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

[Niner]

Monday, January 14th:
*Trial continues (Day 28) (@ 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 23.
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.javascript:void(null); 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.
1/9/19 Day 26: State witnesses: FBI Special Agent Stephen Marston. Cristian Rodriguez, the Sinaloa cartel IT guy who became an informant for the FBI. Trial continues on 1/10.
1/10/19 Day 27: State witnesses: Christian Rodriguez, IT guy for cartel. Alex Cifuentes Villa, a Colombian narco. Trial continues on Monday, 1/14.

 

[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton Jan 12
Story about the personal life of El Chapo’s lawyer Jeff Lichtman just broke in @nypost, includes some details about his current high-profile client…

https://nypost.com/2019/01/12/sarma-melngailis-had-an-x-rated-relationship-with-her-married-lawyer/ …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton Jan 13
I spoke with @BBCMarkMardell about the latest developments in El Chapo's trial. Come for the details about the Sinaloa cartel's IT guy, stay for the bit about mustache dye. Interview starts at around the 21-minute mark.

The World This Weekend

13/01/2019

The World This Weekend - 13/01/2019 - BBC Sounds

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 15h15 hours ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Alan Feuer

Will El Chapo take the stand and testify in his own defense? A thread that explains why it’s possible.

Alan Feuer on Twitter
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
The only thing crazier than last week at the El Chapo trial is going to be this week. You can read about both here. W/@emilyepalmer

El Chapo Trial: An I.T. Guy’s Testimony Leads to a Week of Cyber Spy Intrigue


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
As you’ll see, the prosecution has indicated that it intends to rest on or around Jan 23. That raises the question of whether Chapo will testify. I remain skeptical (but hopeful.) But here are several reasons why the unthinkable might actually happen.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
1. He has nothing to lose. After the secretly intercepted phone calls and texts emerged last week Chapo’s chances of acquittal went from nil to lol. Why not say your piece at this point?


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
2. He likes publicity. His lawyer admitted as much in his opening argument. What other narco lord has ever given an interview to Rolling Stone?


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
He’s never going to get a public platform like he one he has now. You think Sean Penn got Chapo a big audience? He testifies, everyone from Proceso to the Burundi Gazettee will likely be there.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
4. He has spent the past eight weeks watching as almost everyone he ever worked with has shown up in court and told his story for him. At what point does he take control of his own story?


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 17h17 hours ago
He actually has something to say, which is what he said to Rolling Stone. Namely: I am a drug dealer because Americans do drugs. Does the self-serving nature of a statement like that make it any less true?
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Hello from Day 28 and Week 9 of El Chapo's trial.

More testimony coming today from Alex Cifuentes, the guy next to Chapo in this photo. He described himself as Chapo's "secretary, his right-hand man, and his left-hand man."

Expecting some bombshells, stay tuned for updates.

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex is the younger brother of two notorious Colombian drug lords. One is Jorge Cifuentes, who testified against Chapo earlier in the trial. The other was Francisco "Pacho" Cifuentes (shown in pic), who was murdered in 2007. Pacho's killing is what led Alex to connect with Chapo.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex testified Thursday that his brother Jorge sent him to meet with Chapo in April 2007 so they could restart the family cocaine business after Pacho's murder. As he put it, his mission was "to go back to work and to find out who killed our brother so we could retaliate."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex said he was flown into the mountains to meet with Chapo. When he arrived at the clandestine landing strip, he was greeted by around 50 men in camo armed with rifles. They rode on ATVs to meet Chapo, who told Alex, "the best thing was for us to start working."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex said the plan was to intro Chapo to one of Pacho's widows and get her involved in the business, using assets she had inherited after the murder as collateral of sorts in the cocaine deal. "My brother had about five wives," Alex said. They chose a woman named Patricia.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex and Patricia offered Chapo some fincas that Pacho had owned in Colombia, including one that had its own clandestine landing strip. They wanted Chapo to buy the land for $9 million. "Mr. Joaquin thought that was a very high price," Alex recalled. Still, they struck a deal.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Chapo agreed to partner with Alex and his family on a shipment of 3,000 kilos at $2,400 each. The Colombians would get a 25% cut after the drugs were sold. Chapo would send his workers to inspect the fincas in Colombia to see if they would suit his business needs.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
For his next meeting with Chapo, Alex brought a special guest. It was a man named Negrito.

Alex: "He was my brother Francisco's favorite cook."

Prosecutor: "What kind of cook?"

Alex: "Cocaine cook."

Chapo wanted to start processing cocaine base in Mexico. Alex would help.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
The deals worked out, leading to a long and lucrative partnership between Chapo and the Cifuentes family. Alex testified Thursday that he eventually was sending $40 million a month in drug proceeds from Mexico to Colombia.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex was sent by his brother to live with Chapo in the mountains of Sinaloa, and they were together until Alex was captured in Nov. 2013. They were extremely close and they still appear to be friendly. When Alex was escorted out of the courtroom Thursday, he winked at Chapo.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Story to be continued later this morning, stay tuned for updates…
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 34m34 minutes ago
The defense was concerned about a certain unsavory bit of weekend news reaching the ears of the jury. The judge asked the 18 members of the jury and reported back: “I looked at their faces and it was clear to me” they had not.

https://nypost.com/2019/01/12/sarma-melngailis-had-an-x-rated-relationship-with-her-married-lawyer/
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 33m33 minutes ago
Alex Cifuentes returned to the stand today (he’s the one in the middle) with Chapo. All of Chapo’s men wore military garb in the mountains, so that they would not be viewed from above by helicopters.

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 39m39 minutes ago
On an ordinary day at one of his seven hideouts deep in the Sinaloa mountains, El Chapo would rise at noon.
A secretary would bring him his messages. He'd eat lunch, then afterward make business calls on a long-range cordless phone while strolling under the trees.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 38m38 minutes ago
Other secretaries might bring him to look over receipts from the supplies needed to provision the camps (he usually spent $150-200,000 a month) for food, petty cash and his payroll that included two maids and a security team of about 50 gunmen.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 40m40 minutes ago
His secretaries would also organize his appointments, keeping track of them in little handheld notebooks. Typical visitors: his cartel partners, members of his family, his wife Emma Coronel, and his various girlfriends.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 39m39 minutes ago
The mountain camps were simple from the outside--humble casitas made of pine, a barracks for the gunmen--but behind it's tinted windows, Chapo's house had a satellite connection, a full range of appliances, a plasma-screen TV.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 38m38 minutes ago
Testimony about all of this was delivered today at Chapo's trial by Alex Cifuentes, a Colombian trafficker who lived w/him in the mountains from 2007 to the end of 2013, serving for at least as Chapo's chief secretary.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 36m36 minutes ago
Alex described the security set up in the mts. There were three rings of gunmen. One near the house, one patrolling the small mountains roads, and an external ring that watched airstrips and the main roads leading in the area for the military, which the guards called Los Verdes.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 36m36 minutes ago
"The most important thing in the mountains was security," Alex said.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 35m35 minutes ago
Just before the morning break, Alex started to testify about--of all things--a movie project that Chapo started working on in 2007. This seems to be a different venture than the Kate del Castillo debacle with Sean Penn that plagued him later. We'll learn more soon...
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 42m42 minutes ago
On Chapo’s birthday in 2008 he received: a camouflage Hummer inscribed with his initials and birth date, some 6-tired Juarez-branded motorcycles and a white armored pickup truck from a lieutenant who seven years earlier had helped him escape from a Mexican jail in a laundry cart.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 49m49 minutes ago
Alex Cifuentes is back on the stand on day 28 of #ElChapo's trial.
Best testimony from him has centered around his years living with Chapo in Sinaloa b/w 2007 & 2009.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 44m44 minutes ago
He also confirmed Chapo's birthday, which has always been somewhat of a mystery -- some say it's Christmas Day, others believe it's April 4.

It's April 4.

CC: @Wikipedia


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 41m41 minutes ago
Cifuentes said one year for his birthday, Guzman received "watches, cars, motorcycles. I remember they gave him a white armored pickup truck and a camouflage hummer."



Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 40m40 minutes ago
Once, Alex Cifuentes tried to wear regular clothes, but he said: "They told me to change because that would be noticeable from above."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 38m38 minutes ago
Alex Cifuentes lived and worked with Chapo in the mountains, giving us great insight into how they lived in hiding. Chapo employed seven maids (who came to clean on a rotating basis and were expected to stay shush-shush) as well as seven secretaries who kept meticulous notes.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 39m39 minutes ago
He moved in with Guzman in the fall of 2007 for a few different reasons: "For business reasons. Cocaine. For security reasons. To guarantee the money Joaquin was sending to Colombia." Cifuentes described Guzman's 7 properties Culiacan as modest "Not luxurious in nature."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 33m33 minutes ago
Chapo would rise at noon, and after lunch he would start placing phone calls. “And he would walk around under the trees and he’d talk with the people he had needed to be communicating with,” Alex Cifuentes recalled. Just such a videotaped call from March 2012 was shown last week.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 29m29 minutes ago
One of Chapo’s secretaries, however, bought a Mercedes with company money. When Menín was found out, he refused to meet with Alex Cifuentes to discuss the matter, instead saying he’d rather resign. Chapo ordered him beaten, and Alex recalled that he was covered in casts.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 32m32 minutes ago
Guzman had 3 layers of security -- the internal ring, which stayed as close to him as w/o annoying him; the middle ring, who guarded surrounding roadways; and the external ring, who guarded landing strips and other road entrances.
Guards made $20K pesos every 20 days.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 48m48 minutes ago
The trial opened today w/ a mention of the recent @nypost story about Chapo's lawyer Jeff Lichtman. Judge said he asked the jurors whether they had seen it: "I looked in their faces and it was clear to me they didn't know what I was talking about."

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 47m47 minutes ago
After that, Alex Cifuentes spent the next 90 minutes telling the jury all about Chapo's life in the mountains. Alex said he moved up there in the fall of 2007, partly for his security but also "to guarantee the money that Joaquin was sending to Colombia" for cocaine shipments.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 44m44 minutes ago
Alex said Chapo had at least seven hideouts in the mountains around of Culiacán. They were all similar: Simple huts with tinted windows, with electricity powered by generators. They had plasma screen TVs, refrigerators, washer-dryers, and other conveniences.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 43m43 minutes ago
Alex said he was present when Chapo celebrated his birthday on April 4, 2008. He received several gifts, including a white armored pickup truck from Damaso Lopez, a camouflage Hummer from his sons, plus an ATV and watches. The armored vehicles cost around $150K each.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 42m42 minutes ago
Alex said Chapo kept around 50 staff members at the mountain hideouts. That included bodyguards, maids, personal secretaries, "and whichever girlfriend or female was with Don Joaquin."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 41m41 minutes ago
The guards received a salary of 20,000 pesos (around $2,000) every 20 days. They were stationed in rings, with the "internal ring" close the perimeter of Chapo's house, the "middle ring" guarding the landing strips and nearby roads, and the "external ring" watching other roads.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 40m40 minutes ago
Alex said Chapo always wore camo fatigues, like everyone else in the mountains. Chapo would carry a camo AR-15 equipped with a 40mm grenade launcher, along with his diamond-encrusted .38 Super pistol.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 40m40 minutes ago
Alex said Chapo had "hundreds" of employees, including marijuana and poppy farmers, pilots, messengers, bodyguards, gunmen, drivers, merchandise crossers, sellers, and drug suppliers.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 37m37 minutes ago
Alex described Chapo's daily routine in the mountains: He would wake up around noon and ask for messages received from his partners and family members. After lunch, he would take phone calls walking around under the trees and chatting on a wireless phone.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 35m35 minutes ago
Alex also told a story about a bodyguard named Memín who was sent to Honduras to build an airstrip. The bodyguard used some of the money to buy a Mercedes so Chapo ordered him to be beaten: "The guys showed me a photo of Memín, he was wearing casts from the bottom up.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 35m35 minutes ago
More testimony happening now, stay tuned for updates…
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Alex Cifuentes said that Chapo’s brothers, sons and nephews would visit him in the mountains and - very rarely - his wife, Emma. When she came, she’d cook one of his favorites: enchiladas suizas. (Those are the enchiladas covered in white cheese.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Another important woman in Chapo’s life is Griselda Lopez Perez, who went by “Rocky.” Sometimes those in debt to Chapo would pay him in property, which he would give to Griselda.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Before there was the Chapo movie attempt we all heard about (thanks, @katedelcastillo, @SeanPenn and @RollingStone), there was another earlier attempt -- this time with a Colombian film maker. It seems Chapo has always been interested in a book or movie about his life.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3h3 hours ago
So the movie. Turns out Alex's first wife came up w/idea. The ex was upset that Chapo was in the news all the time but not profiting from his own story. The plan was to do a film so "he could make the money because the money was being made by all the papers." Chapo was to direct.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex Cifuentes testified that his ex-wife Angie had the idea of making a movie and writing a book about Chapo's life. They presented the idea to Chapo in 2007 and he loved it, asked to be the director. They hired a producer from Colombia and finished two drafts of the book.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3h3 hours ago
Step one was writing a book, Alex said, or what industry people would call a "literary property." It appears Chapo and his family started generating content. A Colombian producer, Javier Rey (sp?), was brought in.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex identified the producer who was hired to make the movie about Chapo as Javier Rey. Unclear what happened with this project. The two draft copies of the biography were apparently delivered to Chapo's lawyers and his son Iván. Not clear what happened to these afterward.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3h3 hours ago
The film, alas, never got off the ground. Alex was arrested before it could be finished. But a book was apparently written. Alex said a draft was delivered to the secretary of Chapo's son, Ivan. A second draft made its way to "the lawyers," Alex said.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex also offered more insights about Christian Rodriguez, the cartel IT guy who became an FBI informant. Background on that here:

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 3h3 hours ago
Alex said Christian would propose IT projects for the cartel and "Chapo would assign whatever budget was needed" to complete it quickly. Chapo spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on technology, including spyware that he had installed on the phones of his people close to him.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex said Chapo would use spyware to activate the mic on someone's phone without them knowing. Also had the ability to "extract images and files.… it was just like having a copy of the phone." Chapo put the spyware on phones of his chief of security, his wife, and mistresses.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
The spyware would alert Chapo and his personal secretary about phone calls. The secretary would listen for "anomalies" and report back to Chapo. Alex: "Joaquin was really interested in what people were talking about him. If it was not pertaining to him, he didn't really care."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex said only people close to Chapo were allowed to call him directly on the encrypted phone network. Each person had their own "extension" on the network, including Mayo, Chapo's brother El Guano, and Damaso Lopez. The FBI presumably has recordings of all of these phone convos.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex was initially in charge of monitoring the spyware, and he noticed that Chapo has a particular way of writing: "He has some spelling mistakes. He writes long texts. He mixes up Y with I. Where there's an H in the middle of a word he won't put it in. He repeats the letter E."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
When we spoke with the DEA agent who tracked down Chapo in 2014, he told us that one way they identified Chapo's text messages was by his spelling mistakes and poor Spanish grammar. Listen:

EP 6: The Hunt
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Back in 2009-2011 (witnesses can’t nail down the year), authorities almost caught Chapo, who escaped on foot with Christian Rodriguez, Alex Cifuentes and a slew of guards - armed with AK47s, AR15s, bazookas, grenades and Barrett 50s - for 1-3 days (depending on who you talk to).


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Don Juan, El Chapo’s godfather and most trusted associate also escaped with Chapo … oh, and “I believe there were some females as well,” Alex Cifuentes recalled, without giving names.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
We spent a good part of last week oohing and ahhing over all the people close to Chapo that the drug kingpin was spying on. The fact that his wife and lovers were tapped is no secret now. But today we learned the courtesy extended to his own lawyers.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
Today, Alex Cifuentes breaks down Chapo's grammar issues, saying he was often “mixing up ‘i’ with ‘y.’ Where there’s an ‘h’ in the middle of the word, he might not put it in. Sometimes he repeats the ‘i.’” Take a look at his texts to Emma, and more here: https://nyti.ms/2Ha8H9R

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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
The military did harass Chapo in the mts, Alex said, especially when he went to war w/his former allies, the Beltran-Leyva bros in 2008. Raids became more frequent. Chapo would change camps every 20 days then & hire new guards. The old guards didn't know where he was headed next.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Always cool, however, Chapo didn't freak out when the Army approached. He had a secretary who would warn him too early that troops were near. Chapo scolded him, saying he only needed a 5 minute lead to escape. "Even if I'm naked, I'll run away," Alex recalled Chapo saying.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Alex also gave a few new juicy details on the story of the Christian Rodriguez, the IT guy who helped the Americans crack into Chapo's encrypted communications network.

El Chapo Trial: Why His I.T. Guy Had a Nervous Breakdown


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Chapo wasn't just spying on his wife Emma and several of his mistresses. He was also spying on his lawyer and his chief of security. He was obsessed w/what people were saying about him. "If it wasn't anything pertaining to him, he didn't really care," Alex said.
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
When Alex Cifuentes learned that Christian Rodriguez (remember Chapo’s IT guy who testified last week?) was responsible for his brother’s incarceration, he hoped to locate and kill him, he told the jury today. His friend Andrea helped research, starting with Google and Facebook.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Chapo found out that his IT guy was a "dedo" or snitch after Alex's brother Jorge Cifuentes was captured by the FBI. Alex recalled Chapo saying, "He was the one who turned him in. We should look for him and kill him." Alex was put in charge of the hunt.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
In 2013, when Chapo learned the IT guy had betrayed him, he ordered Alex to track him down and kill him. Alex had real skin in the game. Rodriguez had also helped the feds track down and arrest his older brother, Jorge Cifuentes.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
So the first thing Alex did was get his personal assistant to set up a call with his mom. He told his mom to get a message to Jorge (presumably in custody) that Rodriguez was the guy "who blew the whistle." "The communications guy was the one who did the bad deed," Alex said.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
How do we know *exactly* what Alex said to his mom? Welp.... Turns out the personal assistant, Andrea Fernandez Velez, is another cooperator in the case. And it appears she gave much of Alex's correspondence with (and through her) to the United States of America.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
We even see messages of Alex asking the assistant to help him track Rodriguez down. She suggests Googling him. Then figures maybe he has a Facebook page. Trouble is, Alex knew Rodriguez only as Christian so they couldn't find him.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Mind you, we still have an entire afternoon of testimony left...


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 3h3 hours ago
They didn’t get far though … they didn’t know Christian’s last name. They ran only into dead-ends. Today he told the jury he wasn’t sure if Christian was dead or alive. He is of course alive, but protected (and paid) by the U.S. government. Court artists couldn’t draw his face.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Prosecutors showed texts between Alex and his mother in Colombia where they're plotting to kill the IT guy. Alex also enlisted his personal secretary in the hunt but she wasn't much help. She didn't know the IT guy's last name and planned to look him up on Google and Facebook.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
It turned out that Alex's personal secretary, a woman named Andrea Velez, was also working for the FBI as an informant.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex offered some new details about a pivotal moment in Sinaloa cartel history — the arrest of Alfredo Beltrán-Leyva aka El Mochomo and the subsequent split between Chapo and the Beltrán-Leyva brothers.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
The story has always been that Chapo gave up Mochomo to Mexican authorities in exchange for getting one of his sons out of jail. Alex said that wasn't true, that it was actually a result of Mochomo throwing an ostentatious birthday party in Culiacán.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Alex: "[Chapo] spoke to the commandante, his godfather. He had warned Mochomo to go live in the mountains. [Mochomo] should be quieter and shouldn't throw those kinds of parties in such a small city… [Mochomo] had thrown a scandal on his birthday."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Whatever the cause, a war broke out after Mochomo's arrest. On one side it was the Beltran-Leyva organization and Los Zetas. On the other it was Chapo, Mayo, Damaso Lopez, Nacho Coronel, and others. Alex said that after the war started, "a lot changed, and it was for the worse."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Chapo's life in the mountains got rough. The army was constantly after them. They were always on "red alert" because helicopters were circling their hideouts. "Sometimes we would have to sleep on the ground because we didn't have time to reach a camp."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Chapo had a warning network in place to alert him when the military was coming, but Alex said one of his lookouts was "paranoid." Eventually, Chapo had to tell him "call me five minutes before the army is close and even if I'm naked I'll run away, just like that."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex said El Chapo would move camps in the mountains every 20 days. When they arrived, a new group of bodyguards would be waiting. As a security precaution, the old guards didn't know where the next camp would be located.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Alex also described how Chapo stopped the Mexican military from eradicating opium poppies and marijuana in the mountains: "If it was a small group of 25 men, he would send over an icebox with food and tell them this was what there was, otherwise they would face bullets."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
More testimony happening now. Stay tuned for updates.
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Once Chapo broke from the Beltran-Leyvas, they really had to watch their backs, Alex Cifuentes said. “Sometimes we would even have to sleep on the ground because we wouldn’t even have time to reach a house, and we were always on red alert” with helicopters circling overhead.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
One guardsman became "paranoid" Alex Cifuentes said, adding that Chapo finally told him to calm down and only wake him up with an alert five minutes before the authorities were supposed to push through the doors. "And if I'm naked," Chapo said. "I'll just run out just like that."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
They switched houses every 20 days -- if there were no alerts. Otherwise, they switched more often.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Latest testimony from Alex showed the staggering breadth of Chapo's drug empire. He was buying cocaine from Colombia and Ecuador, shipping cocaine, heroin, and meth to Canada with the help of an Italian mafia member, buying meth chemicals from a Chinese supplier. And on and on.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
A prosecutor asked Alex to identify a photo of Mayo Zambada, then asked if he ever noticed anything about his nose. "Well, from consuming too much cocaine his cartilage was eroded and he had surgery for it." First time we've heard anyone say Mayo was a heavy cocaine user.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Prosecutors played several taped phone calls that featured Chapo, some of which were very damning. In one, Chapo discusses a plot to smuggle cocaine into Canada by buying houses on opposite sides of Lake Champlain, which Alex misidentified as Lake Vermont.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Alex also identified the man next to Chapo in this photo as Comandante Juan or Don Juan. He was in charge of purchasing opium gum, which would be refined into heroin. Alex described him as El Chapo's "advisor and closest confidant."

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Last bit of testimony focused on meth. Alex was in charge of procuring chemicals and recipes for the cooks. He said Chapo requested that the cooks use "monothelamine," a chemical that "causes anxiety to add addicts — it makes them confused more." Not sure if that's true…
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
Angered by an 8 ton seizure of cocaine in Ecuador, Chapo wanted to hold “Político” responsible, but Jorge Cifuentes stepped in, said his brother, Alex. “But Jorge said that if he wanted to kill someone, then he should kill him.” (No one was killed as a result of the seizure.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
Alex Cifuentes convinced Chapo to bribe Ecuadorian judges with half a million dollars to get an Ecuadorian captain off drug trafficking charges. Chapo paid the bribe, securing Telmo Castro as his own personal trafficker and forcing Castro to provide him with his cocaine supplier.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
But problems with Telmo Castro started happening in 2012, after a small plane loaded with $5 million of Chapo’s money crashed en route to Ecuador. The money was intended to purchase cocaine. “And two pilots died,” Alex Cifuentes added as an after-thought.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 2h2 hours ago
Oh, Canada! That little-thought-of country up north has been mentioned on repeat today in connection to El Chapo. They’d send cocaine into LA and Phoenix en route to Canada. Chapo had hoped to get homes on both sides of the northern border so he could ship the drugs more freely.
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Alex has been a veritable geyser of incriminating information. He spoke about the massive coke deals (6 tons, 8 tons) his brother did w/Chapo in Ecuador.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
He spoke about paying a $500,000 bribe to a Ecuadorian judge to fix the case of an Ecuadorian army captain, Telmo Castro, who was arrested for working on those deals (and who was also being bribed.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
He spoke about selling product in Canada in a partnership with a mafioso named Tony Suzuki. The drugs moved in a boat up the western Canadian coast to Vancouver. There was also an unconsummated plan to ferry drugs over Lake Vermont between docks, one in Canada, one in the US.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Chapo also wanted his people to buy adjoining ranches on the US-Canada border and, at least it seemed, move the drugs across in small helicopters. One more session to go....
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 36m36 minutes ago
Meth came up again in the last bit of testimony this afternoon. Prosecutors played a recording of Chapo on the phone w/ his nephew discussing a bad batch made by the cartel's cook. It had a low yield and was giving users headaches. The suspected culprit: "monothelamine,"


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 30m30 minutes ago
Alex described how the Sinaloa cartel would smuggle drugs to New York from 2008-2010. Shipments of cocaine and heroin would be delivered every 8-15 days. The going rates were $40K/kilo for cocaine, $44K/kilo for heroin. They had Dominican contacts who were the local distributors.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 26m26 minutes ago
Chapo was planning to ship cocaine through Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Alex said Chapo planned to use the DR as a "springboard" to Mexico. Prosecutors played a phone call where he discussed plans to build a clandestine landing strip at a farm on the island.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 22m22 minutes ago
Chapo referred to Venezuela as "Loco's place." Alex said it was a reference to "Loco Chavez… the former president of Venezuela. We would call him Crazy Chavez." That would be Hugo Chavez.

(video GIF: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 20m20 minutes ago
Alex also detailed the many ways Chapo would move drug money out of the US. They used prepaid debit cards loaded w/ $9,900, which would be withdrawn in Ecuador. They had an insurance company that would help launder the money. And they used wire transfers w/ Chinese banks.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 11m11 minutes ago
Until today it seemed like every weapon used by the cartel came from the US, but Alex described how they acquired heavy weapons from military contacts in Ecuador and Honduras, including RPG 7s, C4 explosives, assault rifles, and MGL 30mm grenade launchers, similar to this one.

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Lots of testimony today about heroin. Alex said this guy on the right, Don Juan, was in charge of buying opium gum for Chapo. He also said the Dominicans specifically wanted "white heroin" for New York. My recent story @vicenews on Sinaloa cartel heroin:

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

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