." Trial continues 12/17.
12/17/18 Day 19: State witnesses: Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa. Jeff Lichtman's cross-examination of Jorge Cifuentes interrupted by government calling law enforcement witnesses drugs seized in Ecuador, re a poliice K9 that found 500+ kilos of cocaine was named Zeus. Last witness of the day was an official from Ecuador's federal prosecutor's office. She was involved in the seizure of 7.5 tons of cocaine from a house in Quito. Trial continues on 12/18.

 

[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Narco-tourists have been showing up for weeks now at the El Chapo trial. They have flown in--sometimes just for a day--from Chicago, Denver, Lithuania, Wisconsin, etc.

The El Chapo Trial: New York's Newest Tourist Destination

"....But a new and unusual event has recently become a must-see attraction: the drug conspiracy trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican crime lord ..."

The El Chapo Trial: New York’s Newest Tourist Destination


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Forget Broadway: For visitors to NYC, the El Chapo trial is the new hot ticket in town.

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