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

[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
Edgar Ivan Galvan was released from two days of testimony this morning. He avoided looking in Chapo’s direction as he left.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
Remember Jorge Cifuentes? Well, an FBI special agent took the stand today to talk about infiltrating the family’s special encrypted communications system.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
After infiltrating the Cifuentes family’s communications system, the FBI pulled more than 800 encrypted calls.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
Undercover agents met with the Cifuentes IT guy, Cristián Rodriguez, at a hotel in New York City in 2010, pretending to be interested in using the servers. After the FBI revealed themselves, Cristián quickly agreed to cooperate, working undercover himself.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
While working undercover, Cristián Rodriguez helped the FBI get access to encrypted calls on the servers. He also emailed them other calls that the FBI was unable to get. We’ve heard some of those calls, with El Chapo’s voice.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
We’re all over the map: sitting in Colombia, a man named Cristián Rodriguez, often worked out the kinks of the communication system. That system’s servers were located in Canada (and later moved to the Netherlands), where the FBI infiltrated the system.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
The FBI agent also did a quasi-voice analysis, comparing Chapo’s voice on the encrypted calls to his voice on a jail call and the @Rollingstone video.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 6h6 hours ago
The FBI agent described Chapo’s voice as high-pitched with a nasally undertone. “It has a kind of sing-songy variation to it,” he said.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
After spending much of the afternoon listening to FBI-obtained phone conversations between El Chapo and other members of the cartel, I feel fairly confident in saying that El Chapo has a most definite stutter.
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
The calls between Chapo and cartel members establish him as the Señor in charge: from warning a man called Cholo against beating the police (“When you talk, talk to them. You don’t smack them around”) to instructions on trafficking operations (“Make sure you have no kilos left”).


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
When Chapo warned Cholo against beating police, Cholo responded: “You taught us to be a wolf, to act like a wolf. That’s how I like to do it.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
Using the Cifuentes server method, three-digit extensions were used like “in-office” extensions between cartel members. We ended the day with a run-through of ledgers: extensions matched to nicknames: 102 for Lucero; 130 for Mama Tacayo; 135 for Raton; 733 for ZaZaZa.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
We watched the @Rollingstone video (again) today during the trial. As he does often, El Chapo pulled back in his chair, his eyes cast down at the screen, watching the video-taped interview from the farthest position possible.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
Comparing the phone calls to the @Rollingstone video, the FBI agent said “the speech patterns are slower, more deliberate” because of the nature of an interview. But, he said, the sing-song nature of Chapo's voice was still evident. Hear the sing-song?

El Chapo Guzman Interrogando a un Zeta




Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
Another video was shared – this was filmed back in 2012. And, amazingly, part of a phone conversation is also captured on one of the intercepted calls. The prosecution pointed to several word-for-word sentences repeated in both. Also, you hear a beeping sound in both.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
The repeated conversation is not exact. A section of the conversation is cut out about 32 seconds in the video … which the FBI agent credited to a rather obvious edit in the video.
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 54m54 minutes ago
El Chapo’s wife’s Instagram account appears to have been taken down within the last 24 hours. The account, which Emma Coronel Aispuro has told me and others she does not control, published a picture of her in a gold dress on Sunday. Today all 36 of her posts have disappeared.

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 52m52 minutes ago
This was the last post on El Chapo’s wife’s supposed Instagram account. The picture was also posted on Stories yesterday, tagging another account (where the photograph was shared) that purported to publish pictures of: “las mujeres más bellas de México.”

(Google translate: “las mujeres más bellas de México.”

"The most beautiful women in Mexico." )
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 28m28 minutes ago
Here's one call that was played today in court. El Chapo is speaking one of his men, El Gato, who puts him on the phone with El Yanqui, a police commander on the cartel payroll. Chapo asks for "a special favor."

Transcript:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5677790-El-Chapo-Phone-Call-With-El-Gato-and-El-Yanqui.html …

Audio: Excerpt Of El Chapo Phone Call With El Gato And El Yanqui, July 9, 2011

Excerpt Of El Chapo Phone Call With El Gato And El Yanqui, July 9, 2011


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2m2 minutes ago
Excerpt from another phone call that was played today in court. El Chapo is speaking with an unidentified woman, discussing plans to ship meth and cocaine from LA to the Midwest, specifically Ohio.

Transcript:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5677805-Transcript-of-El-Chapo-Business-Call-May-10-2011.html …

Audio: Excerpt from El Chapo business call May 10, 2011

https://soundcloud.com/keegan-hamilton-596372337/excerpt-from-el-chapo-business-call-may-10-2011 …

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Kicker:

The IT guy who built Chapo's comms system then helped the FBI crack it is expected to be a witness at the trial. He is likely the same witness described in a govt filing last week as having suffered "a nervous breakdown" after the cartel found out & came looking for him.
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[YESorNO]

Decade after Chicago charges, drug underboss finally takes aim at El Chapo (with clip)

January 07, 2019

"CHICAGO (WLS) -- In the billion-dollar world of bloodshed and cartel drugs, the only thing benign about Vicente Zambada Niebla is his nickname: El Vicentillo, aka "Pretty Boy."

When Zambada was arrested during a 2009 Mexican Army operation and extradited to Chicago, he was the highest ranking drug capo ever facing prosecution in the United States-responsible for a tide of heroin and cocaine into Chicago and the collateral damage that accompanies it.

Zambada had the drug business in his DNA. He was the son of a cartel boss and the heir apparent to the mega-lucrative Sinaloa organization-owned and operated by his father and notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. When El Chapo was also arrested a few years later, Zambada was relegated to the number two most noteworthy cartel boss awaiting trial in the U.S.

For the past ten years he has waited for his day of reckoning in court, eager to tell all about the Sinaloa cartel and its cutthroat, folk-hero level leader now known simply as Chapo.

On Monday in New York, Zambada snaked his way through a maze of Mexican cartel stories, under direct examination by federal prosecutors who are trying to convict Chapo...."

Decade after Chicago charges, drug underboss finally takes aim at El Chapo
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‘El Chapo’s’ defense team takes aim at a key witness

JAN 07, 2019

"Joaquin “El Chapo" Guzman's defense team was on the attack.

The target: Vicente Zambada Niebla, once a member of Guzman's inner circle, now one of the most damning witnesses in the sprawling case against the infamous drug kingpin.

In three days of testimony that concluded Monday, Zambada, 43, the son of Guzman’s longtime partner, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, coolly detailed the intimate workings of the Sinaloa cartel, explaining how he helped his bosses traffic thousands of kilos of drugs and guns, pay off scores of Mexican officials and order the torture and killings of rivals.

But during cross-examination, Eduardo Balarezo, Guzman’s burly defense lawyer, hammered away at Zambada, trying to pull apart his motivations for testifying against a man he always referred to as “mi compadre Chapo.”

“Let me ask another simple, stupid question so I might get a simple stupid answer,” Balarezo said at one point.

The performance appeared to entertain the jurors — some of whom have previously dozed off during the long trial, which has featured vast detail about wars between rival cartels.

"Was your Papa Mayo a social worker?” Balarezo asked sarcastically.

"I know that in the past he was a worker," Zambada replied flatly through his interpreter, drawing laughs from the courtroom.

“What I meant was your father wasn't in the business of helping struggling drug traffickers," Balarezo said...."

‘El Chapo’s’ defense team takes aim at a key witness
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El Chapo hitman had a soundproof 'murder room' with drains on the floor for quick clean ups following executions and posed for selfies with his .50-caliber rifle, claims witness in ongoing trial for the drug boss

8 January 2019

"Edgar Galvan, 41, testified in front of a jury Monday in El Chapo's trial

Galvan used to work for hitman Antonio 'Jaguar' Marrufo from 2007 to 2011

He claims Marrufo had a 'murder room' where he would kill rival cartel members

Galvan would transport and store guns for El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel

He was arrested in 2011 and has served eight of his 24-year sentence ..."

El Chapo hitman had a soundproof murder room with drains on the floor for quick clean ups | Daily Mail Online
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[YESorNO]

'EL CHAPO' TRIAL ESCAPE A LAUGHING MATTER AFTER BROOKLYN COURTROOM BLACKOUT

1/8/19

"On Tuesday, just before the 25th day in the trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman began, the lights went out in the Brooklyn courtroom and one joker used the opportunity to pretend the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin had escaped.

“The lights briefly went out, it was pitch black inside the courtroom. When the lights came back on, somebody shouted, ‘He’s gone!’ Chapo hadn’t moved. Everybody laughed, except maybe the U.S. Marshals,” Keegan Hamilton of Vice News said, describing it as the day’s “most exciting moment.”...

Tuesday proceedings included emotional testimony from Egar Ivan Galvan, a member of the Sinaloa Cartel operating out of El Paso, Texas, who is currently serving 24 years....

Additional testimony came from FBI special agent Stephen Marston, who described how the FBI obtained access to El Chapo’s “sophisticated” encrypted phone network by flipping Sinaloa Cartel IT expert Cristian Rodriquez. Several of Guzman’s calls were played for the jury, including with the Sinaloa Cartel’s alleged top assassin, Orso “El Cholo” Ivan Gastelum Cruz, who engaged in a shootout with the Mexican Army and Federal Police during the 2016 raid leading to El Chapo’s capture.

While the trial of “El Chapo” Guzman is ongoing, jury instruction documents filed by U.S. Attorneys could indicate the United States prosecution is approaching an end to their testimony against the cartel leader."

Joker pretends Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman escaped from Brooklyn courtroom
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Prosecutors in 'El Chapo' trial play calls intercepted by FBI

JANUARY 8, 2019

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the trial of “El Chapo” Joaquin Guzman on Tuesday played excerpts from what they said were incriminating phone calls made by the accused Mexican drug lord and intercepted by the FBI after they infiltrated his encrypted messaging system.

Nearly two months into the trial of Guzman on charges of drug trafficking as leader of the Sinaloa cartel, FBI special agent Steven Marston testified the 61-year-old was easily identifiable by his higher-pitched voice, which had “kind of a sing-songy nature to it” and a “nasally undertone.”

The phone call excerpts that wafted through the Brooklyn courtroom on Tuesday included discussions of dealings with local officials, including one where Guzman appears to admonish an associate to be careful dealing with police....."

Prosecutors in 'El Chapo' trial play calls intercepted by FBI | Reuters
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[Niner]

Wednesday, January 9th:
*Trial continues (Day 26) (@ 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 21.
1/3/19 Day 22: State witness: Vicente Zambada Niebla, the son of Chapo's partner, Mayo Zambada; Vicente was a top man in the Sinaloa cartel & something like its heir apparent. Trial continues 1/4.
1/4/19 Day 23: State witness: Vicente Zambada Niebla. Trial continues on Monday, 1/7.
1/7/19 Day 24: Before Vicente Zambada was called to testify, prosecutors got the judge to block questions from the defense about Vicente's past claims about having a secret deal w/ the DEA. But that still came up during cross-examination on Friday. Here's how, from a sidebar convo w/ the judge. State witnesses: Vicente Zambada Niebla. Jose Moreno, a former FBI agent in Tijuana, Mexico. Edgar Iván Galván (was a Sinaloa cartel operative in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez). Trial continues to 1/8.
1/8/19 Day 25: State witnesses: Edgar Iván Galván, a low-level Sinaloa cartel operator in El Paso. FBI Special agent Stephen Marston (explaining how the FBI cracked El Chapo's encrypted phone network). Trial continues to 1/9.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 13h13 hours ago
Here's a pic of El Chapo with his gold-plated AK-47.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Hello from Day 25 of El Chapo's trial.
Expecting more testimony this morning from an FBI agent about Chapo's encrypted phone network. He'll be followed by another cooperating witness, perhaps the informant who set up the phone network for Chapo.
Stay tuned for updates.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chapo's lawyers want ask an upcoming witness, believed to be Alex Cifuentes, about bribes his brother Pacho paid to a suspected DEA agent in Colombia. Alex also had reason to believe Pacho was working with the CIA.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5680568-123115046741.html …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Here's why prosecutors say questions about suspected DEA corruption and alleged CIA involvement in the drug trade should
be off limits.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5680567-123115046805.html …

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I think this is day 26??

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
ICYMI: Prosecutors have mentioned El Chapo's involvement in the heroin business several times during the trial, but nothing so far about fentanyl.

My story @vicenews on how the Sinaloa cartel is making the drug behind 40 percent of US overdose deaths: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pa5nbk/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-is-using-chinese-chemicals-to-fuel-americas-opioid-crisis …

HOW THE SINALOA CARTEL IS USING CHINESE CHEMICALS TO FUEL AMERICA’S OPIOID CRISIS

Jan 8, 2019

"BADIRAGUATO, Mexico — The region that produced Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman is known as The Golden Triangle, in reference to the fields of opium poppies hidden deep in the rugged Sierra Madre mountains where three states intersect. Generations of farmers here have sold their harvest to the cartel to be transformed into heroin and shipped north. But the once-lucrative crop suddenly lost its value.

Golden Triangle farmers say the Sinaloa cartel has stopped paying a premium for opium gum, the viscous brown goo that’s extracted from poppy plants and processed into heroin. Addiction rates are still soaring in the U.S., but the cartel has found a way to meet demand for heroin that doesn’t involve fields of poppies.

One 49-year-old man from the small village of Tameapa, who asked not to be identified because he owns a poppy farm, knows exactly why his crop is selling for so little: “It’s because of the synthetic drugs.”..."

How the Sinaloa cartel is using Chinese chemicals to fuel America’s opioid crisis
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[YESorNO]

(please note: some foul language in the following pics)

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Here's a transcript from one of the phone calls we heard yesterday in which Chapo warns his enforcer Cholo Iván "don't shoot whoever sells cocaine."
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5677812-GX601I-2DT-El-Chapo-Cholo-Ivan-Chapo-Isidro.html …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Here's another call between Chapo and Cholo Iván. They are fighting a rival group in Sinaloa and Cholo brags to Chapo about "giving them a good spray," presumably with bullets.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5677813-GX601I-2ET-El-Chapo-Cholo-Ivan-Good-Spray.html …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Heading up to the courtroom now. Expecting more of El Chapo's phone calls to be played this morning. Stay tuned for updates.
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 14h14 hours ago
The El Chapo trial has so far had some pretty wild testimony, but the high-tech spy tale of Cristian Rodriguez, the Colombian IT guy who built Chapo's encrypted communication network--then helped the FBI to crack it--is definitely among the wildest.

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

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


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13h13 hours ago
El Chapo watchers take note: There is now an argument brewing in court papers over whether a pending witness, Alex Cifuentes, a Colombian from a sprawling drug trafficking family, will be able to testify about how his older brother, Pacho, bribed a DEA agent and worked w/the CIA.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13h13 hours ago
Almost no evidence about corrupt American officials has been allowed at the trial. Alex's information is allegedly second-hand but if it gets in, it would be the first time the jury heard that US law enforcement and intelligence operatives were complicit in the drug trade.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13h13 hours ago
Here’s the transcript of Chapo chatting jovially with the new commander of the Mexican police he was bribing. (Apologies: you can’t see the names because of the photo size.)

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 13h13 hours ago
And here is a transcript of Chapo telling his enforcer, Cholo Ivan, to “take it easy with the police” and Cholo countering that Chapo taught him “to be like a wolf.

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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
The govt weighed in last night on the fast-approaching issue of whether Alex Cifuentes (a Colombian trafficker who lived w/Chapo on the run in the mountains) should be able to testify about his brother allegedly bribing a DEA agent w/a box of cash--and about working w/the CIA.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
Prosecutors say Alex never really knew what was in the box or if its recipient was actually a DEA agent. They accused the defense of trying "to confuse the issue and invite the jury to make unwarranted & unsupported assumptions about U.S. law enforcement."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
They called Alex's contemplated testimony about his brother buying planes from the CIA and working w/the agency "rumored but unsubstantiated." The brother, Pacho, had supposedly worked as a pilot for the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar...
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
A jaw-dropping twist this morning to the story of the Colombian IT guy who helped the FBI crack El Chapo's encrypted comms network. He also helped the feds tap the kingpin's texts w/his wiife, Emma Coronel, taking us deep into the intimacies (and crimes) of their marriage.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
And today: text messages between El Chapo and his wife -- which the government only got access to because Chapo tapped his associate’s (and wife’s phone). There’s karma for you.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
A real-life telenovela unfolded today in court as the prosecution poured through text messages sent between El Chapo and his wife … and more recently, his letters to her from jail.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Some incredible testimony just now. Prosecutor and FBI agent read through a series of text messages between El Chapo and his wife Emma Coronel. They discussed weapons, plastic surgery, getting him black mustache dye, and much more. Chapo looked pissed. Emma sat stone faced.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
The feds were able to obtain all of these messages because Chapo had secretly installed commercial spyware called FlexiSpy on his wife's encrypted Blackberry. More on that here:

El Chapo’s lawyers want to suppress evidence from spyware used to catch cheating spouses

Jul 11, 2018

"Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán is a notorious ladies man. The cartel kingpin is currently married to a former beauty queen, but countless tales describe him smuggling prostitutes into Mexican prisons and having trysts with female guards and inmates. He once escaped nearly naked from an early-morning police raid through a tunnel beneath his bathtub with a mistress at his side.

It might make sense, then, for law enforcement to have busted Chapo with help from a spyware app that’s been marketed to people who suspect their partners of cheating. Chapo’s lawyers have long suspected the government used spy technology to bust their client. Now, they appear to have proof...."

El Chapo’s lawyers want to suppress evidence from spyware used to catch cheating spouses


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
The texts are mind-boggling. One moment, the couple is cooing over how cute their twin daughters are and talking about Emma's enchiladas, the next their talking about whether Chapo's soldiers were slaughtered in a gunfight.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
In the text messages Chapo and his wife discuss everything from giving their twin girls aliases (so they can put a house in their name) to where Emma should hide the gun he gave her.
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Even Emma’s father got in on the text messages with Chapo --- using Emma’s phone … evidence that ties her father to the Sinaloa cartel.

 

[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Emma remained (for the most part) stone-faced as the text messages and letters between her and her husband, were read aloud in court. Chapo turned to her in concern at one point, and she appeared slightly uncomfortable, touching her face often.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
The messages between Chapo and his wife had real Bonnie and Clyde vibe.

In one exchange, Emma tells Chapo she's expecting a police raid at her house.

Chapo: "Do you have a gun?"

Emma: "Yes, I have one of yours."

Chapo: "Put it in the hidden compartment, darling."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
In another exchange, Emma hands the phone over to her dad so he and Chapo can talk business. Chapo warns him not to communicate by radio when discussing a drug shipment because he's been warned by Mexican authorities that US Border Patrol is listening in.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Chapo and Emma also talk about their twin daughters, Emali and Maria Joaquina or Kiki for short. In one message, Chapo tells his wife, "Our Kiki is fearless, I'm going to give her an AK-47 so she can hang with me."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
El Chapo in a text message to his wife about one of his young daughters, named Maria Joaquina (after him) and referred to here as Kiki: “Our Kiki is fearless. I gave her an AK47 so she can hang with me.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Comparing their twin girls in text messages, El Chapo called Maria Joaquina “fearless” while Emali was sweet.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 59m59 minutes ago
The messages between Chapo and Emma were all sent in late 2011 and early 2012. The twin daughters were born Aug. 15, 2011. In one, Emma tells Chapo, "Recently I've been told Mali looks like you but she has a sweet disposition."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
We've not known to what extent El Chapo's wife was involved in her husband's business. Today text messages between the couple - and between her father (one of Chapo's lieutenants) and Chapo shed light. Her father to Chapo: "We'll be in touch via my daughter or my secretary."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Chapo and Emma also discussed government agents who were following her. “You go ahead and lead a normal life,” Chapo told his wife, noting that she was to inform him of anyone following her.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
The text messages between Chapo and his wife are from 2011 and early 2012.
Here’s one:
Chapo: Any weapons my love? Do you have a gun?
Emma: I have one of yours -- the one you gave me.
(She mentions a second. He instructs her to hide them in the “clavo” or secret compartment.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
We see texts from the aftermath of Chapo's escape from a police raid in Los Cabos in 2012. He describes how he saw the cops pounding the door of a nearby house and was able to jump out the window just in time. "Oh love, that's horrible," Emma write.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Having left everything behind in the panicked escape, Chapo then asks Emma to send him what he needs: sweats, underwear, some shirts & shoes, shampoo, after shave--and, yes, black mustache dye.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
The only thing more astonishing than these marital messages is how the government got them. Turns out, Chapo was using Flexi-spy spyware to monitor Emma's phone. The IT guy installed it. He told the FBI. The FBI subpoenaed Flexi-Spy. Poof. Chapo's texts w/his wife.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
More testimony happening now. Stay tuned for updates.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
But there's more.
Chapo wasn't only spying on Emma's phone. He had two side chicks (who look exactly like her by the way) and he was spying on their phones too.
So guess what the FBI got their hands on? That's where we're headed after this quick break, it seems.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
To recap:
The FBI, in league with Chapo's IT guy, used his own lust and sexual paranoia against him in order to collect the most private communications one could imagine.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Oh forgot to mention:
Emma, the wife, was so knee deep in Chapo's business that she would often hand her phone to her father who was one of Chapo's lieutenants.
Chapo and the father used Emma's phones to plan major-league drug deals. Un. Be. Lievable.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 8m8 minutes ago
More bombshells just now. El Chapo was using his mistress, Augustina Cabanillas Acosta, as a messenger to arrange drug deals. Chapo also installed spyware on her phones so the FBI was able to obtain all of their text messages.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4m4 minutes ago
So now Chapo's texts w/one of the mistresses, Agustina Cabanillas Acosta, have come out. They contain the same sort of narco-pillow talk as the texts w/Emma. "How are the sales going?" Chapo texts her one day. "Oh, like busy bees," Agustina writes back. "Non-stop, my love."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4m4 minutes ago
Agustina is clearly shrewd. She knows Chapo's spying on her & complains about it to her friends. She tells one friend she "doesn't trust" the BlackBerries he's given her "because the can locate them." She refers to him as an idiot. "I'm way smarter than him," she writes.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2m2 minutes ago
But she like Emma is hip-deep in his business. She's his intermediary on deals in Belize, Ecuador & across Mexico, texting details about couriers & coke tonnage to other traffickers then circling back to check w/Chapo. She's tough. "Dont think about it, do it," she texts one guy.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 7m7 minutes ago
The FBI was tipped off to Chapo's use of commercial spyware by Cristián Rodriguez, a systems engineer hired to design an encrypted phone network for the cartel. He flipped and became an FBI informant. Story @vicenews:

How the FBI hacked El Chapo’s encrypted phone network

Jan 9, 2019

"Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán had it all figured out. Sometime in the late 2000s, he hired a systems engineer to design an encrypted communications network for the Sinaloa cartel. The system was supposed to let him discuss business on the phone without worrying about eavesdropping by law enforcement. That system worked as intended for years — right up until the engineer became an informant for the FBI.

Chapo’s trial just entered its third month, and some of the most jaw-dropping testimony yet came Tuesday when FBI special agent Stephen Marston described how U.S. federal agents cracked the Sinaloa cartel’s encrypted phone network by recruiting the man who created it. Marston narrated as federal prosecutors played multiple recordings of calls featuring El Chapo’s voice, offering jurors an unfiltered view of how the kingpin ran his organization...."

How the FBI hacked El Chapo’s encrypted phone network


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
FBI agent testified this morning that Cristián Rodriguez was paid $460,000 for his work as an informant. He might also be able to claim a $5 million reward from the State Department for providing info that led to the capture of Jorge Cifuentes.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2m2 minutes ago
The text messages between El Chapo and his mistress were damning. They discussed arrangements to purchase chemicals from China and Germany, purchase hundreds of kilos drugs from Belize, and ship drugs across the border at Nogales, Arizona.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
The messages were also extremely embarrassing for Chapo. With his wife Emma looking on, the FBI agent detailed how Chapo paid for his mistress to have a lipo surgery. In one message, Chapo tells her, "You are the most important person to me, I love you."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
In another text exchange, Chapo arranges to have his mistress take a "black flight" from Mexico to Ecuador with stops in Belize and Venezuela, at a cost of $200,000 round trip. "No passport love," Chapo says. "It's a black flight."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1m1 minute ago
At one point, Chapo's mistress realizes that he's spying on her. " that," she tells a friend. "I don't trust these BlackBerries, the ones he gives me over here, because the can locate me."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1m1 minute ago
It bears repeating:
Chapo ran what seems to be a substantial amount of his international drug business through the women he was involved with. We know this because he was spying on them and the FBI was able to leverage his paranoia into devastating evidence.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
The mistress also relayed messages to Chapo about a 550 kilo marijuana shipment to LA that was seized by authorities. He tells her to make arrangements for the men who were arrested to get an attorney. She updates him on progress, tells him one lawyer can't rep all three guys.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4m4 minutes ago
I was sitting right in front of El Chapo's wife Emma during today's testimony. She sat expressionless. Seemed like she'd been briefed about what to expect. Chapo avoided looking over at her, he was staring down the prosecutor and the FBI agent.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4m4 minutes ago
Direct examination just ended. FBI agent will now be cross-examined by Chapo's defense attorney @NYCDefenseLaw. Stay tuned for updates during the next break.
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Today’s evidence boils down to spying on spies. The FBI wiretapped Chapo’s own spyware … yielding some of the most intimately damning proof against him in the trial so far.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
The FBI wiretapped Chapo’s spyware, gaining access to messages he himself had tracked - including his wife and lover/ associate.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Shortly after the prosecution introduced a photograph of Emma Coronel Aispuro (Chapo’s wife) into evidence, they went on to say that they would be sharing letters by the defendant to his wife. Emma took a deep breath and adjusted in her seat.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
The couple’s exchanges often referred to family matters, discussing their “reinitas” or “little queens” - twins Emali (“Mali”) and Maria Joaquina (“Tiki”). Yes, the names are quite similar to “Emma” and “Joaquin” respectively.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
El Chapo referred to his wife as “Reina” (“Queen”), “Mi amor” (“My love”) and “Mami” (“Mommy.”) Emma called him: Don or Sr. Joaquin and “Daddy.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Later in the day other texts by Chapo would reveal he called other women “love” as well. In fact, he’d tell one lover and associate: “Love, you’re the most important person to me. I adore you.” After it was read aloud, Chapo searched for his wife, but she turned slightly away.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Other times the texts show that Chapo just needed his wife to bring him new clothes and shoes … and mustache dye.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
When discussing “renaming” their daughters so they could put a house in their real names, they considered dubbing Maria Joaquina “Carla” and Emali “Emalina.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
“And how are the sales going?” Chapo texted his lover, Agustina Cabanillas Acosta, who went by the name “Fierra.” “Oh?” she replied. “Like busy bees, non-stop, love.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
The FBI got both I.T. guy Cristian Rodriguez and a woman named Andrea Velez to cooperate … in exchange for $460,000 and $290,000, respectively. The payments were for services and expenses entailed while cooperating.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Paying cooperators brings up two questions: Why was the government paying them for information? (Others got reduced sentences instead.) And why was the woman paid so much less? (I kid, I kid … sort of.)
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Cross-examination of FBI agent just ended. @NYCDefenseLaw did his best to suggest the witness failed to verify that it was Chapo's voice on the recordings we heard yesterday and this morning. Agent acknowledged the FBI did not do a scientific analysis to confirm.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Lichtman also questioned the FBI agent's identification of Chapo in the blurry interrogation video shown to the jury yesterday. That led to this exchange:

Lichtman: "Mexicans have mustaches, right?"

FBI agent: "I don't know if that's a fact, sir."'

Jurors laughed.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Government kept getting objections sustained during cross-examination. That led to several sidebar conversations, presumably to discuss what could and couldn't be asked. Per count by @NoahHurowitz, there were 15 objections and 6 sidebars in roughy 30 minutes of cross.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
About to get another cooperating witness. Expecting the government to call Cristian Rodriguez, the cartel IT guy who became an informant for the FBI. My story @vicenews about him:

How the FBI hacked El Chapo’s encrypted phone network


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Cristian Rodriguez, the Sinaloa cartel's IT guy, just testified about his work for Chapo. He described how Chapo was obsessed with the spyware program FlexiSpy, which allowed him to eavesdrop on conversations, read texts, and track people's movements without them knowing.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
We knew the FlexiSpy evidence against El Chapo was coming. My story about it from last summer @vicenews: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/zmkv3y/el-chapos-lawyers-want-to-suppress-evidence-from-spyware-used-to-catch-cheating-spouses …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Cristian said Chapo liked FlexiSpy so much he had it installed on 50 devices, which Chapo referred to as "special phones." "He called me all the time to ask me things regarding the spy software," Cristian said, adding that Chapo's trusted workers told him "it was like his toy."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Chapo's favorite part of FlexiSpy was remotely turning on the mic on someone's phone without them knowing: "He would call a person on their extension, talk about whatever they needed to talk about, then… open up the microphone and listen to what they were talking about."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Cristian eventually became an informant and gave the FBI access to Chapo's FlexiSpy accounts, allowing the feds to see all of the messages he'd been sending to people in his network. It seems Chapo's jealousy and paranoia is what ultimately led to his downfall.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
My colleagues @motherboard have done some incredible reporting on FlexiSpy.

It's creepy as hell and it enables stalkers and domestic abusers to do awful things to women. Read these pieces by @josephfcox:

1. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/53vm7n/inside-stalkerware-surveillance-market-flexispy-retina-x …

2.

Meet FlexiSpy, The Company Getting Rich Selling 'Stalkerware' to Jealous Lovers
How a small company in Thailand came to dominate the shady market of consumer spyware.

Apr 21 2017

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...ng-rich-selling-stalkerware-to-jealous-lovers

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Cristian is now 32, which means he was just 21 or 22 when he began working for Chapo in 2008. He studied systems engineering for 3 semesters in college, then dropped out to start a cyber security business. He looked like a young professional today, clean shaven w/ blue suit.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
This is Cristian Rodriguez. The government blurred his photo due to concerns that the Sinaloa cartel wants to kill him for becoming an informant. Courtroom sketch artists were not allowed to draw his face today.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 51m51 minutes ago
Cristian gave a crash course on encrypted communications, using the same diagram he used to explain the system to Chapo. We heard about firewalls, trunk servers, VoIP, ATAs, VPNs, etc. It was convincing enough back in 2008 that Chapo agreed to pay Cristian $100K for his services.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 43m43 minutes ago
The system Cristian built for Chapo was secure. FBI agent testified that the agency couldn't crack the encryption without his help. It seems Chapo only got busted because Cristian became an informant and gave the feds the keys to the kingdom. More here:

How the FBI hacked El Chapo’s encrypted phone network


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Cristian's secure network had a very corporate feature: A 3-digit extension system. Chapo's workers had their own numbers so calls would never have to be routed outside the encrypted servers. The FBI found Chapo's makeshift "phonebook" when they raided his house in Cabo.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1m1 minute ago
Chapo's epic blunder was installing spyware on phones that belonged to his wife and mistresses. It allowed him to secretly track their movements and listen to their calls, but it also gave the feds a window into the cartel. Here's a diagram of that network that was shown today.

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