Alan Feuer @alanfeuer 19m19 minutes ago
This morning at the Chapo trial we heard two phone calls of Chapo arranging the details of a 20 kilo heroin deal in Chicago. Both were secretly recorded by
Pedro Flores, Chapo's main American distributor, on a cheap Radio Shack digital recorder in 11/2008. They were very damning.
Keegan HamiltonVerified account @keegan_hamilton 18m18 minutes ago
#BREAKING @vicenews: We just heard El Chapo caught on tape discussing a shipment of 20 kilos of heroin to Chicago with Pedro Flores. The existence of that recording has long been known, but this is the first time it's been played in open court. It's a smoking gun.
Keegan HamiltonVerified account @keegan_hamilton 17m17 minutes ago
Chapo is very friendly in the call. He starts off by calling Pedro "Amigo!" and tells him, "We're here at your service, you know that." Pedro said today: "He's always courteous, that's the way he speaks to people."
Alan Feuer @alanfeuer 17m17 minutes ago
In the first, "The Man," as Flores liked to call Chapo, is heard agreeing to a discount of $5000 per kilo. He also wants a courier to pick up his money in Chicago and says he'll call Flores back.
Alan Feuer @alanfeuer 15m15 minutes ago
The second call is 30 minutes later. Chapo again mentions, completely unguardedly, that Chicago is the pick up point and even mentions his courier's name (Lazaro.) Then he puts another guy on the line to give Flores Lazaro's number and to set Benjamin as Flore's code name.
Emily PalmerVerified account @emilyepalmer 22m22 minutes ago
Pedro Flores kept a phone with just two numbers in it: his own and another with a 631 area code. The prosecutor asked whose number it was. “That’s the man’s number,” he said. And then to clarify: “I’m sorry: Chapo’s number.”
Emily PalmerVerified account @emilyepalmer 20m20 minutes ago
We spent the morning listening to calls Pedro Flores recorded using devices he bought at the Radioshack. On a call with Chapo, he alerted the drug kingpin that he’d received an extra two kilos of heroin. Why so honest? You trade on your word, he said.
Keegan HamiltonVerified account @keegan_hamilton 25m25 minutes ago
In the call, Pedro haggles over the price of heroin. He had agreed to pay $55K per kilo, but he's trying to talk Chapo down to $50K. Pedro: "I'm trying to be as normal and routine as possible. On a normal call that would be our conversation. Drop the price and I'll take more."
Keegan HamiltonVerified account @keegan_hamilton 23m23 minutes ago
Chapo agrees to accept $50K per kilo for 20 kilos — making the deal worth an even $1 million. Chapo then makes arrangements for Pedro to make the payment to his people in Chicago. That was discussed in a second call, which we also heard. These convos were on Nov. 15, 2008.
Alan Feuer @alanfeuer 26m26 minutes ago
In a neat twist, that other guy was Alex Cifuentes, the brother of Jorge Cifuentes, a Colombian supplier who spent all last week on the witness stand. We heard quite a bit about how Alex went to work w/Chapo in the mountains. Now here he is on a phone call...
Alan Feuer @alanfeuer 22m22 minutes ago
Flores was working undercover w/the DEA at this point and two weeks after these calls were recorded, he (and his brother Margarito) left the streets and turned themselves in. One imagines that their work was done.
Keegan HamiltonVerified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
More testimony from Pedro Flores happening now. The audio of these calls should be available later today. Stay tuned for updates.
For more about what happened with this heroin deal — and how the recordings were made — listen to episode 8 of our podcast:
EP 8: The Trial
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Sam CharlesVerified account @samjcharles
