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

[JerseyGirl]

The El Chapo Trial Concludes Month One With Tales of Blood and Money

 

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from Day 14 — and the start of Week 5 — of El Chapo's trial. Expecting testimony today from yet another cooperating witness. My piece last week @vicenews about how this case is being used to justify all the deals the US has cut with narcos.


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

Here's the latest development about El Chapo's wife getting in trouble for having a phone in the courtroom…

----Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton
New developments w/ the Chapo trial: Prosecutors say his wife Emma Coronel used a cellphone to communicate w/ him during the trial, violating court-ordered security measures. Motion for sanctions against a member of the defense over the phone: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5485204-El-Chapo-government-letter-about-cellphones-in.html … @vicenews
3:48 PM - 9 Dec 2018

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

And here's the government being desperate to avoid having the jury hear embarrassing details about Operation Fast and Furious…

---Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton
On another front, prosecutors reallllllly don't want El Chapo's jury to hear about the ATF's bungled "Fast and Furious" gun-running sting. Asking the judge to make it "completely off-limits," even though the jury will see evidence from it. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5485204-El-Chapo-government-letter-about-cellphones-in.html …
4:10 PM - 9 Dec 2018

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
And here's a piece by @alanfeuer and @emilyepalmer that offers a solid recap of last week in the trial. I love their El Chapo "glossary": https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/09/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html …

The El Chapo Trial Concludes Month One With Tales of Blood and Money

Dec. 9, 2018

The El Chapo Trial Concludes Month One With Tales of Blood and Money



Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Here's the heavily redacted document filed late yesterday evening by El Chapo's defense, asking the judge to reconsider limits on questions that can be asked of a cooperating witness. As @alanfeuer notes, this appears to reference Vicente Zambada-Niebla. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5497934-Balarezo-motion-to-reconsider-limits-on.html …

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Vicente Zambada claimed he had a secret arrangement with the DEA, then changed his story after he struck a plea deal. Hard to know for sure w/ the redactions, but it appears El Chapo's lawyers are claiming this lack of consistency raises questions about his credibility.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Heading up to the courtroom momentarily, will update as usual during the mid-morning break. In the meantime, catch up on our podcast. We're dropping a gut-wrenching new episode tomorrow about the fallout from El Chapo's capture.

Chapo: Kingpin on Trial
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 6h6 hours ago
Another day in the El Chapo trial, another sealed motion by the government to limit testimony. They filed this one without the ruling for their last one having been posted yet..


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
“The court has succinctly summarized the facts.” Lol

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
For those watching the Chapo trial at home, this redacted motion by the defense means Judge Cogan has *already* ruled on a another govt motion to limit testimony in the case and *already* filed an order to the parties. But it has not been publicly docketed yet.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
There is obviously no way to know exactly who or what these motions refer to but reading between the lines of the govt's original filing, it's possible to make an informed guess. Here's mine--and again, it's just speculation at this point b/c the record is so opaque.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
Vincente Zambada-Niebla, son of the Sinaloa bigwig Mayo Zambada, is expected to testify vs. Chapo at some point, and I'm guessing the govt is trying to stop the defense from exploring his claim that he was allowed to keep dealing cocaine in exchange for providing the DEA w/intel.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
Again, I could be wrong, but there are hints in the govt's filing that Vincentillo, as he's known, made either a "selective prosecution" defense for himself or one based on what's called "outrageous govt conduct." Chapo was stopped from using either strategy by the judge.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
Reading between the lines (or rather, the redactions), it seems the govt is concerned that if Vincentillo's use of those defenses is allowed, it will somehow convince the jury that Chapo was in the same situation--and thus break Judge Cogan's prior rulings.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
Vincentillo's story of being a DEA informant has been known publicly for years now. But I'm guessing that the story will not be permitted at the trial and the jurors will not hear about it--or if they do, it will only be in the meager of detail.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
If that happens, it will be one more in a series of evidentiary walls Judge Cogan has built around the trial's central purpose: deciding Chapo's fate. He's been very conservative about letting in allegedly distracting testimony.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
The govt has disputed that Vicentillo was an informant and that he got a green light from DEA to sell drugs in exchange for being a cartel spy. If my reading is right, they don't want to have a trial w/in a trial about that issue here and now. Again, this is speculation.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5m5 minutes ago
1997, as we learned this morning at the Chapo trial, was a bad year for the Juarez drug cartel, which was closely allied with Chapo's Sinaloa cartel. Two tragedies occurred...


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4m4 minutes ago
First Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Juarez boss, died during plastic surgery. Not long after, one of his deputies, Flaco Quirate, shot himself in the head. Drunk & high, Flaco was chased by the Mexican cops and decided not to surrender. Tho he didn't die, he did suffer amnesia.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
The twin caused another of the periodic shakeups in shook Cartel Land. Amado's brother, Vincente, formerly the Juarez headof assassins, took over and formed a tighter bond w/Chapo and the Sinaloans. This was according to a man who worked w/both groups: Tirso Martinez-Sachez.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 20m20 minutes ago
Often we think of the cartels as highly structured organizations, and while they are somewhat, alliances constantly shifted. They have emerged today as more like medieval fiefdoms run by feudal lords whose passion for money and personal whims guided everything.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 19m19 minutes ago
It's a theme that's run through the trial and one we are likely to hear more about today as Tirso, who stood between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels, continues to testify...


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 19m19 minutes ago
(The twin DEATHS)
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 31m31 minutes ago
Testimony this morning from Tirso Martinez, a trafficker who worked for the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels in the '90s and early 2000s.

Among other nicknames, he's known as "El Futbolista" because he used his drug money to buy several soccer teams in Mexico.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 29m29 minutes ago
Martinez testified about how the cartel used trains to ship drugs to Chicago. Said he coordinated 8-10 shipments, each with 1,200-1,800 kilos of coke. These were worth up to $30 million in Chicago. Martinez would personally earn about $200,000-$300,000 per shipment.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 25m25 minutes ago
Martinez told a wild story about his boss in the Juarez cartel, a guy named Flaco Quirarte. He testified that Flaco shot himself in the head in 1998 or 1999. He said that Flaco survived but lost his memory — and his job in the cartel.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Martinez on Flaco's suicide attempt:

"He was drunk and he was high and a patrol car detained him. He didn't stop, he fled instead. He called Alvarez Tostado (another cartel member) and told him, 'Compadre, I'm not going to let them catch me. I'm going to kill myself instead."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
Flaco shot himself shortly after Juarez cartel leader Amado Carrillo died during plastic surgery. Martinez said this led to Amado's brother Vicente taking over the organization and merging it with the Sinaloa cartel. He said the two cartels "became one — only one."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
More testimony from Tirso Martinez happening now, will update again later this afternoon.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5m5 minutes ago
Tirso's specialty was smuggling coke from Mexico City to LA, Chicago and NY in tanker trains of cooking oil. He formed legitimate import companies--Four Queens, for instance--& created a track record for them by bringing the oil from the US to Mexico a few times b4 moving drugs.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3m3 minutes ago
He and his men would weld false compartments into both ends of 10-12 tanker cars. They'd vacuum seal the coke in bags, wrap them in plastic and tape and slather on a layer of mechanic's grease to throw the dogs off the scent. Then they'd hide them in the secret compartments.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3m3 minutes ago
When the trains arrived in LA, Chicago and NY, Tirso had rail spurs that led right into his US warehouses. They'd remove the coke, fill the tankers with cooking oil again and send them back to Mexico to make it all look real.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
From 2000 to 2003, he smuggled between 30 to 50 tons of coke this way, he said. Estimated street value: between $500 to $800 million.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3m3 minutes ago
He also had a distribution network in the US. His guys would take the coke from the train warehouse to a separate warehouse then send it out to wholesale dealers whose names they got from the cartel. Typically, they'd meet their dealers in McDonald's and Burger Kings.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
They'd park a van or pick up full of coke somewhere nearby, meet the dealer and hand him the keys. Tirso said the whole train smuggling method was Chapo's idea. Chapo, he said, once bragged to him that he was "the inventor" of the train route.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 12m12 minutes ago
Tirso spent the afternoon explaining in painstaking detail how he managed smuggling route for the cartel from 2000-2003. He sent cocaine to New York, Chicago, and LA hidden in rail tanker cars used for shipping cooking oil.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 9m9 minutes ago
Tirso testified that he met El Chapo face to face in mid-2001, after his escape from prison. Tirso said he and his boss were taken to a cabin outside of Mexico City, on the way to Toluca. They had hoods placed over their heads so they couldn't see exactly where they were going.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Tirso testified that El Chapo proudly claimed he was the "inventor" of the train route they were using. Tirso said his boss, a game named Alfredo Vasquez, lied to El Chapo about how many railcars they had, saying they had up to 60 when they really only had 6-8.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 5m5 minutes ago
Tirso said Chapo told them to expect larger cocaine shipments to start coming through the rail route. Altogether, they ended up sending 18-20 shipments between 30-50 tons, worth $500-800 million.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 49s50 seconds ago
Tirso said all of the cocaine sent on this route belonged to El Chapo, El Mayo, and Vicente Carrillo. He described a hierarchy of the route that prosecutors put on a “leader board” with mugshots of those involved. It looked like this. Not sure on some of these name spellings.

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 15m15 minutes ago
Tirso said after the drugs arrived in New York and Chicago, they'd unload the kilos from the rail tankers at warehouses into smaller cars with hidden compartments. They would arrange drop-offs at McDonalds and Burger King. They'd meet contacts inside and give them the keys.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 14m14 minutes ago
Tirso testified about the rail tanker route: "No one other than members of the cartel could use it.… Chapo decided who could use it."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 11m11 minutes ago
Tirso said the cocaine was loaded onto the rail tankers at a warehouse in Mexico City. Usually they had 2-3 tons stored there, once up 17 tons.

He said they weren't nervous about the warehouse getting raided "because Mayo Zambada had paid off the authorities."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 9m9 minutes ago
This testimony was often very dull, especially the extremely detailed logistics of shipping routes, renting warehouses, starting front companies, etc. Judge Cogan interrupted at one point and warned jurors who were dozing off.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 8m8 minutes ago
More testimony from Tirso coming this afternoon. Unclear whether or not we'll get to cross-examination by the defense today.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 23m23 minutes ago
In the afternoon session of the Chapo trial, Tirso Martinez-Sanchez revealed that even a midlevel coke dealer working w/the Sinaloa cartel could make big money. From 2000-03, when Tirso was running a secret train route across the US border he said made $15-25 million in profits.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
Interesting testimony this afternoon from Tirso Martinez, talking about how the cartel would transport money back to Mexico, his encounters with El Mayo Zambada, and the war between Vicente Carrillo and El Chapo.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 22m22 minutes ago
Tirso said he spent his earnings on watches and diamonds, purchased in NY, and sent back to Mexico. He bought homes, horses, cars and several Mexican soccer teams. He had so much cash that he tossed away between $2-3 million gambling on the cockfights.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 23m23 minutes ago
Tirso said that his workers in New York would use the cartel's drug proceeds buy watches and diamonds in Manhattan, which would then be shipped back to Mexico. Estimates they spent $1 million or more. Also smuggled $6-8 million in cash back in cars w/ hidden compartments.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 23m23 minutes ago
Tirso said he personally profited at least $15-20 million while he was running the New York train route. He said he was earning just 10-15 percent of what El Chapo, El Mayo, and Vicente Carrillo were pocketing.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 20m20 minutes ago
But things got hard for Tirso when he was caught in the middle of a war bet Chapo and Vincente Carrillo Fuentes, brother of Amado (who died in plastic surgery.) Chapo wanted to cut Vincente out of the train route profits and told Tirso to keep quiet about some of the runs.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
Tirso on his money: "I spent it on properties, houses, horses, cockfights, gambling, soccer teams, vehicles, cars." He estimates that he lost "between $2-3 million" gambling on cockfights.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 21m21 minutes ago
More trial updates coming later this afternoon. In the meantime, read my story @vicenews on why prosecutors don't want El Chapo's jury to hear about Operation Fast and Furious:

PROSECUTORS DON’T WANT EL CHAPO’S JURY TO HEAR HOW THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SENT GUNS TO THE SINALOA CARTEL

Dec 10, 2018

"BROOKLYN, New York — Operation Fast and Furious is among the most epic boondoggles in the history of federal law enforcement, which probably explains why federal prosecutors don’t want jurors in the trial of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán to hear anything about it.

Fast and Furious was intended as a sting operation by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms to bust gun-runners and straw purchasers along the border. But it ultimately led to American firearms being sent to Mexican cartels and later linked to murders, including the fatal shootings of a Border Patrol agent in 2010 and an ICE agent in 2011...."

Prosecutors don’t want El Chapo’s jury to hear how the U.S. government sent guns to the Sinaloa cartel



Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17m17 minutes ago
The Chapo-Carrillo Fuentes war is another example of the constantly shifting cartel alliances. Chapo had a habit of warring w/his former partners: 1st the Carrillo Fuenteses & later his close allies, the Beltran-Leyvas. He's come off as a greedy who often sold people out.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 16m16 minutes ago
Tirso also spoke today about the Flores brothers, Pedro & Margarito, Chapo's main Chicago distributors. He said he met w/one of them and heard they moved major weight of coke for Chapo and his crew. The Flores bros are expected to testify soon at the trial.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 14m14 minutes ago
In 2011, as Tirso learned US authorities were onto him, he--like many other Mexican traffickers--underwent plastic surgery. (Why is this a thing?) It wasn't his first time. He'd had his nose & eyes done earlier. But the last surgery was stopped when he started bleeding out.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
It bears (re)mentioning: Today's witness at the Chapo trial, a mid-level dealer in the organization, made so much money that he blithely lost $2-3 million *gambling on cockfights.* This, at a time when the average Mexican worker was earning less than $10,000 a year.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 51m51 minutes ago
Tirso Martinez was on the stand all day today. He'll be back tomorrow for cross-examination. His most interesting testimony was about his interactions with cartel leaders like El Mayo. He was basically a mid-level manager trying to please his bosses. He's lucky to still be alive.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 41m41 minutes ago
Chapo asked Tirso for help shipping 200 kilos to LA. The normal rate was $1K/kilo but Tirso offered to do it for free: "I really wanted to work with him in larger quantities. I knew I would make a lot more money than just the $200K I would be charging him on that occasion."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 40m40 minutes ago
Tirso said he told his boss, Juarez cartel leader Vicente Carrillo, about the meeting w/ Chapo: "He got really angry. He said, 'This a**hole, he wants to skip over me.' He told me not to go to any meetings without his authorization."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 39m39 minutes ago
Tirso said Vicente Carrillo called El Chapo by the nickname "Patas Cortas," which means short legs. Not something he'd ever say to Chapo's face. Tirso said Vicente thought Chapo "wanted to take him out of the game."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 35m35 minutes ago
Later, El Chapo's lieutenants approached Tirso about shipping 3,600 kilos of cocaine to Chicago. When Tirso said he'd have to ask Vicente's permission, Chapo's man replied, "Well f***, the transport is ours." He sent the load without telling Vicente and took 400 kilos as payment.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 33m33 minutes ago
Tirso said he twice met with El Mayo Zambada, who was the godfather to his boss Vicente Carrillo. The first meeting was at a house in Coahuila. Vicente and Mayo wanted to a progress report on a new cocaine shipping route to New York. Tirso promised it would be ready soon.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 32m32 minutes ago
A month later, Tirso still hadn't gotten the New York route up and running. He got a call from his boss: "Vicente says 'My godfather is asking when the f*** you're going to have New York ready.'"


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 31m31 minutes ago
About 4-5 months later, Tirso is summoned to another meeting with El Mayo. He gets picked up in Mexico City by Mayo's brother El Rey Zambada. At first the courtroom translator said a person named "Puppy" was there, but it was actually Rey's wife Patty. Everybody laughed at this.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
Anyway, Rey and Patty take Tirso to a house outside Mexico City. He'd been told they needed to "clear something up." Tirso was accused of cheating Mayo on a load by changing the kilos "from good merchandise to bad merchandise" — swapping in lower quality cocaine.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 25m25 minutes ago
When Tirso arrives at the house where El Mayo is staying, he says there are armed people everywhere: "Mayo Zambada began to insult me immediately. He asked me why I had switched his merchandise on him." Mayo said the issue was with 311 kilos of cocaine Tirso had shipped for him.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
Tirso said he didn't know what Mayo was talking about. He said Mayo responded, "Don't act like you're f***ing stupid. You gave me 311 kilos that are no good." Tirso said Mayo "had a gun in his waistband and he pointed it at me," aiming right at his face.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
Tirso said his relationship with El Mayo's godson Vicente Carrillo saved him: "[El Mayo] said I'm not going to kill you because my godson told me not to do anything to you."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 21m21 minutes ago
Later, Tirso called Vicente and told him what happened with Mayo pointing a gun at him: "He thought it was funny. He said, 'That's my godfather, he's an ."

Tirso agreed to get El Mayo 311 good kilos even though he denied messing with the shipment.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 19m19 minutes ago
Later, after US authorities seized 3 separate loads of cocaine worth at least $100 million and Tirso was forced to abandon his train route, he started ducking Vicente and ignoring his calls: "They wanted to kill me because I lost that train route, that means of transportation."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 16m16 minutes ago
A conflict had also broken out between Chapo and Vicente Carrillo. Tirso said they were "at war, they were killing each other." Mayo had sided with Chapo "completely" over his godson. Tirso didn't want to choose a side and tried to quit working for the cartels.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 8m8 minutes ago
Tirso isn't totally innocent here. He admitted to setting people up to be killed and said that on more than one occasion he sent sicarios to threaten people who owed him money.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Tirso also kept smuggling drugs. He said he was approached by the older brother of the Flores twins — "Los cuates del Chicago" — about supplying them with cocaine. "He said trust us, we sell a lot of merchandise in Chicago." Said they routinely got 500-1,000 kilo shipments.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Fun fact of the day from the Chapo trial:

We heard how Amado Carrillo Fuentes, an early Chapo ally, died during plastic surgery in 97.

But we never heard what happened to the doctor: his body was found in an oil drum on a hi-way between CDMX and Acapulco. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/06/mexico.doctor/index.html?_s=PM:WORLD …

Tortured body of doctor found in oil drum

November 6, 1997

"IGUALA, Mexico (CNN) -- The body of a doctor believed to have been involved in the plastic surgery death of a top Mexican drug lord in July has been found.

The bodies of Jaime Godoy Singh and two other people were found stuffed into oil drums, partially filled with cement and abandoned along the main highway between Mexico City and Acapulco.

The grisly discovery was made Wednesday near the town of Iguala in Guerrero state, about 70 miles (110 km) southeast of Mexico City.

There was evidence that Godoy Singh, 37, and the others, who authorities say had been dead about a week, were tortured. The other bodies have so far not been identified.

Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as the "Lord of the Skies" for his pioneering use of jetliners to ferry cocaine, died July 4 while recovering from plastic surgery and liposuction in a Mexico City maternity clinic. Police believe the surgery was designed to change Carrillo Fuentes' appearance in an effort to help him evade capture....

Police said the bodies had been handcuffed and blindfolded. They had been strangled and at least one shot in the neck. The victims' fingernails had been pulled out, and their chests and arms were covered with burns -- apparent signs of torture....

Carrillo Fuentes survived the surgery but died hours later from a mix of anesthetic and a sleeping drug, Dormicum, which led to heart failure."

CNN - Tortured body of doctor found in oil drum - November 6, 1997

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 7m7 minutes ago
Tirso had plastic surgery three times, including once when he "wanted to change my face" because he was wanted by the feds in NYC. The face-changing surgery had to be abandoned because he had high blood pressure. This is him on his wedding day in 2001. Looks roughly the same now.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 5m5 minutes ago
This is one of the tanker cars that Tirso used to smuggle drugs for the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels. They had false walls built into both ends of the tanker, which carried cooking oil. These arrived at warehouses in Queens and New Jersey loaded with multiple tons of cocaine.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
This is Flaco Quirarte, Tirso's former boss in the Juarez cartel who shot himself in the head. See earlier in this thread for that crazy story.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Tirso was arrested in Mexico in Feb. 2014 and extradited in Dec. 2015. He pleaded guilty cocaine smuggling charges and faces a max sentence of life in prison. His a cooperation agreement w/ the government means he could be out in 10 years or less. He has to pay a $2 million fine.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
That's it for today. Will be back in court tomorrow for Tirso's cross-examination and perhaps some additional witnesses.

Read my latest @vicenews on the trial:

1. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pa5xpk/prosecutors-dont-want-el-chapos-jury-to-hear-how-the-us-government-sent-guns-to-the-sinaloa-cartel …

2. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kzvpyn/drug-lords-are-using-el-chapos-trial-as-a-get-out-of-jail-free-card …

And listen to our podcast:

Chapo: Kingpin on Trial
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El Chapo ran cocaine train route to NYC: ex-cartel member

December 10, 2018

"He should have been called El Choo-po.

Mexican cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman ran a cocaine train all the way from Mexico to New York City, a witness testified Monday.

“Chapo decided who could use the train route,” cartel member turned informant Tirso Martinez Sanchez told Brooklyn federal jurors in Guzman’s drug trafficking trial.

Martinez said he began overseeing the choo-choo operation around 2000, after a predecessor shot himself in the face, and another died on the operating table during plastic surgery....

Martinez appeared nervous when he first took the stand Monday, misspelling his own name for the court reporter.

He soon reduced the gallery to giggles when, asked to identify the 5-foot-6 El Chapo, he said he was the “short” guy wearing the blue shirt....

He said he ghosted the kingpin and his associates, and miraculously survived long enough to be arrested in 2014 and extradited to Brooklyn, where he ultimately pleaded guilty to importation and distribution charges...."

https://nypost.com/2018/12/10/el-chapo-ran-cocaine-train-route-to-nyc-ex-cartel-member/

(Tirso Martinez-Sanchez testifies during the trial of accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Reuters)
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This article from the newspaper Mexico News Daily....

Guzmán’s former lawyer says ‘austere’ El Chapo is no monster
Former drug lord described as 'unassuming and kindly'

December 10, 2018

"“The person I knew has nothing in common with the monster that the press describes.”

Those are the words of José Refugio Rodríguez, a Mexican lawyer who defended notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for three years until his client was extradited to the United States in January 2017....

Refugio Rodríguez, who retains close ties to Guzmán as lawyer for his father-in-law and brother-in-law, told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera that his former client didn’t live the life of luxury that Martínez described.

“I go to Sinaloa a lot and I hear the people speak very well of Joaquín Guzmán. They say that he led a very austere life. I never heard about that ranch with the train,” he said.

“Those [claims of] luxuries and those millions that place him among the richest people in the world, I’ve only seen them in the press. I’ve even been to his mother’s house and it’s an austere house. The people in Sinaloa love him a lot,” Refugio added.

Asked whether he had any knowledge about Guzmán undergoing a facial rejuvenation treatment in Switzerland, the lawyer responded by portraying his former client as an unassuming and kindly person.

“The last thing that they could be said about Joaquín Guzmán is that he is a vain person. I met a very simple and modest person who was ready to lend a hand to anyone who needed help . . .He didn’t wear brand clothes, he didn’t wear jewelry and friends that I met through him . . . have told me that they slept on the floor with him [in his home] in the mountains, they never spoke of having been in a luxurious residence owned by Joaquín Guzmán,” Refugio said.

“He is not the monster they say he is, there are testimonies from people who have received help from him without knowing him,” he declared.

Refugio said that a lot of the witnesses testifying against Guzmán in court are doing so for their own benefit, adding that “it’s very easy to blame an emblematic figure like Joaquín.”..

The strategy to portray El Chapo as nothing more than a scapegoat – an underling of real cartel boss “El Mayo” Zambada – “could work,” Refugio said.

“I see the possibility that Joaquín Guzmán will do well and according to private information, the trial is progressing in a way that is favorable to him,” he added.

Jurors have now heard four weeks of often-grisly testimony in a trial that could last up to four months. It continues this week but will break for a two-week recess over the Christmas-New Year period."

Guzmán's former lawyer says 'austere' El Chapo is no monster

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Telemundo Exclusive: “El Chapo’s” Wife Speaks Out Amid Trial (with clips)

The former beauty queen and mother of Guzman’s twin girls has not been able to speak to or even hug her husband since he was extradited on January 8, 2017. Here's what she had to say in her first public interview in more than two years

"Emma Coronel Aispuro yearns for a calm life.

"(I want) to be calm, to be somewhere in the world where we can be at ease [...] I don’t dream of big things," said the 29-year-old former beauty queen. "Tranquility, happiness, nothing out of the ordinary".

But that is not the life she has had. ...

...she insists she would not change anything about her life and reveals her truth to Noticias Telemundo in an exclusive interview with journalists Marisset Vereni and Rebecca Smith.

"I am (happy) with the life that I have, of the life that I was given, of the husband that I have, of the daughters that I have, of the family that I have... I am very satisfied. I have also had hard times, but I have always said that God does not put things in your path that he isn’t sure you will overcome”, she said with a solemn look during the two-on-one....

But that warm welcome and “peaceful” life didn’t last. Now Coronel accompanies her husband on his third arrest, every single day in federal court, something she admits is "very hard." But she hasn’t given up.

"I think it’s what any wife would do in my place, be with her husband in difficult times," Coronel explained. "In one way or another so that he feels, and sees me present, and feels my support."...

"El Chapo" faces 17 counts for alleged links to drug trafficking in the US and Mexico and, although cameras have not been allowed in court since the start of his trial on November 5, his name resonates in global headlines. And he likes the attention, Coronel says.

"You have to be honest, I think he did like it, he does like it a little," said Coronel with a soft smile referring to that public prominence. At the same time, she stressed the necessity of that coverage so that "media pressure is present and everything can be clearer and everyone can see what really happens" in that courtroom...."

Telemundo Exclusive: “El Chapo’s” Wife Speaks Out Amid Trial
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[Niner]

*Trial continues (Day 15) (@ 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 13.
12/10/18 Day 14: Prosecutors say his wife Emma Coronel used a cellphone to communicate w/him during the trial, violating court-ordered security measures. Motion for sanctions against a member of the defense over the phone. Another sealed motion by the government to limit testimony. State witness: Tirso Martinez-Sachez "El Futbolista" a trafficker who worked for the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels in the '90s and early 2000s

 

[Niner]

Seems like these cartel bosses all get plastic surgery!

 

[YESorNO]

Seems like these cartel bosses all get plastic surgery!

They're all trying to hide from someone, I guess.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from Day 15 of El Chapo's trial. We just dropped a powerful new episode of the podcast about the unintended consequences of capturing and extraditing El Chapo. Listen to "The Fallout":

https://open.spotify.com/episode/41nsmKDd4ImGjyX0QIl8Up … @vicenews


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Sharing some photos from our reporting in Sinaloa before court starts today. In this episode we cover the killing of Javier Valdez, a revered journalist and the cofounder of @Riodoce_mx. He's gone but not forgotten in Culiacán.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
This is the issue of @Riodoce_mx that came out after Javier's murder in May 2017. My cohost @MAVEGAO, who was close friends with Javier, wrote an article in this. For more on Javier, read this excellent piece by @ioangrillo.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a22996658/javier-valdez-luis-guzman-el-chapo-journalist/ …

INSIDE THE BRILLIANT CAREER AND TRAGIC DEATH OF JAVIER VALDEZ

El Chapo, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, sits in an American jail, awaiting his upcoming trial in Brooklyn. For years, Valdez reported on the cartels, risking his life amid the sicarios in what has become the deadliest assignment in the world outside of a war zone. In the end, it caught up with him. His friend Ioan Grillo recounts his vibrant life and tragic death.

SEP 19, 2018

Inside the Murder of Javier Valdez, the Ríodoce Journalist Killed by the Sinaloa Cartel and El Chapo

(A woman shows a newspaper with Valdez on the front page during a demonstration to end violence against journalists in Mexico outside the Palacio de Bellas Artes on June 15, 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico. /Getty Images Miguel Tovar)


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
This is a memorial for Javier where he was shot by a cartel assassin. It's just steps from the newspaper's offices.

Mexico is the deadliest country in the Western Hemisphere for journalists. At least 10 reporters have been killed here in 2018, per @CPJAmericas.

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
In this episode we also meet Isabel, a woman who is searching for her disappeared son. He vanished in the aftermath of El Chapo's capture in 2016, when factions of the Sinaloa cartel were fighting to fill the power vacuum.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Isabel created a group called Sabuesos Guerreras or The Bloodhound Warriors. They go out searching for the remains of their missing sons, husbands, brothers, and other loved ones who have vanished during the drug war.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
We went with Isabel and her group to a field on the outskirts of Culiacán, where they had reason to believe they might find a shallow, unmarked grave. This is our team helping them dig.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Isabel and other members of her group use amateur forensic techniques. They are meticulous about preserving any possible evidence they come across.

Here she is documenting some burned fabric we found while digging. Another woman found a bone, but was animal — not human.

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