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

[YESorNO]

yes, thank you again @YESorNO for all of this concise info right here for whenever we have time to come read it all. And what good reading this is!

And @Niner

 

[Niner]

Wednesday, January 30th:
*Trial continues (Day 37) (@ 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 31.
1/22/19 Day 32: Gov’t witnesses: Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez. Dámaso "Lic" López Nuñez aka El Licenciado. the former deputy director of security and custody at Puente Grande prison in Jalisco, who orchestrated Chapo's epic prison escape through a mile-long tunnel in 2001. Trial continues on 1/23. Prosecutors say the government could rest its case against El Chapo as soon as Thursday. The defense is expected to call its first witness next Monday.
1/23/19 Day 33: Gov’t witnesses: Dámaso López Nuñez aka El Licenciado. Trial continues on 1/24.
1/24/19 Day 34: Gov’t witnesses: Isaias Valdez Rios, aka Memin, a former Mexican special forces guy, spent 10 years working for Chapo. Trial continues on Monday, 1/28. Government could rest their case as early as Monday.
1/28/19 Day 35: Gov’t witnesses: Isaias Valdez Rios aka Memín. James Bradley, a DOD analyst. Brendan Hanratty, a Drug Enforcement Admin special agent. Gov't rests. Defense asked Judge Cogan to direct an acquittal of Guzmán. The judge denied the motion. Chapo is NOT testifying at the trial. 2 witnesses will testify for the defense, likely completing testimony tomorrow a.m 1/29. Wednesday: Gov’t summations. Thursday: Defense summations. The jury could start deliberating on Friday.
1/29/19 Day 36: Defense witness: FBI agent Paul F. Roberts, Jr. Defense rests. Wed. 1/30 Gov’t closing arguments.

 

[YESorNO]

"Narcos" actor shows up at El Chapo trial to see the man he portrays on TV (with clip)

Jan 29, 2019

"...Closing arguments will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday....

There was another dramatic moment at the courthouse in Brooklyn on Monday when the actor who plays El Chapo on television, showed up in court. Alejandro Edda seemed almost starstruck by his face-to-face encounter with the infamous drug kingpin he plays in the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico."

"He was just right there – that's the man, Señor Guzman," Edda said.

He smiled and waved at Edda. The actor said he came to see El Chapo in person to help make his portrayal be as truthful as possible.

"I was shaking in a way. Inside, I didn't know what to do. I just paid him my respect, just saying like through the distance and it was a very surreal moment, I have to be honest, looking at his eyes," Edda said.

Edda, however, was not shaken in his belief that El Chapo, once the most wanted man in the world, belongs behind bars.

"I think he's guilty. There's many many things horrendous that he did," Edda said...."

"Narcos" actor shows up at El Chapo trial to see the man he portrays on TV - CBS News
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 49m49 minutes ago
Hello from Day 37 of El Chapo’s trial.

Today we get the government’s closing argument.

This is the scene in the entryway to the courthouse. It’s 5am in Brooklyn and 25 journalists and members of the public have already lined up for seats in the courtroom.

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[YESorNO]

Late Tweets from 1/29/2019:

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13h13 hours ago
I want to clarify this tweet:
It was meant to say: Top notch defense lawyers will always jump at the opportunity to defend a big client--even in a tough case like this one. (I.e. How could they not?)
It was not a slight against the efforts of the legal team in Chapo's case.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 10h10 hours ago
Some people call me Mols

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Starting to get a bit heated as folks arrive late and realize they may not get a seat in the courtroom…

(video clip: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
The court security officers have restored order and lined everyone up in the order they arrived. Gracias to @SeishinNY for keeping the list, as she has almost every day of the trial.

(video clip: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Now passing through the first security checkpoint so no more photos or video. No electronics allowed inside the courtroom so you won’t hear or see anything from the closing arguments. Stay tuned for updates during breaks.


Keegan Hamilton Retweeted
Marisa Céspedes‏ @SeishinNY 4h4 hours ago
Dia 37 juicio contra #ElChapo asi amanece corte federal de Brooklyn atiborrada para entrar a escuchar conclusiones finales de la fiscalía

(Google translate: Day 37 trial against #ElChapo so the federal court of Brooklyn dawns to hear the final conclusions of the prosecution.)

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
It's barely 615 am and already more than 50 (?) journalists are lined up outside Federal District Court in Brooklyn to hear the government's closing arguments this morning at the Chapo trial.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Packed into the courthouse vestibule like a crowd at a rock concert, they're at least out of the subfreezing New York wind. At one point this week, court officials were considering opening a second overflow courtroom for the crowd but decided not to at the last moment.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Prosecutors are expected to spend much, if not most, of the day taking jurors through the epic case. There are 10 counts in the indictment and the trial testimony spanned nearly 30 years of Chapo's career, from his peasant days in La Tuna to his height of narco lord opulence.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
The defense will give their own summations on Thursday and the jury could get the case by Friday morning--if the panelists decide they want to sit that day. The trial has typically been off on Fridays but Judge Cogan has asked the jurors if they would consider deliberating then.



Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 4h4 hours ago
Molly Crane-Newman Retweeted Marisa Céspedes
Won’t miss the early starts, but I’ll sure miss working with all of these people. Lo mejor que uno puede encontrarse en esta plaza.

---Marisa Céspedes‏ @SeishinNY
Dia 37 juicio contra #ElChapo asi amanece corte federal de Brooklyn atiborrada para entrar a escuchar conclusiones finales de la fiscalía

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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
¿Quien es la “Sra. Chapo?” Mi entrevista exclusiva con Emma Coronel Aispuro, que incluye un perfil de la esposa del narcotraficante en su propias palabras, mensajes de texto y tres meses de testimonios en el juicio.

(Google translate: Who is the "Mrs. Chapo? "My exclusive interview with Emma Coronel Aispuro, which includes a profile of the drug dealer's wife in her own words, text messages and three months of testimony at trial.)

Emma Coronel Aispuro Talks About Her Life as El Chapo’s Wife
The 29-year-old who married Mexico’s most notorious drug lord as a teenager discusses their courtship and the weeks of testimony depicting her husband as a cruel killer.

Jan. 30, 2019

"In the past month, Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of the drug lord known as El Chapo, has become a controversial central character in her husband’s trial.

A witness named her as a co-conspirator in his infamous maximum-security prison break in 2015. Transcripts of text messages between the husband and wife showed him asking her to stash his weapons ahead of a raid. The morning one of El Chapo’s mistresses took the stand, Ms. Coronel and her husband wore matching maroon velvet suit jackets in what appeared to be a show of solidarity.

Over the course of Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s three-month trial, witnesses for the prosecution have described a grim life for the women in and around the cartel who are often expected to balance a role that walks the line between lover and accomplice. Most fail, usually wanting to be too much of one, and not enough of the other. They often end up behind bars or in hiding.

But Ms. Coronel, the most prominent female presence in a trial of almost exclusively male players, has emerged as the exception.

Over 10 weeks, prosecutors have called 56 witnesses who have portrayed her husband as a vengeful drug trafficker, a bloodthirsty killer and an habitual philanderer. Ms. Coronel has appeared in court almost every day, a stone-faced fixture in her reserved seat in the second row.

As a result of trial testimony, her husband is almost certainly going to prison for the rest of his life. But Ms. Coronel, who has enjoyed the spoils of a drug empire that prosecutors have estimated allowed the kingpin to bank $14 billion over the course of his 30-year reign, dismissed the courtroom characterizations of her husband.

“I don’t know my husband as the person they are trying to show him as,” Ms. Coronel told The New York Times in one of several interviews conducted in Spanish. “But rather I admire him as the human being that I met, and the one that I married.”

Most would balk at Ms. Coronel’s admiration for her husband, one of the most notorious drug lords in Latin American who, according to one witness, was powerful enough to pay off a former Mexican president.

The case has been so strong — in the last week a witness detailed how Mr. Guzmán had a man buried alive — that El Chapo’s own legal team only mustered a 30-minute defense on Tuesday after the prosecution rested its case.

Married couples cannot be compelled to testify against each other, but recent trial developments have left many wondering how Ms. Coronel has managed to avoid criminal charges.

Prosecutors declined to answer questions about why she is not in legal peril, and Ms. Coronel also has refused to comment on the court proceedings. But the testimony, if true, only compounds the good-wife narrative.

Now more than ever, she is linked to her husband.

“If you hear ‘Emma Coronel’ and you know who Emma Coronel is, then you’re going to think: El Chapo,” said Miguel Ángel Vega, a reporter for the news site RioDoce, based in Culiacán.

Ms. Coronel, 29, became El Chapo’s wife as a teenager in 2007 and a mother while in her early 20s. Her husband — more than twice her age and married multiple times — has been either incarcerated or on the run for their entire married life.

The trial has led Ms. Coronel to split her time between two countries; the couple’s 7-year-old twin daughters are in school in Mexico. She said she stays in touch with them through group messaging.

“I have had to be separated from my daughters to accompany him now that I am the only person in his family that can be here in New York with him,” Ms. Coronel said.

Since Mr. Guzmán’s extradition in January 2017, their twins, Emali and Maria Joaquina, have been able to see their father during court appearances and through closely supervised visits to jail.

“He always was a father very present to the attention of our daughters,” she said of her husband. She described the girls as “the adoration of their father and he is the adoration of them.”

The twins are the only approved visitors who can currently see him at the undisclosed location where he is being held. (Ms. Coronel has not once been allowed to visit or speak with him, even by phone.)

“I don’t consider myself a single mother,” Ms. Coronel said. “More so, a mother who in this moment doesn’t have the support of her husband, but trusts that the family will be well.”

Still, she acknowledged, “Obviously, our life changed.”

Ms. Coronel met Mr. Guzmán at a ranch in Durango, Mexico, when she was 17. Mr. Guzmán, then in his late 40s and well-established at the top of the Sinaloa cartel, had been on the run some six years after making a daring escape from prison in a laundry cart in 2001.

Although 32 years separate them in age, from that first day “a lovely friendship” started between the couple, Ms. Coronel told The Times. “With the passing of months we became girlfriend and boyfriend,” she recalled. “And when I turned 18 years old, we married in a very simple ceremony with family and only close friends.”

Ms. Coronel, who rarely gives interviews, insisted she leads a normal life. Born in California, she grew up in the northwestern Mexican state of Durango, neighboring Mr. Guzmán’s own Sinaloa. Both states make up part of the Golden Triangle of marijuana production. Still, the version of her life story she shared excluded any mention of drugs — even though court testimony has suggested that her father worked for the Sinaloa cartel.

Instead, she briefly mentioned a “very tranquil, simple childhood, within a loving, unified family,” adding that she grew up with two brothers and a sister “whom I love.” Stories about her in Mexico have said that she won a beauty pageant as a teenager, but most details about her personal life remain a mystery.

Mr. Vega, who also co-hosts a Vice podcast about El Chapo, said he believes the couple’s love story is genuine.

“Can you imagine a 17-year-old who just happens to win a beauty pageant contest and then this powerful man tries to conquer her heart?” he said. “I believe that she was seduced by that power, by that name. Just the name.”

That romance has now brought her to New York City, where during the time of her husband’s imprisonment she has attended a Yankees game, walked through Central Park and often dines at a favorite sky-view sushi spot in Brooklyn.

On a recent day, Ms. Coronel walked out of a hotel lobby in Brooklyn, bundled against 40-degree weather in a black, fur-trimmed puff jacket, alongside two female friends — an attorney and her real estate agent. She looked around for a black Camry that would take her into Manhattan for a photo shoot.

The city is not new to her, she said. She has seen tourist attractions, like the Empire State Building, on other visits.
When asked about her night life in the city, Ms. Coronel replied, “I prefer to sleep.” The trial, she said, has been exhausting.

Once inside the car, there was a general rejoicing that it was finally Friday — a day off from the trial to sleep in.

Ms. Coronel had been central to the drama that unfolded in court before the defense rested its case.

Prosecutors shared the couple’s text messages from 2012, which showed her preparing for a potential raid at the home where she was staying that February.

“Any weapons there, love? Do you have a gun?” Mr. Guzmán asked in one exchange.

“I have one of yours. That you gave me,” she responded.

He instructed her to hide it in a clavo, or hidden compartment, in the home.

Last week, Dámaso López Núñez, 52, a former prison director turned high-ranking cartel member, testified that Ms. Coronel helped orchestrate her husband’s 2015 prison escape.

Over the course of four months in early 2015, Mr. López said Ms. Coronel met with him and Mr. Guzmán’s sons to carry out Mr. Guzmán’s jailhouse directives: purchase a plot of land and bodega close to the prison; secure weapons, an armored pickup truck and a GPS wristwatch to pinpoint his exact cell coordinates; and dig a tunnel stretching from the prison to the bodega.

In July 2015, Mr. Guzmán shimmied down a hole dug under his shower, mounted a pulley-run cycle and rode it the length of the nearly mile-long tunnel. One of Ms. Coronel’s brothers was waiting for him at the bodega with an A.T.V., which they rode to an airstrip in San Juan, according to testimony. From there, Mr. Guzmán flew home to the mountains of Sinaloa.

Ms. Coronel declined to comment when asked about Mr. López’s allegations that she had helped her husband escape.

Throughout the trial, Ms. Coronel has betrayed little emotion — even on the day when one of Mr. Guzmán’s mistresses sobbed on the stand.

Ms. Coronel’s outward composure has faltered only once, the lone day she brought her daughters to court in December. On that day, the prosecution rolled in a cart filled with AK-47s and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. When she saw the weapons, Ms. Coronel flew out of the courtroom, escorting her daughters into a hallway filled with United States marshals.

Without singling out any incident, Ms. Coronel has noted her dislike for what has happened in court. It has been “demasiado,” too much, she said. “I hate drama.”

One day after court, Mr. Guzmán scanned the gallery. His wife smiled, leaning across the bench. They did not, could not, speak to one another. A flank of marshals escorted him out of the room, and she turned solemn.

“This situation that we are forging through right now is difficult and heavy,” she said. “However, I have faith and I am convinced that God puts us only through obstacles that we can overcome, and I trust that it will be how it is.”"

El Chapo’s Wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, Has No Regrets

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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
“I don’t know my husband as the person they are trying to show him as,” Emma Coronel told me in one of several interviews. “But rather I admire him as the human being that I met and the one that I married.”

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Turning from the conventional role of the aggrieved wife, Emma Coronel hasn't cried once. After her husband’s mistress broke into guttural sobs, Emma and Chapo appeared in matching maroon velvet jackets. A plan? “Coincidencia,” Emma said with a knowing laugh. PC: Jane Rosenberg

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
An Instagram account Emma Coronel disavows (L) includes posts reading like love letters to her husband. She recently created a new account:
@therealemmacoronel (R), with personal pictures from her time in NYC, often without captions or pretext and never a mention of her husband.

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Here's the proposed verdict sheet and instructions for El Chapo's jury. Note that prosecutors have dropped some charges — it's now a 10-count indictment. If convicted of the CCE charge, he faces mandatory life in prison.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5700232-El-Chapo-proposed-verdict-sheet-proposed-jury.html …

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hard to believe this all started with opening arguments by the government way back on Nov. 13. Feels like yesterday and last year at the same time.

The first page of my notebook from that day…

(And yes, I can read that handwriting.)

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
ICYMI @vicenews: My look back at the 10 most unforgettable moments from El Chapo's trial…

The 10 wildest moments and stories from El Chapo’s trial

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Don't miss this excellent profile of El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel by @emilyepalmer, featuring some quotes from my podcast co-host @MAVEGAO

El Chapo’s Wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, Has No Regrets

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Prosecutors just wheeled a cart into the courtroom loaded with AK-47s, a bulletproof vest, and 8 cardboard boxes presumably filled w/ kilos of drugs The government's closing argument will be delivered by lead prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg from the Eastern District of New York.…


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
As we came into the courtroom this morning for the prosecution's summations, federal agents were laying out 8 boxes--probably filled w/kilos of coke and heroin--on a plastic tarp. They also placed two AK-47s on the prosecution table in front of the jury.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
It's looking like a real old-fashioned stemwinder with narco props is coming.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Speaking for the government today will be Andrea Goldbarg, an assistant US attorney from Brooklyn, who has been working on cartel cases for a decade.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
The government's closing argument is expected last almost all day today as they recap 11 weeks of evidence and testimony for the jury.

The defense will go tomorrow, then the government gets a rebuttal, and then it's in the hands of the jury.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
My story from November @vicenews on the opening statements. Not expecting any fireworks for the closings but then again you just never know with this trial…

El Chapo's lawyer just claimed Mexico's president took “millions in bribes” from Sinaloa cartel
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Just before closings were to start there was some 11th hour juror drama. One of the jurors told the court it was "important" for her to know whether or not Chapo was paying his lawyers.
It's the first time we've had juror issues so far.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
We've got some jury drama at the El Chapo trial:

Before arguments got underway this morning, Judge Cogan said one of the jurors approached his clerk and said "she needs to know whether the defendant is paying for his own lawyers or not because that's important to her."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Judge Cogan spoke w/the juror (they're anonymous) telling her the question "wasn't illogical" but was "impermissible under the law." She had another question: whether Chapo had himself decided on the defense's presentation (or lack of one.) Judge Cogan gave the same answer.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
There was a sidebar conversation about how to proceed, eventually it was decided that Judge Cogan would speak privately w/ the juror. A transcript of that convo was read aloud in court.…


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
…Cogan told the juror it was "perfectly logical" to ask, but the case had to be decided on the evidence.

Juror: "Yes, I've heard the evidence and if that's what I'm basing my decision on, I'm good."

Judge: "You have no doubt about that?"

Juror: "I have no doubt about that."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
The juror also asked the judge whether it was Chapo or his attorneys who decided how to present the defense's case. Cogan's response: "The simple answer is I don't know what happened between the defendant and his attorneys because I'm not allowed to know, and neither are you."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
He asked the juror if she could decide the case solely on the evidence presented in the courtroom. She assured him she could. We reconvene for closings shortly...


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
It seems the juror will be allowed to remain on the case and participate in deliberations. Maybe suggests there's some uncertainty about a verdict in the eyes of at least one juror…


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Remember there was some pretrial drama about El Chapo's legal defense. He had public defenders at first. We still don't know how his current lawyers are getting paid.

Defending El Chapo
Prosecutors want to know why billionaire drug lord El Chapo needs a public defender

Jan 31, 2017

"Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is widely regarded as one of the world’s richest drug lords, but he’s currently enjoying a privilege generally reserved for America’s poorest criminal defendants.

Since the Mexican kingpin was extradited to New York on Jan. 19, he’s been represented by two court-appointed public defenders. El Chapo is due back in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, and federal officials are questioning whether he’s really too poor to afford his own attorney.

On Jan. 27, U.S. Attorney Robert Capers and Arthur Wyatt, the chief of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section in Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, sent a letter to Judge Brian M. Cogan asking the court to look into El Chapo’s financial situation.

“The court should make a strenuous inquiry into whether the defendant is financially unable to afford counsel,” the letter said. “Such an inquiry is necessary to ensure that American taxpayers are not needlessly paying for the representation of Guzman, the billionaire leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, the world’s largest and most prolific drug trafficking organization.”

The letter notes that Forbes magazine once included El Chapo on its list of the world’s richest men, estimating his net worth at more than $1 billion. It also claims the cartel leader was responsible for shipping at least 250 tons of cocaine into the U.S. worth at least $14 billion — money the U.S. wants him to repay through asset forfeiture....

It’s unclear whether El Chapo actually wants to keep his public defenders going forward. In their letter to the judge, the federal officials said the government “is aware that Guzman is making inquiries of private counsel,” and they anticipate he will eventually hire a private attorney. He also has yet to file a financial affidavit, a document that requires him to prove he’s too poor to afford his own lawyer.

If the drug lord decides to keep the court-appointed lawyers, it could lead to some awkward moments in the courtroom if his case goes to trial. The federal officials noted that the federal defenders have “represented two potential cooperating witnesses,” who could testify against him, as well as “three co-conspirators” from the Sinaloa cartel.....'

Prosecutors want to know why billionaire drug lord El Chapo needs a public defender


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Heading back up to the courtroom, stay tuned for updates…
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
The judge was ready to excuse an alternate juror in Chapo’s case after his called, threatening to fire him if he wasn't in by Monday. After conversing with the alternate, the judge returned saying he’d been told “it’s not a hardship and he’s going to stay.” No one’s leaving now.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Government's opening statement now underway. Prosecutor Andrea Goldbarg is methodically laying out the government's case, point by point, with a powerpoint presentation that includes the key bits of evidence. Just hammering home that El Chapo is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Chapo appears unperturbed. He's smiling and chatting with his attorneys. Taking notes. Listening attentively. Doesn't look like he realizes this is likely one of the last days he ever has outside of a federal prison.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
A main stream of the government’s closing narrative strikes at the heart of the defense: It doesn’t matter if Chapo wasn’t the only head of the cartel. Still, the prosecutor reminded the jury: “The defendant wasn’t just a boss of the Sinaloa cartel, but he was one of the bosses.”


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Goldbarg has spent the last 90 mins leading jurors thru the 10 counts of the indictment. The most important is one called a Continuing Criminal Enterprise charge. The govt has to prove that Chapo broke at least 3 drug laws in concert w/5 other people and had a supervisory role.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
During her intro there was a kind of Chapo slideshow--like at a bar mitzvah--of the greatest image hits of the trial: armed Chapo w/his old friend Commandante Juan; young Chapo at a nightclub w/pals and gals; hatted Chapo in the mountains; and in the center, mugshot Chapo.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Goldbarg's powerpoint presentation began with a montage of all the evidence that's been shown to the jury — photos, videos, text messages, etc. Then, with a blurring effect, El Chapo's mugshot slowly appeared on the screen…

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Not surprisingly, there's been little new in Goldbarg's presentation but it does bring back parts of the trial. How Chapo once plotted to move 100 tons of coke on a tanker ship owned by Pemex. How much cartel guys love plastic surgery. How sophisticated the US investigation was.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
On that note: Prosecutors played jurors a video of Chapo interrogating a rival, hogtied and bound to a pole, in 2011. In an amazing stroke, the same interrogation was recorded through the cellphone of a cartel operative watching through a simultaneous wiretap of the phone. Crazy.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Goldbarg running through the prosecution's greatest hits, playing snippets from wiretapped phone calls and highlighting key passages from text messages. Government needs to prove El Chapo was a "boss" of the cartel. Goldbarg notes you can hear him being a boss "in his own words."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
The government’s closing statements opened with a retelling of Menín’s gruesome tale from last week, in which he alleged Chapo shot two Zetas in the head and had their bones burned down to powder.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
“We told you in November this trial would be about drugs, about money and about violence,” the prosecutor said in the closing statements of Chapo’s trial.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
“The purpose of the cartel was to distribute as much drugs as possible to the United States,” the prosecutor said, adding that the goal of the cartel was to make as much money as possible.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Tooting their own horn, the prosecution in Chapo’s case stated they had “an avalanche of evidence.” A short time later the jury reported they couldn’t hear the prosecutor and the government’s slideshow stalled. No worries, soon after the avalanche was up and moving.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
The prosecution has also focused in on the many of recordings gathered by tapping Chapo’s own spy devices. Although Chapo didn’t testify, the government is using his words from the recordings as supreme evidence against him.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
“These recordings give you a window - or a sneak peak - about how the defense ran the day to day operations of his cartel,” the prosecutor said.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
“And what kind of portrait did the defendant’s own words make?” the prosecutor asked during Chapo’s closing. “I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that it made him look like the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Chapo’s guilt boils down to common sense, the prosecutor said in closing. After all, who else drives in armored cars, has escape tunnels under his bathtub and jail cell, owns a diamond-encrusted pistol, wiretaps his friends and family and even plans to wiretap a whole city?
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
We’ve gone through a lot of Chapo’s tapped calls by the morning break, and the prosecutor noted they also have more than 1 million text messages. Fingers crossed we don’t have to read every one of them today.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
A reminder: The prosecution got those more than 1 million text messages and reams of calls by tapping Chapo's own spyware. Chapo, who tapped his wife's, girlfriends', associates and enemies' phones had a longstanding "obsession with secure communications" dating back to the '80s.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
"How else did the defendant run his cartel?" the prosecutor asked. "Violence: kidnapping, torture, murder."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
One very effective moment was Goldbarg asking a series of questions:

"Who has diamond encrusted pistols?"

"Who has not one but an entire network of escape tunnels?"

"Who has a mile-long tunnel into his prison cell?"

"Common sense says it's a leader of the Sinaloa cartel."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Jury not betraying much emotion during this presentation. Mostly just looking on impassively. They seem ready for this all to be over.

Opening statement still underway, stay tuned for updates…
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 51m51 minutes ago
To get a sense of how sprawling and many-tentacled this case is, consider just one episode it focused on: a joint FBI-Mexican federal police raid on Chapo's ocean-view mansion in Cabo San Lucas on Feb 22, 2012.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 50m50 minutes ago
The feds tracked Chapo there thru his IT guy who helped them crack his encrypted phone network & the text messages he himself was monitoring thru spyware installed on the phones of his wife & mistresses. One mistress, Agustina Acosta, was chatting about the Cabo trip w/ a friend.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 47m47 minutes ago
Tho the raid ultimately failed as Chapo ducked out the back & into thorn bushes, the feds knew he was there b/c he later texted his wife about seeing the police coming. He also asked her to replace the size 32/30 jeans he left behind. Jurors saw those jeans in a video of the raid


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 45m45 minutes ago
One of Chapo's close aides, Alex Cifuentes, was also in Cabo at the time and testified that Chapo was calling him in a panic the whole night. Alex said that he himself hunkered down as the cops swarmed Cabo & called his mom in Colombia. We a recording of the call with his mom.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 44m44 minutes ago
Though the FBI didn't get Chapo in Cabo, they found what Goldbarg called "a treasure trove" of intel including Chapo's personal phone book that listed the 3 digit extensions that all of his closest people used on the encrypted phone system that launched the raid to begin with.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 42m42 minutes ago
Alex Cifuentes was 777.
Chapo's pilot, Cachimba, was 725.
ZaZaZa (aka Benjamin), a guy who monitored the spyware reports for Chapo, was 733
Chapo's ex-wife, Griselda, was 132.
And on and on and on.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 26m26 minutes ago
The closing statement moving along veerrrrryyyy slowly. Goldbarg is still discussing evidence for count 1 of 10. At this pace, she may not finish today. Eyes starting to glaze over on some of the jurors. They've heard all of this before. Nothing new being presented.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Couple notable lines from Goldbarg: "I expect the defense to stand up and say it was somebody else, it's not him…"

Also, on the 14 cooperators: "Ladies and gentlemen, these witnesses were criminals. The government is not asking you to like them."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 19m19 minutes ago
Some of the slides from this powerpoint are almost comical. For example, one was titled: "Violation 26: More Tunnels." Underneath was a photo montage of Chapo's various escape and smuggling tunnels.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 18m18 minutes ago
Another only in the Chapo trial moment: Goldbarg says "…he was living 1000s of miles away in Colombia when the chili can route was in its heyday."

Then she sets a giant can of pickled jalapeños — which Chapo used for smuggling — down on top of several kilo bricks of cocaine.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 14m14 minutes ago
Some fun stats:

-From 1990-1993, Chapo smuggled an estimated 75-90 tons of cocaine into the US in chili cans.

-Each shipment was ~3,000 kilos.

-Worth ~$400-500 million per year

-Total earnings were ~$1.2-1.5 billion.

-7.3 tons seized in 1993 were worth ~$100 million


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 13m13 minutes ago
Goldbarg also through some subtle shade at Emma Coronel. Showing some text messages to the jury between her and Chapo, Goldbarg said it was a "typical conversation for them" because they were "discussing if someone had been killed in the area."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 12m12 minutes ago
Another intriguing trial episode: The March 2007 seizure of 16 TONS of coke on the merchant ship Gatun off the coast of Panama. It was the US Coast Guard's largest drug seizure ever.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 8m8 minutes ago
The ship had been purchased by Mayo Zambada, Chapo's main partner, & both were investors in the load. Speedboats ferried the coke to the merchant vessel which used its crane to bring the drugs aboard. But the Coast Guard stopped the ship. It took a human chain to unload it.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 6m6 minutes ago
After the seizure the 3rd investor, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was suspicious the DEA had tapped cartel. His suspicions may have played a role in the Beltran Leyvas split from the cartel after Arturo's brother, Alfredo, was arrested next year. Arturo feared Chapo had sol Alfredo out.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3m3 minutes ago
Goldbarg said the early 2000s were the heyday of the Sinaloa cartel, a time when the partners were all getting along and massive quantities of coke were being moved. From 2003-2005, the cartel's chief supplier, Chupeta, sent them a staggering 55 tons.

El Chapo’s Main Supplier: A Survivor and ‘Hands-On Boss’

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
That did not account for the additional 22.5 tons that were seized during that period. Chupeta nicknamed these 10 separate loads the "Juanitas." Prosecutors not only had his testimony about them but also his ledgers showing expenses for the shipments down to the smallest detail.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4m4 minutes ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted SLowGoLfeR

Yes, the verdict has to be unanimous.

---SLowGoLfeR‏ @SLoWgOLfeR
Replying to @keegan_hamilton
Does the verdict have to be unanimous for guilty???
8:47 AM - 30 Jan 2019


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
The heyday started to end in 2004 when success bred jealousy and jealousy bred violence. Chapo went to war with his onetime partners. First, with the Carrillo Fuentes family. Then later with the Beltran Leyvas.
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Keegan Hamilton Retweeted
Ryan McCarthy‏Verified account @mccarthyryanj 4h4 hours ago
Our own @keegan_hamilton was on NBC Nightly News last night to talk about the Chapo trial https://nbcnews.to/2HSg4Dp Listen to our full podcast on Chapo and the lives destroyed by the drug war here

Chapo: Kingpin on Trial


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
I spoke with @tanzinavega on @TheTakeaway about the last days of El Chapo's trial. Listen:

Not a Telenovela: Recapping Outrageous Revelations from El Chapo's Trial | The Takeaway | WNYC Studios
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 23m23 minutes ago
"Some of these cooperating witnesses don't even know each other and those who do haven't seen each other in years." But they could identify Chapo's voice on recorded calls. "You can hear it yourself." The prosecutor said noted his high-pitched, nasal, sing-song voice.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 21m21 minutes ago
Of the cooperating witnesses in Chapo's case, the prosecution noted: "Ladies and gentlemen, these witnesses were criminals. The government is not asking you to like them." Just to believe them, if deemed credible, which the prosecution argued, they absolutely are.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 19m19 minutes ago
Let's take a look at the first of 10 counts: that Chapo was a leader within the Sinaloa cartel. Under that one count there are 27 violations, 26 of which have to do with drugs; the other: murder. The jury only needs to find three of the drug counts credible for a guilty verdict.

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 28m28 minutes ago
Much of the closing arguments has been a highlight reel of key and memorable moments in the trial. See what I mean below. (I'm including @NYTMetro coverage that @alanfeuer and I did throughout the trial.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 23m23 minutes ago
Miguel Angel Martínez: "one of the defendant's best friends until the defendant tried to kill him four times," once by a grenade thrown into his prison cell. Read about the witness who wouldn't die:

El Chapo’s Early Days as a Budding Kingpin


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 23m23 minutes ago
Or what about the hydraulic-lift under a pool table in Agua Prieta, Mexico, leading to a tunnel in Douglas, Arizona:

Inside El Chapo’s Vast Network: What We Know After the Trial’s First Week


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 21m21 minutes ago
"And Chupeta was somewhat memorable because he had a hard story and a hard face to forget," the prosecutor said in a masterpiece of understatement. See what I mean:

El Chapo’s Main Supplier: A Survivor and ‘Hands-On Boss’


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 17m17 minutes ago
Also mentioned, the largest cocaine seizure (to date) by the US Coast Guard: 16 tons seized on May 18, 2007.
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Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 3h3 hours ago
It appears as though the gov is using their summation to finally link various seizures we heard about to Chapo. Rather than neatly summarizing the evidence, Goldbarg is forcing the jury to do mental somersaults back to testimony they heard during the first few weeks of trial.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 3h3 hours ago
A coworker of mine who brought binoculars with her to court today said several jurors were fast asleep this morning.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
The war w/the Beltran Leyvas was exceptionally violent. After it Chapo had only one more big success as a trafficker. He set up an operation buying coke from FARC guerrillas and moving it thru Ecuador. His pal Jorge Cifuentes ran the op on the ground.

El Chapo Speaks: Jury Hears Secretly Recorded Phone Call Detailing Drug Deal


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Jorge rented warehouses in Quito & Guayaquil. He paid an Ecuadorean army captain to run security. The drugs were moved south to the warehouse then from there to coast of Ecuador. Speedboats took to Chapo's boat on the high seas.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
The first load of 6 tons was a success but then there were two big seizures on the next two loads of 6 and 8 tons. It was a fluke. A red car made an illegal U-turn at a routine checkpoint in Ecuador. The cops stopped the car. A truck was w/the car. Capt. Castro was in the truck.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Those seizures seem to be the end of Chapo's big loads. W/in a few years, the Cabo raid took place. Two years later, the Mexican marines raided him at a house in Culiacan sending him fleeing, naked, with his mistress thru a tunnel hidden under a bathtub.

How El Chapo Escaped in a Sewer, Naked With His Mistress

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
The Cabo raid, as mentioned, came thru intel from the IT guy, Christian Rodriguez, who was flipped by the FBI. The Culiacan raid in 2014 came thru intel from a remarkable HSI wiretap on the cartel's BlackBerry network.

El Chapo Trial: How a Colombian I.T. Guy Helped U.S. Authorities Take Down the Kingpin



Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
After Chapo escaped in Culiacan he was arrested by the Marines at a hotel in Mazatlan only to escape from prison the next year. That escape--thru another tunnel dug into the shower of his cell--was was by his own wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro.

El Chapo’s Wife Is Implicated in His Infamous Prison Escape

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Chapo was arrested for the final time in 2016. At this stage, extradition proceedings began. He was flown to New York on Jan 19, 2017, the day before President Trump was inaugurated.
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