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

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
El Gordo also testified about cartel code words. Here's a glossary:

"Organize a party" - Arrange a drug shipment

"Vino" - Jet fuel

"Muchachas" - Planes

"Camisas" - Cocaine

"Papa" - El Chapo


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
El Gordo recalled arranging a huge cocaine shipment with 10 airplanes, which made El Chapo "very happy." He said El Chapo told him, "Compadre, now it's a great party."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
We were shown old photos of El Gordo in court today but they have not been added to a folder of publicly available evidence. Today he looked to be in his late 50s or early 60s. Heavyset. Shaved head. Goatee.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Here's the photos that were admitted into evidence today. Up first, $1.2 million in cash hidden inside the doors and tailgate of a Ford Bronco driven by El Chapo's brother Arturo.

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
This is Hector "El Guero" Palma, one of El Chapo's key partners in the late 80s and early 90s. His family was gruesomely executed by the Tijuana cartel. Palma is now imprisoned in Mexico.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
This is young El Chapo, right after his first capture in 1993. Audio from this moment —and a description of the events before and after — is included in episode 3 of our podcast. Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5j4NRmdasU8uI8wWtsX6nW …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
That's all for tonight. Back mañana with more updates from the trial. We're also dropping a new episode of the podcast about poppy farmers, fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, and the abduction of a teenage boy by the Mexican military. Stay tuned!
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[YESorNO]

• Chris Stevenson 26 November 2018 23:59

Miguel Angel Martinez, who described himself as a former manager in the cartel, took the witness stand on the sixth day of Guzman's drug trafficking trial, testifying under an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. For his safety, court sketch artists were ordered not to draw an accurate likeness of him.


26 November 2018 23:59
"I knew that he was the boss," Mr Martinez said when a prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney Michael Robotti, asked him about Guzman's role in the organization. "Since I met him, he would give all of us orders."

Guzman, 61, was extradited from Mexico in January 2017 and faces life in prison if convicted. His lawyers are seeking to prove that another drug lord, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, actually ran the cartel and used Guzman as a scapegoat.


27 November 2018 00:00
With that, we are ending our coverage for today. Come back tomorrow for more from the trial.
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 45m45 minutes ago
Fun fact of the day from the Chapo trial: We already knew that after Chapo escaped from prison in 2001 (in a laundry cart) that Rey Zambada helped him flee in a helicopter. But today, in a judicial order, we learned he first got away in an *armored car* driven by an associate.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
At the El Chapo trial today, one of his earliest employees offered testimony about Chapo's rise to fame and fortune: A Portrait of the Kingpin as a Young Man..
How El Chapo Became a Kingpin, According to a Witness - The New ...

How El Chapo Became a Kingpin, According to a Witness




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[YESorNO]

Tweets that I missed...

Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 10h10 hours ago
In regards to the heavily redacted motion filed by the gov late last night, Cogan denied a request to limit the defense’s questioning of the next witness.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 10h10 hours ago
Testimony from money laundering expert was wholly dull — I counted three sleeping reporters and two jurors; Judge Cogan swiveled around in his chair like an antsy schoolchild.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
CW no.2 is Miguel Angel Martinez Martinez, who described himself as “like a manager” at the Sinaloa Cartel from 86 to 98. Defense brought him up last week, describing him as a longtime heavy addict known for snorting $4K worth of cocaine a day—nearly losing his nose as a result


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
“I worked for Mr. Joaquin Guzman,” Martinez told the court. “Only and exclusively Mr Joaquin Guzman Loera.” Martinez said he last saw Guzman in a Mexican jail in 1994.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
He was essentially headhunted by Guzman’s associates in the mid 1980s after they learned he was in the business of illegally smuggling electrical appliances to Mexico from the U.S. (He obtained his pilot license in Brownsville, Tx.)


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
The first time he transported cocaine for the Sinaloa Cartel from Colombia to Mexico, in 1987, he flew with a US Navy pilot — who fell asleep at the wheel. “He would fall asleep. I was worried and I would wake him up. He would say, ‘Relax. I have the autopilot on.’”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
Martinez said he worked very closely with #ElChapo. Over time, the pair became very close. Their relationship went “from good to great.” In 1989, Chapo told Martinez he wanted to be his son’s godfather.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
“I was glad,” he said. “In this time, he represented — well, he was my boss.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 8h8 hours ago
He said Chapo told him he became a trafficker because “he was a very poor person who didn’t have anything to eat and that that was the reason that he got involved in drug trafficking … Since he was a little boy, he would plant marijuana right in front of his house.”
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer Nov 25
Here's a photo from 1989. That's $1,226,354 on the table -- confiscated from El Chapo's brother, Arturo Guzman Loera. (And, yep, that's a rifle in the back.)

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer Nov 25
One more photo from 1989 --- here's a "before shot" of some of the cash, wedged in a door panel of a black Ford Bronco, which El Chapo's brother had bought two days before he attempted to cross the border in November 1989.

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Miguel Angel Martinez, once a pilot and manager of the Sinaloa cartel, took the stand today. "El Gordo" isn't fat anymore, but after two failed attempts on his life, the government is protecting his new likeness. Here he is (face blurred) with El Chapo, in the 1990s.

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Miguel Angel Martinez worked for El Chapo for more than a decade. The drug kingpin even gave the pilot-turned-manager a nickname: El Tololoche - named after the large string instrument in some North Mexican bands.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Miguel Angel Martinez was trained as a pilot in Texas before joining the Sinaloa cartel. But after a plane crash, “Mr. Guzman told me that I was a bad pilot,” he recalled. Instead, El Chapo made him a manager based in Mexico City, overseeing aircraft operations.
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[Niner]

*Trial continues (Day 7) (@ 9:30am 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 5.
11/26/18 Day 6: State witness: ex-DEA agent explain money laundering 101. An ex-customs agent testify about seizing $1.2 million from a car in Arizona driven by El Chapo’s brother. Another cooperating witness will take the stand, but his identity will be kept secret & the court room sketch artists will be kept from drawing his face. Overnight, there was another motion from the US government calling on the judge to limit the testimony of the next witness. The motion is heavily redacted, meaning it is unclear exactly what the prosecution are looking to have removed. Mystery witness - Miguel Ángel Martinez aka El Gordo, a former high-level member of the Sinaloa cartel. Testimony continues on 11/27.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
The government filed a motion last night asking the judge to impose sanctions on one of El Chapo's lawyers. The issue: El Chapo's wife used a cellphone in court, which prosecutors say led to "unuathorized" and "impermissible" contact with her husband https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5296630-Government-motion-for-sanctions-against-El-Chapo.html …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
El Chapo is being held under strict "Special Administrative Measures" or SAMs which prevent him from having contact with basically anyone other than his lawyers, including his wife. Such contact "could result in death or serious bodily injury to others."

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
The motion is heavily redacted but prosecutors claim to have video evidence that shows El Chapo's wife used the phone "in concert with an attorney visit" following two trial days last week.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Yesterday, Judge Cogan gave the U.S. Marshals specific instructions to put El Chapo's wife through a metal detector before she could enter the courtroom. He mentioned that she'd been spotted using a phone in court when she wasn't supposed to have one.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Sanctions against an attorney mean that El Chapo's lawyer could be ordered to pay a fine. Unclear whether this alleged violation the SAMs could lead to something more serious than that.
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[YESorNO]

• Chris Stevenson 27 November 2018 15:59

Hello and welcome to another day of the El Chapo trial - the early news is that prosecutors have asked the judge to impose sanctions on Guzman's defence team.

El Chapo trial: Prosecutors seeking sanctions against Mexican drug lord's lawyers
The alleged former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel has been accused by the prosecution of communicating with his wife

"Brooklyn federal prosecutors are seeking sanctions against defence lawyers for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman for allegedly facilitating unauthorised communication between the Guzman and his wife.

The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York filed heavily redacted court papers citing surveillance footage in which Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel, was seen in possession of a cellphone in violation of courthouse policy. Prosecutors said the “impermissible” contact happened “in concert with an attorney visit to the defendant following two trial days last week.”

An attorney for Guzman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Federal authorities have imposed tight security measures throughout Guzman's proceedings. Tuesday's court filings referred to a “determination by the Attorney General that communications and contacts between the defendant and other persons could result in death or serious bodily injury to others.”..."

Prosecutors seeking sanctions against El Chapo's lawyers


27 November 2018 16:01
The major issue is alleged contact between Guzman and his wife and Ms Guzman having a phone in the courtroom.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Heading to the courthouse now for another day of El Chapo trial.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
More details about the phones revealed in the transcript of a private "sidebar" conversation yesterday between the judge, prosecution, and El Chapo's lawyers. Judge had issue w/ one lawyer having multiple phones.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Prosecutors raised the issue of El Chapo's wife also having a phone in the courtroom and possibly trying to take a photo of the witness

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Judge scolded the defense and noted that El Chapo's wife isn't supposed to have a phone inside the courthouse at all. Judge called it "unacceptable."

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Second instance of gov't expressing concern about El Chapo's wife trying to photograph witness Miguel Angel Martinez aka El Gordo. The court took special precautions to keep his face from being seen outside the courtroom. Sketch artists couldn't draw him.

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
El Chapo's lawyers later tried to explain that El Chapo's wife was using a translator app on the phone. The attorneys were specifically concerned about how this might look bad in the press.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Headed up to the land of no phones —aka the courtroom — now. More updates to come during the mid-morning break.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Nice piece about our Chapo podcast by @catrcardenas in @REMEZCLA

As El Chapo Trial Unfolds, This Podcast Gives Us an Unprecedented Look at the Drug Lord’s Life & Impact

"Travel from one state to another in Mexico and you’ll find that Joaquín Guzmán – aka El Chapo – is either a Robin Hood helping the poor or a cold-blooded criminal responsible for the deaths of thousands. The country’s most infamous drug trafficker has been the source of a number of TV series, documentaries, and now, as he stands trial in Brooklyn, he’s the subject of VICE News’ first podcast: “Chapo: Kingpin on Trial.”

Released November 1, the podcast is a bilingual effort between VICE news reporter Keegan Hamilton and Miguel Ángel Vega, with episodes in both English and Spanish on Spotify.

“The stakes were really high,” McCarthy says. “The charges against El Chapo were essentially the last 30 years of the drug war. There’s so much fear and hatred directed at him, and we were really eager to tell a different kind of story. Not one that defends Chapo, but one that explores how the relationship between the US and Mexico is much more complicated than this one person.”

When Hamilton began covering El Chapo years ago, he quickly discovered that in many cases, it was hard to differentiate between the man and the myth...."
As El Chapo Trial Unfolds, This Podcast Gives Us an Unprecedented Look at the Drug Lord's Life & Impact
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
I spoke to a prospective juror in the El Chapo case about what happened behind the scenes during jury selection. “My heart was beating so hard and so fast when I was sitting there. Just the fact I was so close to El Chapo, that made me very nervous.”

THIS IS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO ALMOST GET PICKED FOR EL CHAPO’S JURY

Nov 27, 2018

"Four days a week for at least the next three months, armed guards will escort a dozen New Yorkers, who wake up at the crack of dawn, to the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. They’re the jurors charged with deciding whether Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán will spend the rest of his life in prison, and their names are being kept secret over concerns they could be threatened or killed by the Sinaloa cartel.

Juror 73 was nearly one of those people. An Asian-American woman in her 50s who works in the art business, she was among the last group of prospective jurors interviewed by Judge Brian Cogan, federal prosecutors, and El Chapo’s defense team. And she remembers her adrenaline pumping while she sat in the courtroom a few seats away from El Chapo.

“My heart was beating so hard and so fast when I was sitting there,” she recalled. “Just the fact I was so close to El Chapo, that made me very nervous.”

Despite her trepidation, Juror 73 was a finalist to sit on the jury. She was able to speak to VICE News because she was ultimately not picked to serve, but she requested anonymity because she doesn’t want to be “associated with El Chapo for the rest of my life, basically,” she said. The members of the actual empaneled jury — 7 women and 5 men, plus 6 alternates — are under strict orders not to speak with anyone about the case, especially the news media...

Juror 73 said other members of the jury pool were actively plotting ways to avoid serving on the case. She said several people complained about the U.S. government wasting resources to put El Chapo on trial. And she said that, despite heavy security at the courthouse, a “random guy” was able to barge into a room where the jurors were gathered....

El Chapo attorney Jeffrey Lichtman objected to her being kept as a candidate for the jury and remarked to the judge that she “sure seems skittish.” Judge Cogan overruled him, however, saying she didn’t necessarily seem biased against El Chapo.

Juror 73 said she actually knew very little about El Chapo at the time, and she has mixed feelings about him now that she’s heard more about his backstory

“I know he’s a drug lord, but the reason he got into what he got into is because of necessity,” she said. “They come from nothing, and they had to make a living, and where he’s from, I guess that was it. And so it’s hard. It’s all human. We’re all trying to live our lives and do the best we can. I kind of felt some sympathy toward him.”..."

This is what it's like to almost get picked for El Chapo’s jury
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
After testifying yesterday about El Chapo's early years as a budding young narco-entrepreneur, Miguel Martinez spoke today about the over-the-top lavish lifestyle Chapo developed once he started making real money.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 55s56 seconds ago
Chapo owned a $10 million beach house in Acapulco with a yacht moored on the coast: "Chapito." He owned a ranch in Guadalajara with a large home, pools, tennis courts and a zoo with deer, lions, panthers, crocodiles and bears, which visitors could view from a miniature train.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
There were trips to Macau to gamble and to Switzerland for a cellular regeneration treatment. He bought a diamond Rolex for Martinez and handed out cars to workers. He was making so much money at that point that he flew cash from the US back to Mexico in a fleet of Lear jets.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 22m22 minutes ago
The high life took a toll on Martinez who developed a 4-gram-a-day cocaine habit, often snorting his coke from a gold canister with a gold spoon. He did so much blow that he ended up perforating his septum and had to quit--for a while.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 16m16 minutes ago
Some fun testimony this morning from Miguel Angel Martinez aka El Gordo. He described El Chapo's lavish lifestyle in the early 90s. Chapo owned 4 jets and traveled the world. Countries visited: -Brazil -"All of Europe" -Japan -Thailand -Cuba -Peru -Hong Kong -Macau "to gamble"


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 14m14 minutes ago
Gordo also said that Chapo went to Switzerland to visit "a clinic where they put some cell in you so you keep young." He said they traveled "almost the entire world, with the exception of Australia." Trips were for both business and pleasure.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 10m10 minutes ago
Gordo said Chapo liked to party in the 90s. He drank whisky, beer, and cognac. Chapo also had a $10 million beach house in Acapulco with a yacht named "Chapito." He also had a ranch with a zoo that had "tigers, lions, panthers." Guests could take "a little train" around the zoo


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 10m10 minutes ago
Gordo on Chapo's growing wealth from the 80s to the 90s: "When I met Mr. Guzman he didn't have a jet. In the 90s he had 4 jets. He had a house in every single beach. He had a ranch in every single state."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 8m8 minutes ago
Gordo said Chapo was spending $10-12 million per month. Mostly on business and fighting the Tijuana cartel, but also: "Mr. Guzman had a large family. He had four or five wives. We had to pay them all."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 21m21 minutes ago
Chapo emerged in his testimony as less of a sybarite. He liked his cognac, beer and whiskey, Martinez said, and at one point had 4 or 5 wives and mistresses who he sometimes spied on with wire taps.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 21m21 minutes ago
He was a classic new money narco. "When I met Mr. Guzman, he didn't have a jet," Martinez said. "In the 90s, Mr. Guzman already had four jets. He had houses on every single beach. He had a ranch in every single state."



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 7m7 minutes ago
Gordo said Chapo would send his jets to Tijuana to pick up drug money. Each jet would carry $8-10 million, they would make trips "almost every month." Gordo said business in the early 90s was "the best thing in the world… we formed part of the cocaine boom."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 5m5 minutes ago
Gordo was also asked about his own cocaine addiction. He said he used 1-4 grams per day for nearly 15 years. He had gold vials with gold spoons for using the drug. He used so much "my septum perforated." Said the drug use did not affect his memory.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 10m10 minutes ago
Gordo also testified about marijuana, which he tried but didn't like. He said the cartel was exporting 5-10 tons of weed per year to the US, but it was difficult business. Said you "can't press the marijuana too tight" or the "seeds will explode" and cause it to rot.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 9m9 minutes ago
Gordo said he pushed Chapo to expand the cocaine business because it was more lucrative. He said 1 kilo of weed would sell for $2,000, 1 kilo of cocaine would sell for $15,00 "and it didn't even occupy half the space."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 7m7 minutes ago
Gordo also testified about a trip to Thailand to try expanding the cartel's heroin business. He said they had a connection to get kilos of "white" heroin in Thailand for $10K and sell it in NYC for $130K.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
The Thailand heroin deal fell through when they got busted by the DEA and Mexico's PGR. Gordo said the PGR people released him when he said he worked for "Joaquin."
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 5m5 minutes ago
The new episode of our podcast details the economics of the marijuana and heroin for the Sinaloa cartel, and looks at how legal weed and the rise of synthetic opioids like fentanyl are impacting farmers in Sinaloa.

EP 5: The Fugitive
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
More fascinating testimony this afternoon from Miguel Angel Martinez aka El Gordo. He detailed the outbreak of the war between El Chapo and the Arellano-Felix brothers of the Tijuana cartel.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 25m25 minutes ago
The war began when the Arellano-Felix brothers killed two Chapo associates, nicknamed El Lobo and El Rayo in 1987. Chapo and another drug lord named Rafael Aguilar met with Benjamin Arellano-Felix, who denied responsibility. Gordo said Chapo "didn't believe a word they said."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
According to Gordo, Chapo had to seek permission from El Azul in order to "start mixing it up" with Arellano-Felix brothers. The Arellano-Felix brothers are nephews of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo aka El Padrino, an OG drug lord who was friendly with El Azul.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 21m21 minutes ago
Gordo said he and Chapo went to visit El Azul in prison. Guards opened the gates for them after hours. Inside the cell block, there was a feast with "lobster, sirloin, pheasant" plus "whisky, cognac, whatever you want to drink." There was a live band. It was a party.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 20m20 minutes ago
Gordo: "Mr. Guzman was talking to [El Azul], telling him he wanted to seek revenge for the deaths of his compadres." El Azul gave permission to Chapo to fight the Arellano-Felix brothers and "a few days later, the deaths started."



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 19m19 minutes ago
Will detail the rest of the testimony later. It covers the killing of Cardinal Juan Posadas Ocampo at the airport in Guadalajara in 1993. That's also described in episode 3 of our podcast. Listen:

EP 3: The Federation
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[YESorNO]

Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Some good stuff from Martinez this morning on #ElChapo’s wealth; advanced smuggling techniques; his own nasty cocaine habit; heroin; staying incognito/methods of communication.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Asked to describe how business was for the cartel in the early 90s, Martinez said: “The best thing in the world … we formed part of the cocaine boom.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
How did they move all the money they were making? “Mr. Guzman’s jets,” he said. Once a month, Chapo’s four jets would be loaded up with $8-10 million in Tijuana and then flown to Mexico City. The money would then be hidden in stash houses or lodged into bank accounts.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Martinez, who Guzman started paying $1 million a year from 1990, said he walked into banks with millions of dollars in cash inside Samsonite briefcases — which raised red flags the odd time. “I was asked if I was laundering money. I said, no — I was exporting tomatoes.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Once the money was in the system, he’d make payments on behalf of Guzman. “Mr. Guzman had a large family — he had four or five wives, we had to pay them all.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
From when he first met Chapo in 87 to the early 90s, things just got better and better for his kingpin boss. “When I met Mr. Guzman he didn’t have a jet. In the 1990s, Mr. Guzman had four jets — he had houses at every single beach. He had ranches in every single state.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
He backed up Zambada’s testimony about the diamond encrusted gun Guzman carried at all times and said his boss’s tipple of choice was usually “whiskey, beer and cognac.” Guzman was so stinking rich, he said, he even had his own zoo at his Guadalajara ranch.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
“He built a zoo,” he said — home to “tigers, lions, panthers, deer.” How did they get around the zoo? “In a little train.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Guzman’s vanity came up, too — Martinez said he traveled to Switzerland in the early 90s “to a clinic where they put some cells in you so you keep young.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Señor Guzman shared his wealth. Martinez recalled one December where he was tasked with purchasing 50 vehicles as “presents” for #ElChapo’s nearest and dearest. “Thunderbirds, Cougars, and Buicks,” he said. “You could choose among those three brands — whatever you wanted.”


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 2h2 hours ago
Guzman dropped $30-35K per car, Martinez said, and they were armored in San Antonio, Tex. “To protect themselves from the bullets of their enemies.”
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The "Godfather" of Mexico - take the fried plantains, leave the gun

 

[YESorNO]

• Chris Stevenson 27 November 2018 16:10

Guzman, 61, faces 17 criminal counts and a possible sentence of life in prison. He has been subject to exceptionally tight security protocols, known as special administrative measures or SAMs, thanks to his two escapes from high-security Mexican prisons and what prosecutors have described as a history of intimidating witnesses.

Prosecutors said in Tuesday's motion that some people, whose names were redacted, "appear to have used cellular telephones in concert with an attorney visit to the defendant following two trial days last week to facilitate unauthorized and, under the SAMs, impermissible contact between the defendant and M. Coronel."

Security is so stringent that Guzman was not even allowed a brief hug with Ms Coronel at the outset of the trial.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Testimony this afternoon from El Gordo covered what happened after El Chapo's arrest in 1993 following the killing of Cardinal Posadas. He said Chapo asked him to give "everything" to El Azul, including 3,500 kilos of cocaine, plus some trucks, ranches, and houses.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Gordo said he scheduled a meeting with El Azul and when he arrived Amado Carrillo was also there. Gordo said when he told Azul about the cocaine and other stuff, "he just opened his eyes and said you're scaring me with all these quantities. He said he can't accept anything."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Gordo said Azul eventually told him to give everything to Chapo's brother Arturo Guzman aka El Pollo. Gordo started working for Guero Palma. Asked why he didn't try to take over the cartel himself, Gordo said: "I never really had the character to become the leader of a cartel."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Gordo said he actually wanted to work for the Beltran-Leyva brothers but they wouldn't have him. "They didn't want anything that smelled like Mr. Guzmán." This seems to suggest bad blood between Chapo and the Beltran-Leyvas went all the way back to the early 90s.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Gordo said he helped Chapo out in prison. He bribed an official at El Altiplano $30-40K per month so Chapo could have a cellphone, have "intimate relations" with his wives, eat "certain foods," and get "special" shoes and jackets.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Chapo was later transferred to Puente Grande prison, where Gordo said he had a cellphone and was in constant contact with people in his organization, especially Guero Palma.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
El Gordo was arrested in 1998 and extradited to the US in 2001. He cut a deal with the government and has testified before against other cartel members. Per @alanfeuer, he's lucky to be alive. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/nyregion/el-chapo-witness.html …

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Here's what was admitted as evidence today.

Up first, El Chapo's Learjets. Used for traveling the world, smuggling cash, and ferrying the boss around Mexico.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
This is Christine, the nightclub in Puerto Vallarta where El Chapo and his gunmen got into a shootout with the leaders of the Tijuana cartel in 1992.

El Gordo testified today that the Arellano-Felix brothers knew El Chapo was planning to ambush them at the club.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
This is Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, aka El Padrino or The Godfather, a leader of the Guadalajara cartel.

He was uncle to the Arellano-Felix brothers and close with El Chapo's mentor El Azul. Gordo testified that Chapo asked for Azul's permission to fight the the Tijuana cartel.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
This is Arturo Guzman-Loera aka El Pollo. He's El Chapo's younger brother who took over the business after Chapo was captured in 1993. He was shot to death in a Mexican prison in 2005.

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