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

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 42m42 minutes ago
I'll be on @Reddit at 1pm ET today chatting about the El Chapo trial and our podcast. Ask me literally anything. Submit questions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/a1ube5/i_am_vice_news_reporter_keegan_hamilton_and_i/ … @vicenews

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 37m37 minutes ago
Here's a sidebar conversation that occurred yesterday at the trial. El Chapo's lawyers told the judge that they felt Chupeta was trying to avoid eye contact with the defendant.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 35m35 minutes ago
Also, it sucks to be an aging drug lord. Chupeta apparently has "severe prostate issues."

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[YESorNO]

• Chris Stevenson 30 November 2018 14:41

Despite testimonies from hugely important witnesses from the world of Mexican drug trafficking, some fear the alleged extent of Guzman's bribery will never come to light.

There have been certain restrictions on evidence in this case, The New York Times reports. For example Judge Brian Cogan decided a government witness could not testify about alleged payments of more than £4.7 million in bribes to a Mexican president.

While the president was never identified, the judge ruled the allegation would embarrass “individuals and entities” and distract from assessing 'El Chapo's' guilt.


30 November 2018 14:52
Miguel Angel Martinez, who says he was a former assistant to Guzman and is now a prosecution witness, also testified on Wednesday this week.
In his testimony Martinz claimed 'El Chapo' tried to kill him four times, with one murder attempt after an ominous serenade by a Mariachi band.
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman denies these allegations, and his defence claims he was not part of the leadership of the Sinaloa cartel is being framed by Martinz and others.
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[YESorNO]

EL CHAPO’S TRIAL IS REVEALING THE FUTILITY OF THE WAR ON DRUGS

Nov 30, 2018

"The trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán took yet another dramatic turn this week when federal prosecutors called one of their star witnesses to the stand. The witness testified about smuggling 400,000 kilos of cocaine into the United States. He described paying huge bribes to police and military officials. And he told the jury about ordering 150 murders.

The testimony was riveting, but there was a hitch: Those crimes were not committed by El Chapo or members of the Sinaloa cartel. They were the handiwork of the witness himself, Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, a leader of Colombia’s feared Norte del Valle cartel better known by his nickname Chupeta, or Lollipop....

On the first day of El Chapo’s trial, his lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman told the jurythat the government would build its case using testimony from cooperating witnesses like Chupeta. He said that despite the capture of El Chapo, “the flow of drugs never slowed down.” And he said that the trial would be set against the backdrop of “the American war on drugs.”

So far, he’s been proven right."

El Chapo’s trial is revealing the futility of the war on drugs
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[YESorNO]

• Chris Stevenson 30 November 2018 14:41

Despite testimonies from hugely important witnesses from the world of Mexican drug trafficking, some fear the alleged extent of Guzman's bribery will never come to light.

There have been certain restrictions on evidence in this case, The New York Times reports. For example Judge Brian Cogan decided a government witness could not testify about alleged payments of more than £4.7 million in bribes to a Mexican president.

While the president was never identified, the judge ruled the allegation would embarrass “individuals and entities” and distract from assessing 'El Chapo's' guilt.


30 November 2018 14:52
Miguel Angel Martinez, who says he was a former assistant to Guzman and is now a prosecution witness, also testified on Wednesday this week.
In his testimony Martinz claimed 'El Chapo' tried to kill him four times, with one murder attempt after an ominous serenade by a Mariachi band.
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman denies these allegations, and his defence claims he was not part of the leadership of the Sinaloa cartel is being framed by Martinz and others.


30 November 2018 14:52
Martinez claimed that one of the attempts to take his life was while he was in prison.
"They started yelling at me, asking me what my shoe size was," Martinez told the court in Brooklyn, New York. The other inmates wanted to get his shoes, he said, because in their minds, "I was actually dead."


30 November 2018 14:55
In his testimony, Miguel Angel Martinez said he became a loyal servant of Guzman, helping him arrange massive shipments of cocaine flown in from Colombia that made his boss a fortune. The two became so close, he said, that Guzman was the godfather to his son.

Martinez told the jury on Wednesday that after Guzman landed in prison in 1993, he tried to look after his friend's family and handle his legal fees.
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[Niner]

I should have know there would be no court today, like they did last Friday....
Oh well!

Thanks for ALL the Tweets YESorNO!

Surprised not that many are.... or at least they aren't "liking" your posts....

 

[YESorNO]

• Chris Stevenson 30 November 2018 14:57

Miguel Angel Martinez later faced his own issues in jail, he told the court.

In the first jail in Mexico City where he was locked up, he was cornered in his cell by other prisoners and stabbed 15 times, he said. After he was released from the hospital, he was returned to very same cell — with the same cellmates.

At night, "I actually heard them polishing their knives, their blades," he said.

He survived a second knife attack before he was transferred to another jail, where the interest in his shoe size made it clear there that anyone who killed him would get money from the cartel, he said. He was stabbed again while making a phone call, treated again and put in solitary confinement for his protection.


30 November 2018 14:58
One night, Martinez told the court, he heard a band outside the jail where he was incarcerated playing a favourite "corrido" folk song of Guzman's — "Un Puno De Tierra" — over and over, thought the night. It was about living life to the fullest because "once you die, you can't take anything with you," he said.

The next morning, someone armed with a pistol and a grenade appeared outside his cell, he said. The would-be assassin struggled with a guard who refused to open the cell before tossing the grenade inside. He survived the explosion, he said, by taking cover in the cell's bathroom.

Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman denies these allegations.


30 November 2018 14:59
Martinez was eventually extradited to the US, where he pleaded guilty to drug charges and began cooperating in other drug-smuggling cases to earn a reduced sentence, cash payments and entry into a witness protection programme, he testified.
He suggested he still fears Guzman and at the same time, feels forsaken by him.
"I never failed him. I never stole from him. I watched over his family," he said. "And the only thing I ever received from him was four attacks against me."


30 November 2018 15:00
In response to the testimony 'El Chapo's' defence team claimed Martinez lied in his testimony because he hated Guzman.

"You lied because you hate the man right there, right?" said attorney William Purpura. "You lied to this jury because you hate the man."

Martinez answered "I hate Mr. Guzman, yes."


30 November 2018 21:24
Here's a roundup of the key moments from this week's trial of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman:

Four things we learnt this week in the explosive El Chapo trial

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[YESorNO]

Top lieutenant to 'El Chapo' sentenced to life in prison

Nov 30, 2018

"FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A top lieutenant to drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was sentenced in a Virginia courtroom Friday to life in prison.

Damaso Lopez, a leader in Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded guilty in September in an Alexandria federal court to drug trafficking charges after being extradited from Mexico earlier this year.

The life sentence was expected after both sides agreed to a life term as part of a plea bargain.

In court papers, Lopez admitted he was a senior leader in the Sinaloa cartel and controlled a faction with hundreds of men. He admitted using "sicarios," or hitmen, to conduct murders to further the cartel's interest and move tons of cocaine and other drugs throughout the Americas.

Lopez's sentencing comes as Guzman is facing his own trial in New York.

It is unclear whether Lopez, Guzman's right-hand man, would be called to testify at Guzman's trial. The publicly available court documents from the plea agreement do not include a requirement for cooperation, as they usually would. But several documents in the case remain under seal...."

Top lieutenant to 'El Chapo' sentenced to life in prison
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Chapo may be on trial, but his Sinaloa cartel still doing huge US business

Nov 29, 2018

"As Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman stands trial in a New York federal courthouse, facing life behind bars, the massive drug empire he allegedly ran for decades continues to claim lives and pad the pockets of a multibillion dollar operation with tentacles across every region of the United States.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment, released earlier this month specifically named Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel as one of the “Mexican transnational criminal organizations” that represent “the greatest criminal drug threat in the United States,” responsible for a wide range of crimes including murder, kidnapping and human smuggling in addition to traditional drug trafficking activiites.

The report said the influence of cartels continue to grow in U.S., and that the Sinaloa in particular – characterized as one of the oldest and most established – maintains distribution hubs in cities that include Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago. Illicit drugs distributed by the Sinaloa cartel are “primarily smuggled into the United States through crossing points located along Mexico’s border with California, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas,” the report said...."

Chapo may be on trial, but his Sinaloa cartel still doing huge US business
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[YESorNO]

Chapo's beauty queen wife living lavishly - away from the courtroom

"She's been dubbed the Kim Kardashian look-alike of Mexico – a raven-haired, perfectly made up beauty queen fond of flaunting her designer dresses, oversized sunglasses and bikini body for what was a growing flock of followers across social media.

Many of whom seem to love her. Others, not so much.

Meet Emma Coronel Aispuro, the 29-year-old wife of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and the mother of their twin 7-year-old daughters....
But the pictures that hit the headlines – and ignited a firestorm – were from the elaborate Barbie-themed birthday party she threw in September to celebrate the twins seventh birthday. The lavish affair featured life-sized Barbie mannequins, thousands of balloons and flowers, carnival-style rides, and a Barbie "Boutique," all staged at a location that looked like a Hollywood movie set.

Those twins, by the way, were both born American citizens, since Aispuro crossed the Mexican border and gave birth to them at a hospital in Lancaster, Calif. - without filling in the paternal name on either birth certificate. Aispuro and her husband may have gotten that idea from her own experience since she, too, was born in Northern Calfifornia, even though her father was a known member of the Sinaloa drug cartel....

Derek Maltz, former Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration Special Operations Division in New York, surmised Aispuro is ultimately playing a strategic public relations campaign.

“It seems like the defense team is showcasing Emma and the kids in public so people may feel sorry for this man who will most likely be in jail the rest of his life,” he said. “Chapo was well-known to be a ladies’ man in Mexico and it didn’t seem like Emma played a major role in his life during the height of his criminal activities.”...

“She is the daughter of another Mexican drug trafficker, so she was brought up in the business. They had to be married deep in Sinaloa countryside and their ‘reception’ amounted to a party on one of his ranches up in the hills,” said one former DEA official, referring to their secretive, July, 2007 nuptials. “As a U.S. citizen, she was able to legally cross the border and gave birth to Guzmán’s twin daughters in California, thus ensuring they too were U.S. citizens.”..."

Chapo's beauty queen wife living lavishly - away from the courtroom
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Has Bible-carrying El Chapo really found God? Skeptics aren't buying it

"Accused Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is apparently playing the God card and is exercising his Catholic faith during his trial - though not everyone is buying it.

According to an official source connected to the case, the drug kingpin has perhaps conveniently “found Jesus” in the almost two years since he was extradited from Mexico to the United States.

The source said Chapo requested a Spanish-language Bible when he was brought to the U.S., after informing authorities of his faith and filling out the appropriate legal paperwork with the U.S Marshals. He is said to carry the Bible everywhere – including every time he leaves his cell. And it apparently “sits in his suit pocket during court,” a source said.

“It is small like the size of an iPhone or wallet. It’s like a travel edition,” said the law enforcement source, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “I don’t think he’s reading any of it. He carries it like it’s a symbolic peacemaker. I haven’t seen him pray at all.”...

"Most cartel leaders don't believe that what they are doing is wrong. Many can feel like they are just doing what they need to in order to feed their families or make a living; considering themselves ‘family men’,” added Kati Morton, a California-based licensed therapist. “In a way, they compartmentalize their life, and therefore still believe that religion and God are important and necessary. If they ever do feel guilty or like they have done wrong, if they ask God for forgiveness, they can let go of their guilt and be okay.”.."

Has Bible-carrying El Chapo really found God? Skeptics aren't buying it
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[YESorNO]

MEET EL CHAPO’S CHICAS: Pint-sized pusher’s appetite for beauty

 

[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
The Chapo trial has now reached that stage where the lawyers are sniping each other. Yesterday the government filed a motion to admonish Eduardo Balarezo, one of Chapo's lawyers, for...tweets he wrote. Balarezo wrote back essentially calling it a pathetic waste of time and money.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
The govt objected among other things to Balarezo tweeting about the defense having to take their shoes off in the security line (prosecutors don't have to) and about a Mexican song mentioned by a witness who Chapo tried to kill (the song was supposedly playing before the attack.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
Prosecutors also didn't like that when the trial opened, he quoted a line of Shakespeare in a tweet: "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
This would be merely (& hilariously) petty except it fits into a pattern. Federal prosecutors are not as a general rule the chillest people on the planet. They represent the United States government. But the prosecutors in the case have from the start been exceedingly not chill.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
They have sought over & again to exercise control over the information not only in, but surrounding, the case.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
Balarezo's response includes this line.: "The government’s assertion is nothing more than a smear tactic designed to silence and tar the defense and infringe upon counsel’s First Amendment rights."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer Nov 30
It's not the first time the govt has sought to admonish Balarezo. If the past is any guide, Judge Cogan won't do all that much except gently chide him to please stay off Twitter as much as possible during the trial. But we'll see.
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[Niner]

Monday, Dec. 3rd:
*Trial continues (Day 10) (@ 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 8.
11/29/18 Day 9: State witnesses: Miguel Ángel Martinez aka El Gordo. Two Coast Guard officers. DEA agent. Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía aka Chupeta (former leader of Colombia Norte Valle cartel). No court on Friday, 11/30, court continues on Monday, 12/3.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from Day 10 of El Chapo’s trial in Brooklyn.

We’re expecting a full day of testimony from Chupeta, the Colombian drug lord who changed his face to evade capture.

My story about last week @vicenews:

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/9k4dap/el-chapos-trial-is-revealing-the-futility-of-the-war-on-drugs?utm_campaign=sharebutton …

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[YESorNO]

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

The defense is trying to block evidence that would link El Chapo to Chupeta’s cocaine shipments. Thread on that from yesterday:

---Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton
El Chapo's lawyer has moved to block key evidence linked to Colombian drug lord Chupeta. Prosecutors have "ledgers" that detail Chupeta's cocaine shipments to Mexico, presumably including deals w/ Chapo.

The defense doesn't want the jury to see these. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5378078-Balarezo-effort-to-block-Chupeta-s-drug-ledgers.html …

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

The latest mystery from El Chapo’s trial. Is this symbol found on the courthouse door:

A) One of Chupeta’s cocaine brands

B) A coded message from the Sinaloa cartel

C) An innocuous child’s drawing

D) None is the above

-----Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer
So this weird smiley-face in a star thingy was taped to the door of the courthouse where the Chapo trial is being heard and discovered by @Emily_Saul_ . Anyone know what it is???

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
We may also get a ruling today about El Chapo's wife using a cellphone in court that was allegedly provide by somebody on the defense team.

Here are his attorneys Eduardo Balarezo and Bill Purpura formally denying any misconduct.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5378077-Balarezo-motion-to-prevent-use-of-Chupeta-s.html …

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 30m30 minutes ago
On a break on the trial — more testimony this morning from Chupeta. He described how in 1990-91 he started sending cocaine shipments to Mexico via boats instead of planes. First one was a massive 10,000-kilo load delivered to Chapo and the Beltran-Leyva brothers in Acapulco.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 29m29 minutes ago
Once again, Juan José Esparragoza aka El Azul played a pivotal role in the deal. Chupeta testified that he reached an agreement with El Chapo and the other Sinaloa cartel leaders, but they had to visit El Azul in prison to get his blessing before anything could happen.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 25m25 minutes ago
Chupeta said El Azul "was like a godfather." Said he went with Chapo, El Mayo, Amado and Vicente Carrillo to visit Azul in prison in Mexico City. Azul had a part in the prison to himself. "I saw liquor, whisky, marijuana — there were weapons there and whatever food you wanted."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Chupeta said Azul liked the idea of switching from planes to boats, joked about how a corrupt police commander had told him "there were so many planes coming to Mexico from Colombia the 'Gabachos,' the Americans, are saying it seems like Mexico is being invaded."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
Chupeta said he was sending so much cocaine that he controlled street prices in New York in the early 90s. "Many times I would stash it so that way the price would go up because there would be less cocaine in the streets, then I would put my cocaine out and have bigger profits."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 21m21 minutes ago
Heading back up to the courtroom now, more updates to come during the afternoon lunch break.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
On lunch break at the Chapo trial. Going to share a fantastic tale from Chupeta's testimony this morning. It's about a 20-ton cocaine shipment gone wrong. Strap in because this one is crazy.

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3h3 hours ago
In the morning session at the Chapo trial today, we learned that even the most cautious narco traffickers sometimes suffer misfortune. In the early 90's, Chapo's ally, Amada Carrillo Fuentes, received a shipment of 20 tons of coke from the cartel's Colombia supplier, Chupeta.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta said that he would send fishing boats loaded with cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. They would be unloaded a few hundred miles off the coast. One shipment was larger than usual — 20 tons — and headed to Amado Carrillo, who was then leading a faction of the Sinaloa cartel.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
The boat made it fine from Colombia to Mexico. Then there was a problem. Chupeta: "It was received but later the captain of the Mexican boat started to use drugs, cocaine. He started to see ghosts, American Coast Guard ships, and he sunk the boat with my 20,000 kilos of cocaine.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
The deal took place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and unfortunately the Mexican ship captain was a coke addict. He began seeing ghosts and American coast guard vessels everywhere, Chupeta recounted, and ultimately sank his own ship--and $400 million of cocaine.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta, who was a leader of Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel, got on a plane to Mexico to sort out what happened. He had fake travel documents and members of the Federal Police who worked for the Sinaloa cartel greeted him at the airport.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta and Amado Carrillo went to Acapulco, which was close to where the boat carrying the cocaine had sunk. They boarded a helicopter and went to the last known coordinates of the missing boat. But they found "nothing other than sea — just the sea."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta: "When I saw all that sea, I became very sad. I was down. I said they're never going to find it." He said he fell asleep on the helicopter ride back to Acapulco. He said Amado Carrillo took a photo of him sleeping with his mouth open and made fun of him about it later.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta was not pleased, to say the least. So he & Amado took a helicopter out of Acapulco to search for the sunken ship. They were up there so long staring at the open sea, Chupeta fell asleep--w/his mouth open. And Amado, who had a sense of humor, took a photo of him like that.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta on the missing cocaine: "The Carrillo-Fuentes [brothers] hired a team of divers to go down and recover it. They looked for it for a little over a year until they found it."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Amado look for the sunken ship for more than a year and, remarkably, found it. He sent deep sea divers down to recover the coke.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta: "The Carrillo-Fuentes [brothers] asked me to send a chemist to them because part of the cocaine had been ruined when it got wet."

No word on the fate of the Mexican boat captain behind this epic **** up. Chupeta sent a Colombian captain to oversee the boats afterward.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Around the same time, there was another accident that suggested a bit of how the top players in the Sinaloa cartel acted like allied feudal lords who both competed but helped each other when needed.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
But that wasn't the end of Chupeta's boat problems in Mexico.

Later, a fishing boat carrying 15 tons of cocaine bound for El Chapo was lost at sea during a hurricane.

Chupeta: "The boat disappeared, the crew disappeared, everything disappeared."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
This time, Chupeta sent a 14 ton shipment on a boat to Chapo, but Chapo's boat never arrived to pick it up. The boat was circling at the meeting point on the open ocean so long that Chupeta got frustrated and called Amado Carrillo Fuentes who offered to pick it up for Chapo.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Amado sent a boat and said he'd settle up w/Chapo later. But Chapo's people weren't pleased that Amado took their coke. El Gordo, one of Chapo's deputies, kidnapped two of Chupeta's guys in Mexico City and it took tense negotiations to free them.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chapo agreed to repay Chupeta for the missing cocaine. The total cost: $43 million. But he was arrested before he could repay the debt. Chapo's brother Arturo and the Beltran-Leyva brothers had to take over the payments.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
It took over a year but Chupeta got his $43 million for the lost cocaine. It didn't matter that El Chapo was now in prison.

Chupeta said the cartel told him: "Everything continues the same.… my understanding was that he continued doing the business of cocaine from prison."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta will be back this afternoon to finish his direct testimony and then start cross-examination.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chupeta's testimony will continue after lunch, with cross-examination by El Chapo's lawyers expected to begin later in the afternoon. Stay tuned for more updates. Maybe we'll find out what happened to that boat captain.
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Though he never said it explicitly, Chupeta hinted that it was relatively easy to evade the Mexican, and even the American, authorities. The Mexicans were generally paid off. Chapo had contacts deep w/in the federal police and apparently in the Mexican navy.

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
But when the Americans started using radar craft to track Chupeta's smuggling planes flying in from Colombia, he switched to boats. First they met their Mexican partners 10 miles off the coast. But to avoid detection, they kept moving further offshore--up to 1000 miles.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 29m29 minutes ago
Very tedious testimony from Chupeta this afternoon about changes to his cocaine biz in the late '90s and early 2000s. Basically, he stopped handling retail sales in the US and became a wholesaler to the Mexicans. This took nearly three hours to explain. Some jurors were snoozing.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
We're just getting into the details of Chupeta's ledgers. He kept accounting records of all transactions. It's in a spreadsheet. The names of customers are in code. Chapo was CHA. He's shown receiving 3,000 kilos in one shipment.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 26m26 minutes ago
The problem is that Chupeta fled Colombia in 2004 and was running his business first from Venezuela, then Brazil. He wasn't personally keeping the ledgers, he was just reviewing what his lieutenants entered. Defense going to argue he can't vouch for accuracy.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Prosecutor almost done w/ direct examination of Chupeta. Cross-examination by the defense could begin before the end of today. Will update again after 4:30pm ET.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1m1 minute ago
Trial over for the day. Chupeta detailed a series of coke shipments to the Sinaloa cartel called "Juanitas." Size of each:

1: 3,800 kilos
2: 6,000 kilos
3: 6,145 kilos
4: 8.000 kilos
5: 10,000 kilos
6: 10,000 kilos
7: 10,000 kilos
8: 10,500 kilos
9: 12,000 kilos
10: 3,200 kilos
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 42m42 minutes ago
Chupeta had a very clear recollection of the details of Juanita 8 and Juanita 9, because both were seized by US law enforcement in September, 2004. He lost a total of 22,000 kilos. "That's a tragedy for me as a drug trafficker."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 41m41 minutes ago
After the back-to-back seizures, Chupeta switched from fishing boats to semi-submersible submarines and small airplanes to Central America.

He said his cartel bribed the Colombian Navy to get "navigational charts on where the American frigate would be in the Pacific Ocean."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 32m32 minutes ago
Chupeta also said he tried — unsuccessfully— to corrupt US law enforcement agents in Colombia.

Asked whether he was aware any US agents who had "directly" accepted his bribes, he replied "No. Never."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
Cross-examination of Chupeta by El Chapo's lawyers begins tomorrow morning.

We're also dropping a new episode of the podcast that will cover Chapo's 2014 capture, his prison escape via tunnel, and the Sean Penn debacle.

Listen for free on @Spotify:

Chapo: Kingpin on Trial
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