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

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from day 19 of El Chapo's trial.

Expect more Jorge Cifuentes and two law enforcement witnesses this morning, then another cooperator in the afternoon.

Stay tuned for updates and listen to our podcast about the twin brothers who flipped on Chapo.

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



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Emily Palmer

Chapo's wife Emma Coronel, who has attended every day of the trial so far, was notably absent yesterday. She sits right behind the press (an assigned seat) and he kept glancing over and looking for her all day.

-----Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer
Today was the first day Emma Coronel Aispuro did not come to court to support her husband, El Chapo. U.S. Marshals saved her space along her usual second row until just before the trial resumed. Emma’s attorney told me she would likely not be in NYC the week before winter recess.

8:05 AM - 17 Dec 2018


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
When El Chapo’s wife didn't come to court yesterday (a first in the trial), the drug kingpin looked back often to her empty seat on the second row. @balarezolaw told me that El Chapo was unaware of Emma’s planned absence. Her attorney said she likely won't attend all week.

El Chapo’s wife no-shows at trial, leaves courtroom puzzled

December 17, 2018

"El Chapo’s Brooklyn federal-court trial threatened to turn into an episode of the “Real Housewives of the Sinaloa Cartel” on Monday when the wife of the accused Mexican drug lord went AWOL, puzzling even her pint-sized defendant hubby.

Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, had attended every single day of her husband’s trial for the past six weeks.

Her absence in the courtroom Monday seemed to come as a surprise even to her alleged-kingpin husband, who spent much of the proceeding nervously searching the room for his former-beauty-queen wife.

A source familiar with the wife’s habits said they had no idea exactly where she was but confirmed she was still in New York...."

https://nypost.com/2018/12/17/el-chapos-wife-no-shows-trial-leaves-courtroom-puzzled/
----

El Chapo's wife is suddenly a NO-SHOW in court: Concerned drug baron is seen looking around for his absent beauty queen lover who has attended without fail for six weeks (with clip)

"Emma Coronel, 29, the wife of Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, did not attend court on Monday for the first time in six weeks of his trial

She said in a Telemundo interview last week that he needs to 'feel my support' while he's in the courtroom

Coronel has said she often leaves court with a headache after long days of bad eating and sitting on uncomfortable benches...."

El Chapo's wife is a NO-SHOW in court despite explaining it's important Guzman 'feels my support' | Daily Mail Online


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Emma Coronel has become a fixture at the courthouse, but I disagree with this assessment that "she’ll acknowledge a smile or nod, but no more." I've found her to be shy but friendly, and she chats off-the-record in Spanish with reporters in the courtroom.

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


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Clearly, Emma Coronel's presence is intended to send a message to the jury, but it takes dedication to come to court every single day. It's grueling. She's away from home and her daughters. She explains herself in the first minute of this interview.

Entrevista en Exclusiva a Emma Coronel, esposa de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Emma Coronel gets a lot of attention for her Instagram page, but she claims she's not running the account. Unclear whether photos like this one are authentic. But regardless of whether it's her or not, you have to wonder who is posting these images and why.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Anyway, enough about the sideshow. Heading up to the main event now. Stay tuned for updates from today's testimony.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Here are some tweets I missed from yesterday:

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 21h21 hours ago
Once again, @balarezolaw complained about translators “adding words that did not come out of the witness’s mouth.” The judge reminded the defense attorney (a Spanish speaker) that he is to mind the translator’s version, not what he thinks he hears the witness say in Spanish.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 21h21 hours ago
“I’d be shocked if any trial like this has a 100% accurate translation” the judge told one of El Chapo’s attorneys, who complained of translator additives. The prosecution added that another defense attorney was not giving the translator proper time to translate “for the record.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 19h19 hours ago
The government expected to get through four government agents today. We’re 45 minutes from close, and we’re still on the second one … and she has several more days’ worth of seizures to go. (The mega-Cifuentes cross took up the morning and will continue, likely tomorrow.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 15h15 hours ago
What does 7.5 tons of seized cocaine look like? Take a look at this seizure from October 2009 in Ecuador. (The wall in the background says that the soul of God is in the heart of the country.)

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 15h15 hours ago
And here’s where all that cocaine came from: “the house that keeps on giving” as one of El Chapo’s defense attorneys put it today.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Today's tweets:


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
A slew of witnesses have testified to the unsavory realities of cartel life in El Chapo's trial. But Cifuentes is the first to fall apart on the stand. On Monday, the Colombian drug trafficker told the defense attorney that his “papelitos” were wrong. He continues today.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Cross-examination of Jorge Cifuentes is over. Most effective questioning from Chapo's lawyer focused on an illegal call Jorge made in 2015 from US prison to his brother Alex, who had a contraband cellphone in a Colombian prison.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Jorge insists he was only urging his brother Alex to cooperate with US prosecutors: "My brother was about to make a huge mistake, really a crazy thing, to come to the US and face a trial just like Don Joaquin is doing, even with all this evidence against him."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 20m20 minutes ago
“Laws are slow,” Jorge Cifuentes said regarding his $150 million IOU to the U.S. government, which is almost four years late. “But they work out in the end.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 18m18 minutes ago
“My brother was about to make a huge mistake - really a crazy thing,” Jorge Cifuentes recalled. “To come to the US and face a trial just like Don Joaquin is doing - even with all this evidence against him.” So, he made a call from his NY prison to Alex, incarcerated in Colombia.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 23m23 minutes ago
Jorge got Alex's contraband cell number from a Colombian attorney who visited him at the federal jail in Brooklyn. His calls are monitored and he's only allowed to dial approved contacts. He swapped Alex's number for another approved contact. No recording of this call exists.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 20m20 minutes ago
Lichtman suggested that Jorge was colluding on the call with his brother to get Chapo convicted.

Asked whether he wants to see Chapo convicted, Jorge replied: "It isn't my business, it's the government's business… I'm not interested in whether he's found guilty or not guilty."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 18m18 minutes ago
When the defense attorney asked Cifuentes if he wanted to see El Chapo convicted he said: “I’m not interested in whether he’s found guilty or not guilty.”



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 20m20 minutes ago
Lichtman also pointed out that Jorge hasn't been sentenced yet, and with a recommendation from prosecutors, he could receive nothing more than time served. Lichtman asked whether he wants to go home to Colombia. Jorge replied yes, "or to a place very far from Mexico."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 18m18 minutes ago
Re-direct of Jorge now underway by prosecutor Adam Fels. He was just scolded by Judge Cogan for asking Jorge a question that "led him down a primrose path." Had to do with Jorge's motives for his first meeting with Chapo and what he told US law enforcement about it.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 18m18 minutes ago
Prosecutors apparently didn't realize until last week that in notes from Jorge's first meeting with US agents, he admitted that he approached Chapo because he wanted to do business in Mexico, not because he feared for his life. Fels called this mistake "an unintentional sandbag."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 17m17 minutes ago
Re-direct by Fels continuing now. We can expect more cross from Lichtman afterward, which means Jorge will likely be on the stand until the afternoon lunch break. Law enforcement witnesses to follow. Stay tuned for updates.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 42m42 minutes ago
Pedro Flores has been called to testify in El Chapo’s trial. He should start right after the lunch break and is expected to testify in English -- the first star witness to do so.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 43m43 minutes ago
Appearing shortly at the Chapo trial: Pedro Flores, one of the twin brothers who distributed massive amounts of cocaine for Chapo in Chicago before betraying him.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 41m41 minutes ago
Flores is one of the most awaited witnesses of the trial. He will be able to describe phone calls cutting huge drug deals w/Chapo (we may hear them too) and will likely describe in detail how the Sinaloa cartel operated on American soil.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 41m41 minutes ago
Until now, most of the testimony at the trial has concerned the logistics that went into moving tons of coke north from Colombia to Mexico and then from Mexico across the border into the US. But soon we'll likely how the coke was wholesaled on the streets of a major US city.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 40m40 minutes ago
There was a bit of drama just before the lunch break. A prosecutor called Flores as a witness but there was a long delay in bringing him into the courtroom. It went on long enough that the judge called a break and excused the jury.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 35m35 minutes ago
Jorge Cifuentes is done testifying. Multiple people witnessed Jorge gesture at El Chapo as he was being escorted out of the courtroom, aggressively crossing his arms over his chest as if to say to Chapo, "You're going to be locked up now."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 30m30 minutes ago
There's some debate over the exact way that Jorge gestured with his arms, but everybody who saw it agrees that it was not intended to signal respect or friendship. The native Spanish speakers in the courtroom said it was a "clavado," which means something like "you got nailed."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 23m23 minutes ago
After five days of testimony, Jorge Cifuentes left the stand this afternoon. No witness has spent more days on the stand. Think of a question about him, and one of the attorneys probably already asked it.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 19m19 minutes ago
The father of Pedro (& his brother, Margarito) also moved drugs for the Sinaloa cartel and they joined the family business while still in their 20s. At one point, they were distributing around 2 tons of coke *a month* for Chapo & his crew, earning hundreds of millions of dollars.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 16m16 minutes ago
In 2008, the Flores bros were indicted in Chicago & ended up secretly cooperating w/US authorities against the cartel. A Chicago prosecutor once called them “the most valuable cooperators this district has ever seen.” They've been in witness protection ever since.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 15m15 minutes ago
As he left the stand and passed El Chapo seated at the defense table, Jorge Cifuentes crossed his arms as though cursing him. Star witnesses have had different interactions with the drug kingpin in court - from kind exchanges to complete avoidance.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 26m26 minutes ago
The next witness is Pedro Flores. He and his twin brother Margarito grew up in Chicago and became two of the Sinaloa cartel's main distributors in the US.

Listen to the story of how they flipped on El Chapo in the latest episode of our podcast:

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

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Absolutely spellbinding testimony just now from Pedro Flores. The 37-year-old was soft-spoken on the witness stand, even as he described fleeing Chicago, getting kidnapped in Mexico, and his first encounter with Chapo, which involved seeing a naked man chained to a tree.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Pedro Flores has not disappointed as a witness. He described his 1st meeting w/Chapo in 2005. After flying into Chapo's secret mountain hideout, he was driven by gunmen toward the kingpin's ranch. On the side of the road, there was a chilling sight: a naked man chained to a tree.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Referring to El Chapo as “the man” Pedro Flores, known as one of “the twins” from Chicago, took the stand this afternoon, weaving together much of the testimony that we’ve heard over the last weeks of trial.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Pedro Flores constantly referred to Chapo as "the man."

When a prosecutor asked who supplied him and his brother with drugs, Pedro said "The Sinaloa cartel and the man."

"Who is the man?" the prosecutor asked.

"Mr. Guzmán," Pedro replied.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Pedro said he and his brother Margarito supplied over 15-20 tons of cocaine to Chicago even *before* they connected with Mayo and Chapo. They started working in the drug business with their father at age 7, began cutting deals for hundreds of kilos by the time they turned 17.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Chapo greeted him in jeans, a t-shirt and a ball cap under cap under a palapa. Pedro, very nervous after the trip in, was wearing a shirt and jeans shorts. Chapo put him at ease joking, Pedro said, "With all that money, you couldn't afford the rest of the pants?"


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Pedro said Chapo met him under a large palapa at the top of the mountain, "a dried palm tree hut, like you see at a vacation spot." Chapo was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Pedro had on jean shorts. Chapo joked how "with all that money, I couldn't afford the rest of the pants."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Pedro Flores, who said he entered the Chicago drug-dealing business when he was about 7 or 8 years old, translating deals for his father and helping to load and unload shipments, said he could determine cocaine quality just by looking at the brick.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
“The farther you get from the border, the higher the price of cocaine,” explained Pedro Flores, who dealt in Chicago. “The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.” He said that Chicago was an important area geographically because “you’re practically halfway to anywhere.”


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
At that point, Pedro and his brother were already moving huge loads of coke for the Sinaloa cartel across the Midwest and in NYC through a middleman, but after the meeting, Pedro said, they struck a w/Chapo and partner Mayo Zambada to move Sinaloan coke directly.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Before meeting Chapo, Pedro said, he & his brother also met w/Mayo in Culiacan and at sit down w/ a bunch of cartel bigwigs. Mayo said "any of these idiots" could sell coke in Mexico, but it took a lot to sell in the US. "Imagine if you guys were triplets," Mayo admiringly said.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Pedro described being flown into the mountains of Sinaloa to meet Chapo in 2005. He said landing on a clandestine was scary — then he and his brother passed by a man who was being held prisoner. He was naked and chained to a tree. He wasn't sure what happened to that guy.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
The best cocaine has a “pearly” quality he said. “We call it a fishtail,” Pedro Flores said.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Thus began a series of meetings w/Chapo, which we'll hear more about soon. But Pedro showed a sense of humor at the second meeting w/Chapo. He arrived at the meeting with a gift: a pair of jeans shorts.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Later, Pedro said he returned to the mountains for another meeting with Chapo and brought him a gift: "A pair of jean shorts, in a big Viagra box."

He said Chapo loved it: "He laughed."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
When a former partner kidnapped Pedro Flores, he was kept in a bed for 16 days, losing 30 pounds, he said. Then, he was taken handcuffed into a car and dropped off in a field, where he was slipped the keys and told to “count to 100” before getting out.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Pedro Flores recalled that when his twin helped him escape a kidnapping, he flashed his lights on the side of the highway. “He said I stink,” Pedro recalled upon seeing him. Then he gave him a hug.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
More testimony coming after this afternoon break. Will update again around 4:30pm ET. In the meantime, listen to the new episode of our podcast about the Flores twins. It covers a lot of what Pedro has described so far.

EP 8: The Trial
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 26m26 minutes ago
The naked-guy-chained-to-the-tree meeting was the beginning of a remarkable journey for Pedro Flores. He grew up in a drug dealing family in Chicago and by his 20s was the Sinaloa cartel's major US wholesaler--before turning on Chapo and his crew in 2008.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 24m24 minutes ago
From 2005 to 2008, he said, he received an astonishing 38 tons of coke from Chapo and Chapo's partner, Mayo. In return, he said, he sent more than $800 million in cash back to his Mexican suppliers.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 22m22 minutes ago
Pedro is now 37, but his criminal career began at 7 when he helped his father, Margarito Sr., translate during drug deals in Chicago, and load & unload drug shipments from cars. In 1998, his older brother was arrested, and he & Margarito Jr (known as J) rose in the family ranks.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 18m18 minutes ago
By 2001, he said, he and J were getting coke from Lupe Ledesma, one of Chapo's guys in the cartel. The bros were based in Chicago, which Pedro said had great rails, roads, airports & waterways. The city was good for distribution, he noted, being "halfway from everywhere."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 16m16 minutes ago
After hearing so much about Mexico, Pedro talked about a truly American landscape: drug pickups at a Denny's, a warehouse overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge, routes to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Memphis etc. There was even a story about hiding coke in a "cover load" of 150 live sheep.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 15m15 minutes ago
He was also one of the first big witnesses to testify in English, using a soft-spoken, but hard-boiled American criminal lingo. Speaking of a coke seizure, he said, he "took a hit and lost some work." He accidentally mistook a reference to car keys to "keys" of cocaine.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13m13 minutes ago
After being indicted in Milwaukee in 2004, Pedro and J moved to Guadalajara, Mexico. At that point, they were still working with their middleman, Lupe Ledesma. But after losing one of Lupe's loads to theft, Lupe took revenge. It was chilling.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 11m11 minutes ago
Lupe summoned Pedro to a meeting and, 10 minutes in, 20 Mexican federales came into the room. Pedro was stripped, cuffed, blindfolded and placed in a squad car. For the next two weeks, he was held in a cell. He got sick, lost 30 pounds and thought he was going to die.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 9m9 minutes ago
Then one day, w/o explanation, he was taken from the cell to a remote area. Still cuffed & blindfolded, something was put in his pocket. Then he was knocked to the ground. A voice said, "Your lucky--your brother saved you." He was given a handcuff key and abandoned.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7m7 minutes ago
When he uncuffed himself, he realized the thing in his pocket was a cellphone and he immediately called J who was ultimately able to find him.
When J arrived he described how he'd met Chapo. Chapo had decided to spare Pedro's life.
He also decided to take revenge against Lupe...


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
A few years later Chapo's men suffocated Lupe w/a plastic bag.
At a later meeting Pedro confessed to Chapo that he'd been afraid the first time they met, saying he feared he too would be killed.
Chapo laughed. The cartel didn't kill everyone, he said, "only the ones we have to."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 57s58 seconds ago
All of this became too much for Pedro when he wife got pregnant. His father was in prison when he & J were born, he said, and he wanted something better for his loved ones.
"I couldn't promise my family tomorrow," he said.
So he and J reached out to the DEA.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 13m13 minutes ago
This was perhaps the most riveting day yet at El Chapo's trial. Pedro Flores still on the witness stand, testifying about how he secretly taped calls with cartel members. Last thing we heard was a recording of him discussing a heroin deal with Chapo's son Alfredillo Guzman.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 9m9 minutes ago
They started meetings w/agents in Mexico who wanted their help in making a case against Chapo & his allies. The bros went to a Radio Shack and bought cheap digital recorders w/earpiece mics. Every time they recorded a call, they sent it to the DEA.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 8m8 minutes ago
The brother finallys turned themselves in on 11/30/2008.
Since then, they have cooperated against some 50 defendants.
Chapo's trial, however, is the first time either one has testified in court.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 11m11 minutes ago
Alan Feuer Retweeted Alan Feuer

A long thread on the remarkable journey of Pedro Flores. Over three decades Flores went from being a young boy in Chicago helping his father translate during drug deals to El Chapo's biggest US distributor, paying the cartel $800 million. Then he betrayed the kingpin to the DEA.

---Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer
Appearing shortly at the Chapo trial: Pedro Flores, one of the twin brothers who distributed massive amounts of cocaine for Chapo in Chicago before betraying him.

9:17 AM - 18 Dec 2018

Alan Feuer on Twitter
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4m4 minutes ago
Story just published @vicenews. To quote Pedro Flores, who used this phrase to describe frantically unloading 250 kilos of cocaine at his Chicago stash house, “It was a pretty hectic day.”

TWIN BROTHERS FROM CHICAGO SECRETLY TAPED EL CHAPO. ONE JUST TESTIFIED AGAINST HIM.

Dec 18, 2018

"BROOKLYN — Jurors in the trial of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán have heard testimony from more than half a dozen cooperating witnesses, including former Colombian drug lords who shipped tons of cocaine to Mexico, and several of Chapo’s ex-cartel lieutenants and business associates. All but one of them got caught.

Unlike the cartel figures who took the witness stand after cutting deals with prosecutors, Pedro Flores actually sought out the DEA, offering to provide information about Chapo and the cartel while he was still an active member. Along with his identical twin brother Margarito, Pedro secretly recorded phone calls with Chapo and other top Sinaloa cartel leaders before surrendering to the DEA in 2008. On Tuesday, Pedro told his story for the first time in court...."

Twin brothers from Chicago secretly taped El Chapo. One just testified against him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

El Chapo trial becomes New York's latest tourist attraction

"NEW YORK – There was a time, after a spectacular prison escape, when Joaquin Guzman was the most wanted man in the world.

The thrill of being able to see the man known as El Chapo up close — and live to tell the tale — has been drawing curious New Yorkers, fans of TV crime shows and even tourists to the Brooklyn courtroom where the infamous Mexican drug trafficker is being tried on charges that could put him in a U.S. prison for life.

Some days, they are just two people among all the prosecutors, reporters, security officials and team of lawyers who fill up the courtroom. Other days you may see five. They sit up straight in the spectator area and look up so they can see Guzman's face. They also look with curiosity at his wife, Emma Coronel, who sits in the courtroom's public gallery nearly every day.

"It was surreal. It was like I was seeing the (Netflix) TV show 'El Chapo,'" said spectator Peter Stolt, 23, who attended three days of the trial in November and hopes to show up for at least one more....

Not all days are exciting.

Some members of the jury have dozed off when technical aspects of law enforcement drug searches have been explained. Guzman, however, always seems to pay attention, looking at witnesses when they speak and whispering to his lawyers' ears.

For those interested in going, there is still time. The trial may last for two more months."

El Chapo trial becomes New York's latest tourist attraction
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

El Chapo Allegedly Got Meth Ingredients From Colombian Drug Lord's Sister

DEC 18, 2018

"The saga of one of history's most notorious drug lords, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, recently got a whole lot more interesting as he's gone on trial. Recently it was revealed that he reportedly operated a cocaine train from Mexico to New York City, with his cartel bringing in somewhere between $500 million to $800 million on that route alone. Now it's been reported that the Mexican drug lord reportedly sourced meth ingredients from the sister of a notorious Colombian drug trafficker.

On Monday, Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa returned to the witness stand to detail Chapo's dealings. The New York Daily News reports that Cifuentes said Chapo sought a deal with his sister Dolly and brother Alex after Cifuentes declined to offer Chapo the ingredients to manufacture meth he had requested from him, claiming that Chapo bought ephedrine, a precursor to meth, from the two siblings...."

El Chapo Allegedly Got Meth Ingredients From Colombian Drug Lord's Sister
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

El Chapo’s 'rage-filled' attorney: There isn’t a case I can’t win

"Almost four decades after seeing "The Verdict," a critically acclaimed Paul Newman legal drama that motivated a young Jeffrey Lichtman to a career in law, the noted defense attorney is drawing critical response of his own as the man flanking the world's most notorious accused drug kingpin: Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

“Criminal law was the only area of law that had any interest for me. It was the only area that I felt had any real drama, any real life or death moments. I enjoy the pressure,” Lichtman told Fox News, in an interview Saturday. “I wanted that responsibility, I didn’t want to fight about money, I didn’t want to fight about a property. I wanted to fight about liberty.”

Lichtman faces a massive U.S. government prosecution case against Guzman, but said despite what some have characterized as the myths and mayhem surrounding the accused druglord, he can win an acquittal.

“What drives me, what makes me rage-filled is the thought that anybody is not taking me seriously enough in my ability to win a case,” Lichtman said. “Nothing gets me crazier than the thought that someone thinks I can’t win or doesn’t appreciate my abilities....

Court filings revealed Guzman had met with at least 16 private lawyers ahead of the trial, eventually settling on three – Lichtman, Eduardo Balarezo, and William Purpura. Lichtman said that the sheer volume of material to wade through makes having a three-man trial team a necessity....

“I don’t care what anybody thinks about about this case other than the 12 jurors. I don’t worry about what friends think. I don’t worry about what family thinks, I don’t care what people in the community think,” Lichtman added. “This is what I do and if you don’t like it, you can drop dead.”"

El Chapo’s 'rage-filled' attorney: There isn’t a case I can’t win

(Joaquin Guzman's defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman speaks to reporters as he leaves Brooklyn Federal court after opening arguments in the trial of the Mexican drug lord known as "El Chapo," Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, in New York. [AP Photo/Mary Altaffer] [Mary Altaffer / AP])

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whereabouts of El Chapo's missing beauty queen wife revealed

DEC 18, 2018

"El Chapo’s wife hasn’t left the Mexican drug lord in the dust, his lawyers said Tuesday.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, who attended every day of her husband’s trafficking trial in Brooklyn until her startling absence Monday and Tuesday, is simply taking a break to handle personal matters and spend Christmas with the couple’s 7-year-old twin daughters in Mexico, the lawyers said.

She’s “dealing with the kids,” defense lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said Tuesday.

“She is fine. Just had to take care of some things,” fellow defense lawyer A. Eduardo Balarezo said...."

Whereabouts of El Chapo's missing beauty queen wife revealed - NY Daily News

(Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, sat in the courtroom Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, as Guzman's high-security trial got underway in Brooklyn Federal Court. [Elizabeth Williams / AP])
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Chicago-born 'El Chapo' cocaine distributor describes national U.S. drug-selling network (with clip)

Dec. 18, 2018

"NEW YORK — Chicago-born cocaine trafficker Pedro Flores on Tuesday told a spellbound jury that accused Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán supplied him with tons of narcotics that he distributed to cities across the U.S.

Baring secrets of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, Flores depicted Guzmán as a gun-toting boss who at least once gave an apparent order to execute an underling — all as Guzmán watched and listened from a seat across the Brooklyn federal courtroom....

Continuing testimony this week from the 37-year-old witness is expected to feature wiretapped calls of Guzmán discussing cocaine shipments. Flores ultimately turned himself in to U.S. authorities in 2008, becoming a cooperating government witness against Guzmán and others....

As he left the courtroom, Cifuentes crossed his arms in front of his chest as he gestured toward Guzmán.

"I don't know what it meant, but I didn't take it positively," said Angel Eduardo Balarezo, a Guzmán defense attorney."

Chicago-born 'El Chapo' cocaine distributor describes national U.S. drug-selling network
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
This is Pedro Flores (left) and his brother Margarito, who goes by Junior or J.

Pedro is 37 now and looked much older when he was on the witness stand. He still has a dark buzz cut and stubble on his cheeks, but he's been locked up since mid-2008 and prison ages you.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 5m5 minutes ago
Pedro and his brother began their apprenticeship in the drug trade at age 7, when they began translating deals for their father, Margarito Sr. Their wives described to me how young twins would use their tiny arms to retrieve drugs their dad had hidden in car gas tanks.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
The twins grew up in Little Village on the West Side of Chicago. It's the largest Mexican-American community in the Midwest and the second-largest nationally. It was a rough neighborhood. Pedro testified today that El Mayo Zambada told him he once sold drugs there.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 42m42 minutes ago
Pedro Flores testified that El Mayo told him: "Any idiot could sell drugs in Mexico. It's very difficult to sell drugs like that in the U.S."

The twins took over the family business at age 17, after their older brother was arrested. By 2001, they were dealing hundreds of kilos.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 36m36 minutes ago
The Denny's in suburban Chicago where the twins would pick up vans loaded w/ kilos of cocaine. The car keys would be inside.

Funny moment w/ prosecutor and Pedro today: “What would you do with the keys?”

“I’d unload them in my stash house.”

“I’m sorry, I meant the car keys.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 32m32 minutes ago
The twins fled Chicago in 2003 because they were under federal indictment. Once in Mexico, it only took them six months to connect with El Chapo.

Here's a map that shows their cocaine distribution routes around that time.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 31m31 minutes ago
The story of how the twins connected with Chapo is utterly insane. It involves Pedro getting kidnapped and Junior taking a harrowing plane ride into the mountains of Sinaloa to ask Chapo for help.

Read this: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/qvqabp/twin-brothers-from-chicago-secretly-taped-el-chapo-one-just-testified-against-him …


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 29m29 minutes ago
Pedro testified today that from 2005 to 2008, he and his brother distributed over 60 tons of cocaine across the US for the Sinaloa cartel. He estimated that they earned Chapo and Mayo around $800 million.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Then in 2008, the twins got caught up in the war between Chapo and Arturo Beltrán-Leyva. Pedro: “For years me and my brother had enjoyed a sweet spot in the cartel. We could focus on making money, we didn’t have to worry about all that other stuff, and that was about to change.”


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 21m21 minutes ago
The twins decided to contact the DEA. They offered to tape their calls and conversations with Chapo and his associates. Only the DEA wasn't very helpful. They had to go to Radio Shack and buy cheap digital recorders. Their wives told us the same thing in our podcast interview.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 16m16 minutes ago
Here's a convo the twins got on tape. It's with Alfredo Vazquez, one of Chapo's lieutenants.

They're discussing two cocaine shipments. One that belongs to Chapo, and another coming on a narco-sub from Colombia.

Transcript: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5636009-GX609A-10T-1.html …

Pedro and Margarito Flores call with Alfredo Vazquez
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 9m9 minutes ago
The twins also distributed heroin for the Sinaloa cartel, but on a smaller scale. Pedro estimated today that he and his brother moved around 200 kilos worth $10 million. In one those deals, they worked with El Chapo's son, Alfredo Guzmán-Salazar aka Alfredillo.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 8m8 minutes ago
Here's a recording that features Alfredillo arranging a heroin deal for his dad with Margarito Flores. Pedro said that ringtone you can hear in the background was his DEA handler calling him on another line.

Margarito Flores call with El Chapo's son Alfredo Guzmán


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 5m5 minutes ago
Here's the transcript of the call that the Flores twins secretly recorded with Alfredillo Guzmán. The number he gives them belongs to El Chapo.

The jury hasn't yet heard what happens on that next phone call, but it's covered in our podcast. Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GXfOInuGWBMQlgyR9bR0W …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4m4 minutes ago
That's all for tonight. Pedro Flores will be back on the witness stand tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for updates.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Late tweets from Emily:

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 47m47 minutes ago
When he first met El Chapo in May 2005, Pedro Flores recalls that he was wearing jean shorts, a t-shirt and some jewelry. El Chapo looked him over. “With all that money, can’t you afford the rest of the pants?” he asked.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 45m45 minutes ago
On a later visit, Pedro Flores gifted El Chapo a pair of shorts, which he placed in a box that looked like the one Viagra comes in. El Chapo laughed at the presentation.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 45m45 minutes ago
Pedro Flores's first gift to El Chapo didn’t go over so well. On that first visit (donning his own pair of laughable shorts), Pedro gave him two gold-plated guns. “I guess I was watching too many movies,” he said of the gift. The guns, each weighing 15 pounds, were impractical.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 43m43 minutes ago
Cartels use police reports and news articles to verify supposed drug seizures between handlers. Pedro Flores recalls that after telling El Chapo that “anyone could write” one such news article, El Chapo responded: “Execute him” of the man he held responsible.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 43m43 minutes ago
Perhaps (subjectively) the best cartel nickname we’ve heard so far: “Pocos Pelos” meaning “Few Hairs.” Although the witness didn’t directly confirm, I’ll hazard to guess the cartel member was almost bald.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 43m43 minutes ago
In a story that could be written for a telenovela, Pedro Flores told the jury that El Chapo helped him kidnap a partner-turned-enemy called Lupe, by supplying his team with iron-on federal police badges - part of an elaborate disguise used by some 25 men in the kidnapping.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 43m43 minutes ago
Originally, skimping on money, Pedro Flores bought stolen cars to help execute the kidnapping, but El Chapo did not approve, telling him “to buy the vehicles brand new if I had to, but not to do that again,” Flores recalled.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 42m42 minutes ago
Pocos Pelos would eventually kidnap and kill Lupe (who was extorting Pedro Flores for $6.6 million) by covering his head with a plastic bag and suffocating him. (Lupe owed El Chapo, who was behind the murder, $10 million.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 41m41 minutes ago
No one told Pedro Flores that Lupe had been murdered, but, once, when he mentioned a rumor that Lupe was nearby, he was assured he shouldn’t be concerned. He said he took that as a sign that his partner-turned-enemy was dead.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 40m40 minutes ago
Pedro Flores (of Chicago) kept stash houses in New York. “I would choose the best neighborhoods,” he recalled, adding that these homes were “less suspicious,” and he’d be less likely to have police interference.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 40m40 minutes ago
Flores said that a woman who found locations for stash houses throughout New York once called him as she looked out the window of one such posh stash house. He recalls her saying that “she had a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 39m39 minutes ago
Between 2005 and November 30, 2008, when he turned himself in, Pedro Flores said that he sold more than 60 tons of cocaine from Mexican cartels. Almost two-thirds of that (at least 38 tons) belonged to El Chapo and El Mayo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 38m38 minutes ago
During 2005-2008, cocaine sold for about $21,000/ kilo, Flores said. The math comes out to him sending more than $800 million to El Chapo and El Mayo during a 3 ½ year period … and that’s just for their cocaine. (He also sold their heroin.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 38m38 minutes ago
Pedro Flores said that in November 2008 he turned himself in because his wife was pregnant “and I began to think of a future -- of the lack of a future.” He added: “I couldn’t promise them tomorrow.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 36m36 minutes ago
The other (not so feel-good) reason for quitting the cartel business, Pedro Flores explained, was that El Chapo and El Mayo had dug deep into a war with the Beltran-Leyvas, and after doing business with both, he was afraid for his life.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 35m35 minutes ago
“For years my brother and I had enjoyed a sweet spot in the cartel, where all we had to worry about was making money.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 35m35 minutes ago
While helping the DEA, Pedro Flores continued selling drugs (more than $5 million worth). “I planned to just keep the money,” he said. “This was the money we were going to live off of the rest of our lives.” He also got his wife a brand new Bentley, worth $200,000.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 33m33 minutes ago
With his plea deal, Pedro Flores, one of Chapo’s dealers in Chicago, was sentenced to 14 years. (He’ll only serve 10.) Without such a deal, he would’ve served life, although the sentence for his crimes could’ve surpassed that. But, he said: “I could only give them one life.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 31m31 minutes ago
Pedro Flores erected billboards while in prison. The defense objected to the story.

Prosecutor: “I’d like to document his vulnerabilities."

Defense attorney: "We’ll be here all day."

(The billboards broadcast a love letter to Flores's wife, see @Keegan_Hamilton’s podcast.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 29m29 minutes ago
In a rare sharing circle moment in El Chapo’s trial, the judge heard out members of the press regarding a sketch that may have revealed too many attributes of the anonymous jury, who are identified with numbers. (The court prohibited depiction of their likeness from the start.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Niner]

Wednesday, Dec. 19th:
*Trial continues (Day 21) (@ 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 17
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.
12/18/18 Day 20: State witnesses: Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa. Pedro Flores. (He & his twin brother Margarito grew up in Chicago & became two of the Sinaloa cartel's main distributors in the US). Trial continues on 12/19.

 

[YESorNO]

El Chapo trial witness describes meeting the boss, and the naked man chained nearby

December 18, 2018

"...Flores met with the DEA in Mexico in early 2008 but kept up his drug sales. Flores said it would have been suspicious if he stopped.

Instead, Flores said he spent $40 million of his own money on drugs that the DEA was tracking and then seizing.

"My brother and I were alone. We didn't have a DEA swat team in the next room. It was just us."...

During his last meeting with Guzman, Flores testified, he told him about how nervous he was meeting him for the first time.
He told Guzman, "I had this idea like in the movies. You had a line of people shooting them in the head and saying, 'Next.' "

Guzman and the armed men surrounding him all broke out in laughter.

"He said in a serious tone 'no,'" Flores said. " 'Only to the ones we have to.' "

Flores is expected to continue his testimony on Wednesday."

"El Chapo" trial: Pedro Flores testifies about how he met Joaquin Guzman - CNN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turncoat twin testifies at El Chapo trial as defense explains absence of Mexican drug lord's wife

DEC 18, 2018

"El Chapo’s operatives set up swanky stash houses in New York City’s nicest neighborhoods, including one that looked out over the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, according to a witness at the reputed drug kingpin’s trial.

Turncoat witness Pedro Flores , a one-time associate in Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s alleged drug operation, said he never knew where the stash houses were located, but he knew they were nice.

“We were trying to minimize our contact with law enforcement,.” Flores said.

Flores told jurors he instructed his workers to keep the stash spots a secret — even from him.

But he did get a description of one of the locations from a woman who worked for the operation.

“It was a beautiful property,” Flores said, recounting the woman’s description. “She was looking out the window and had a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge.”...

Guzmán’s wife, meanwhile, was a no-show at his Brooklyn trial for a second day. Defense lawyers said the reason Emma Coronel Aispuro missed back-to-back days after perfect attendance over the last five weeks was sedate — she’s spending the Christmas holiday with the couple’s twin 7-year-old twin daughters in Mexico.

“She is fine,”defense lawyer A. Eduardo Balarezo said. “Just had to take care of some things,”

Last year, their wives, Olivia and Mia Flores, published the acclaimed memoir, “Cartel Wives.”"


Turncoat twin testifies at El Chapo trial as defense explains absence of Mexican drug lord's wife - NY Daily News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Fun fact of the day from the Chapo trial:

Pedro Flores, Chapo's main US distributor, once bought him two 50-cal Desert Eagle guns (see below) as a gift. Chapo wasn't happy. The guns which weigh 15 lbs or so weren't realistic.

"I guess I was watching too many movies," Pedro said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Keegan Hamilton

Correction to this tweet: The cell number belongs to the twins and Chapo is supposed to call it, not the other way around.

----Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton
Here's the transcript of the call that the Flores twins secretly recorded with Alfredillo Guzmán. The number he gives them belongs to El Chapo.

The jury hasn't yet heard what happens on that next phone call, but it's covered in our podcast. Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3GXfOInuGWBMQlgyR9bR0W …

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------