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

[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Prosecutors in the Chapo trial have filed a secret motion seeking to limit the testimony of a witness. The motion is sealed so we don't know which witness or what the government is trying to keep out of the case.
But the motion comes hours after testimony that @EPN was bribed.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
All we know is that the motion cites Federal Rules of Evidence 402 and 403. Those rules forbid testimony that is irrelevant the crimes charged at the trial or that could prejudice or confuse a jury.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 5h5 hours ago
On Monday Judge Brian Cogan issued an order about secrecy in the case responding to letters from @nytimes and @VICE.
He told prosecutors that if they want to keep sealing files they have to say why. If he agrees, he will put on the record his own reasons for the sealing.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Lost in yesterday's deluge of testimony about presidential bribes at the Chapo trial was the tantalizing tale of a bit character who may have been involved in the payoffs: Andrea Velez Fernandez. Her only-in-cartel-land story is worth re-visiting.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Andrea's main job was as an assistant to the Colombian drug lord Alex Cifuentes, the witness who dropped the bomb that Chapo paid $100 million to former president Enrique Pena Nieto. She also ran a modeling agency, Alex said, that sent "female friends" to a top Mexican general.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Alex also said Andrea had some sort of working relationship w/a political consultant, JJ Rendon, who worked on Pena Nieto's campaign. He said around the 2012 elections Andrea sent him pics of suitcases filled w/cash. But he seemed unsure if the money was meant for Pena Nieto.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
But Chapo had used Andrea before as his go-between for payoffs. Alex said Chapo wanted Andrea to offer the general she was supplying w/women a $10 million bribe. We even saw texts between Andrea and Chapo where he's asking her if she's set up the meeting with the general yet.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
While the general apparently refused the bribe, Andrea is now cooperating w/the US government. It's unclear/unlikely that she, too, will appear as a trial witness, but obviously there's more to this story than has been revealed. And Andrea may know many of the details.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Cifuentes is an astonishing character too. Born into a major narco family, he began drying and packing kilos of coke at age 10. As a teen, he was thrilled when Pablo Escobar's righthand man moved into his building in Medellin. Alex said he used to go bowling w/Pablo's bodyguards.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Though he spent 40 years in the drug trade, he once planned to describe his occupation (on a Mexican citizenship application) as a seller of "submersible plants" (whatever those are...)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Alex admitted on cross-examination that the prosecutors in the case had coached him not to be combative w/Chapo's lawyers. But as a true Colombia macho that didn't really work.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
When Jeff Lichtman, one of the lawyers, confronted Alex w/the fact that he once got a US visa w/a fake ID, Alex retorted, "I was the fake one. The documents were good."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
He summed things up by saying that even though he'd made a lot of money as a drug trafficker, he spent much of it on cars, watches and other gifts for his various girlfriends.
"A good life," he offered with a shrug.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Alex will be back on the witness stand at 9:30 am for more of this madness. Stay tuned.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Hello from Day 30 of El Chapo’s trial. Alex Cifuentes is back on the witness stand for more cross-examination. My story on his claim yesterday that Chapo paid a $100 million bribe to @EPN, among other stunning allegations…

El Chapo witness claims Mexico’s former president took a $100 million bribe

Jan 15, 2019

"BROOKLYN — A former associate of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán testified Tuesday that the drug kingpin paid a $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, a claim met with audible gasps inside the federal courtroom in Brooklyn.

Alex Cifuentes, who described himself on the witness stand as Chapo’s personal secretary in the late 2000s, made the allegation when asked by Chapo’s lawyer about his involvement in efforts to corrupt high-ranking Mexican government officials. The questions during the cross examination focused on past statements made by Cifuentes to U.S. law enforcement.

According to Chapo’s attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, Cifuentes initially told U.S. authorities that Peña Nieto requested $250 million. In a subsequent meeting, in April 2016, Cifuentes claimed that a woman identified as Comadre Maria delivered a bribe of $100 million to Peña Nieto on behalf of Chapo in October 2012.

There was some confusion about the testimony on Tuesday because Lichtman, while pressing Cifuentes on his inconsistent statements, initially misspoke. He asked Cifuentes whether he told U.S. law enforcement about a bribe of $250 dollars, later correcting himself by saying the past statement by Cifuentes was about a request for $250 million from Peña Nieto.

Cifuentes seized the opportunity. “That mistake you made is the mistake I made in my first debriefing,” he said. Cifuentes added that he was certain that there was a bribe of $100 million. “It’s clear to me,” he said. When Lichtman asked how he could be sure, Cifuentes replied, “Joaquín told me.”....

A spokesperson for Peña Nieto, who was in office at the time but has since been replaced by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, called Lichtman’s claim during his opening statement “completely false and defamatory,” and noted that his administration captured Chapo and extradited him to the United States...."

El Chapo witness claims Mexico’s former president took a $100 million bribe


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
The government filed a sealed motion last night to limit cross-examination of witness. Coming on the heels of yesterday's testimony about presidential bribery, we can guess what it's about…

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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Fascinating new twist about the govt's sealed motion. It was about the bribes paid to President Pena Nieto (and others.) The motion may be unsealed soon by Judge Cogan. In the meantime, there was a conversation about it in court this morning. The basics:


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Judge Cogan noted that the prosecutors never offered evidence of the bribe themselves and may not in fact believe the witness, Alex Cifuentes, who said Chapo paid $100 million to Pena Nieto.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Judge Cogan pointed out that Cifuentes merely claimed that Chapo had told him about the bribe. Maybe, he added, the govt doesn't think Chapo was being "entirely candid."
"Or maybe they're desperately trying to protect the Mexican govt," said Jeff Lichtman, one of Chapo's lawyers.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Judge Cogan admitted that was possible, but also told Lichtman that in either case, he wasn't sure how this whole line of testimony bore upon the guilt or innocence of his client.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
We'll know more if and when the motion is unsealed but it's a weird one. On one hand there's testimony by a cooperating witness that Chapo bribed Pena Nieto.
On the other the govt seems to be claiming that it doesn't fully believe that same witness who was used against Chapo.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Lost amid the craziness yesterday was some fascinating testimony by Alex Cifuentes about El Chapo's business in Canada.

We heard how the cartel planned to buy homes on Lake Champlain to smuggle drugs by boat, but it seems most of the business was done in Vancouver BC.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Cifuentes said he began sending Chapo's cocaine to Canada starting in 2008: "Not constantly, but here and there shipments would go through."

He said the cartel also supplied meth and heroin. The drugs would pass through LA and Phoenix en route to the northern border.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Cifuentes said he connected Chapo with a Colombian-Canadian man to run the business in Vancouver. He gave the name Steven Tello, and said this guy attended cartel meetings in Cancun, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, and Culiacán.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Cifuentes said Chapo also worked with an Italian mafia figure in Canada named Tony Suzuki. Together with Damaso Lopez aka El Licenciado, they coordinated shipments worth "dozens of millions." Drugs moved into Vancouver in tractor trailers and, somehow, helicopters.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Cifuentes said there were "many complaints" about Tello, and Chapo believed he was stealing the cartel's money in Canada. They tried to lure him to Culiacán so that he could be killed but he refused to come. That led to a murder plot involving the Hell's Angels.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Cifuentes said he asked his wife "for the favor" of finding somebody who could murder Tello in Canada. Eventually, they decided to use the Hell's Angels. "It was likely I'd do it through them," Cifuentes said. But the killing never happened. We didn't get to hear why.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
We spoke to the DEA agent who captured Chapo in 2014. This didn't make it into the podcast, but he was eavesdropping on cartel comms and said there were mismanagement problems with the business in Canada. It sounds like Steven Tello is lucky to be alive.

EP 6: The Hunt


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Heading up to the courtroom now, stay tuned for updates from today's testimony…
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 43m43 minutes ago
#BREAKING @vicenews: Alex Cifuentes testifies that he witnessed his brother bribe a man he believed to be a DEA agent in Colombia. The money was delivered in "a cellphone box" at a restaurant near an airport. He wasn't sure of the amount. "There were some dollars in there."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 42m42 minutes ago
Cifuentes was evasive when asked about the bribe to a purported DEA agent: "My brother did that. I don't know if it was a bribe or a gift," he said.

The brother he's referencing is Francisco "Pacho" Cifuentes, who led of the family's drug empire until he was murdered in 2007.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 38m38 minutes ago
Chapo's lawyer Jeff Lichtman reference past statements that Alex Cifuentes had given to U.S. law enforcement about the alleged DEA bribe.

Lichtman asked whether Cifuentes really told the DEA that the corrupt agent said the agency was "not concerned" w/ the family's trafficking.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 37m37 minutes ago
Cifuentes didn't get a chance to answer the question. The government objected, there was a sidebar conversation with the judge, and Lichtman moved on to another topic.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 34m34 minutes ago
Prosecutors asked the judge to block Lichtman from asking Cifuentes about alleged DEA corruption. Lichtman's response on Jan. 8 offers more details on what supposedly happened.

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

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 33m33 minutes ago
Lichtman's letter also references a claim from Alex Cifuentes that his brother Pacho purchased planes from the CIA.

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

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 31m31 minutes ago
Spokespersons for both the DEA and CIA declined to comment when I asked earlier this week about the allegations made by Alex Cifuentes.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 27m27 minutes ago
There was some discussion this morning about the sealed motion from prosecutors to block questions to another witness. As noted earlier in this thread, that likely has to do with the alleged bribes paid by Chapo to former presidents of Mexico. That was confirmed today.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
After some back and forth, Lichtman said of prosecutors: "Maybe they're desperate to protect the Mexican government."

Judge wasn't happy, but he declined to grant the request to block further questions about presidential bribery. "It's already out, as of yesterday," he said.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 23m23 minutes ago
Judge noted that the allegation that Chapo bribed a president doesn't exactly help the defense. He said to Lichtman: "You told the jury in opening the evidence would show Zambada was paying bribes to the president of Mexico. Nobody has shown me anything so far to back that up."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 18m18 minutes ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Alan Feuer

Another perspective on the exchange in court this morning regarding testimony about Chapo allegedly paying bribes to Mexican president…

---Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer
Fascinating new twist about the govt's sealed motion. It was about the bribes paid to President Pena Nieto (and others.) The motion may be unsealed soon by Judge Cogan. In the meantime, there was a conversation about it in court this morning. The basics:
6:50 AM - 16 Jan 2019


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 16m16 minutes ago
Note that the allegations about DEA corruption in Colombia from Chapo's trial this morning follow this recent bombshell from @APjoshgoodman and @JimMustian…

APNewsBreak: Feds say ‘star’ DEA agent abroad stole millions

1/15/2019

"MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. federal narcotics agent known for his expensive tastes and high-profile drug seizures has been implicated in a multimillion-dollar money-laundering conspiracy that involved the very cartel criminals he was charged with fighting in Colombia.

A once standout Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Jose Irizarry is accused of conspiring with a longtime DEA informant to launder more than $7 million in illicit drug proceeds, sometimes using an underground network known as the black-market peso exchange, according to five current and former law enforcement officials.

The officials described the case as one of the biggest black eyes in the history of the DEA, an agency that has seen repeated scandals in recent years, and one they fear could have compromised undercover operations in the U.S. and South America.

The conspiracy not only allegedly enriched Irizarry but is believed to have benefited one of South America’s top money launderers, who is a relative of Irizarry’s Colombian wife, said the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the federal investigation...."

APNewsBreak: Feds say 'star' DEA agent abroad stole millions
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 11m11 minutes ago
Other cross-examination this morning covered claims that the Cifuentes family paid monthly bribes to a Colombian general named Naranja to give the family protection. The family also allegedly bribed the Colombian air force for info on the locations of military ships.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 8m8 minutes ago
Prosecutors also tried —unsuccessfully — to block questions about Colombian corruption: "They are designed to embarrass and provoke — there's no real purpose."

Lichtman: "The idea it's designed to embarrass — embarrass who?"

Judge: "Yeah, I don't care about embarrassment."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Lichtman's cross has been painful to watch. He seems to be the only one in the courtroom enjoying it. He's hammering on Cifuentes on stuff that seems trivial, trying to paint him as a liar. It's often argumentative. Judge admonished him at one point: "Don't yell at the witness."
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 16m16 minutes ago
It's almost impossible to believe the life Alex is describing here is real. He said this morning he once planned to work w/two twin brothers in the Mafia shipping coke to Canada "fused in plastic cubes." He said his family had a Colombian general on a monthly retainer for years.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 14m14 minutes ago
He said he was once w/his oldest brother Pacho at a restaurant near an airport when Pacho gave "a box of cash" to a DEA agent. Alex said he wasn't sure if the cash was a bribe or just "a gift."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 11m11 minutes ago
Even in a Mexican prison in 2014 he took a job from a top aide of Mr. Guzman's late ally, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, to help collect $18 million owed to him by Colombian traffickers. There were also hints he drugged inmates in a Colombian prison but the govt stopped that line of ?.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 10m10 minutes ago
There were so many objections in Alex Cifuentes's morning cross that I considered the merits of a drinking game -- until we hit 40 objections in an hour and 15 minutes. No one needs to play a game like that. The judge reminded Chapo's defense they were in "dead horse" territory.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
More from Lichtman's cross-examination of Alex Cifuentes coming after the mid-morning break. Stay tuned for updates…
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
When Alex joined Chapo in the mts, Chapo was living very simply, he said. Plastic folding chairs, simple bed, old-fashioned tube TV. It was only after Alex, a worldlier sort, showed up that Chapo got a plasma-screen TV.
Chapo didn't even know what a plasma screen was, he said.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Alex was, after all, a Cifuentes, Colombian narco royalty. The family needs a reality TV show.
Here is a typical Cifuentes family story.
Bear with me. It will take a couple of tweets.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Alex once suspected his niece's boyfriend was an informant so he ordered his nephew, Jaime, to kill him.
Years later, Alex began to suspect Jaime too was an informant and ordered him killed. Jaime had also ordered the abduction of Alex's mom, his own grandmother.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
Who did Alex ask to kill Jaime?
Well, of course, Jaime's cousin, Sebastian, one of Alex's other nephews.
The Cifuentes family....


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 42m42 minutes ago
One of Alex's jobs was helping Chapo and a Colombian producer, Javier Ray, write book about the kingpin in order to turn it into a movie. Alex described being at a story meeting with the two in 2012. Chapo was riffing on his life. It was wild stuff.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 40m40 minutes ago
According Alex, Chapo told the producer he was once arrested by the Mexican army in Nayarit. The soldiers, Chapo said, smashed his hands w/rifle butts then tied his feet by rope to the bottom of a helicopter and flew him upside down. (This could be Hollywood talk. But still.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 37m37 minutes ago
Let's end the lunch break w/a fun fact.
Alex said that Damaso Lopez Nunez, another one of Chapo's top aides, once made "Cartel de Sinaloa" hats and t-shirts for the kingpin's inner circle.
Ayi.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Some truly wild testimony just now from Alex Cifuentes. We heard that Chapo gave to a film producer in 2012 in which he claimed that the Mexican military "tied a rope to his feet, which was attached to a helicopter and flew him upside down."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Cifuentes claimed he was present when this interview occurred at Chapo's home in Culiacán, the one with the tunnel hidden under the bathtub. It was for the movie that Chapo wanted to produce about his life.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Cifuentes said Chapo claimed the encounter with the Mexican military happened in Nayarit. He didn't give a year. "They arrested him," he said. "They banged up on his hands."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Lichtman interrupted and read what Cifuentes told US authorities during one of his debriefings. Apparently, Chapo told the film producer that after he was arrested "the army smashed his hands with the butts of their rifles." Cifuentes: "He told that to the producer, yes sir."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 59m59 minutes ago
Lichtman quoted Cifuentes as saying the military tried to get Chapo to give up the location of a drug stash by dangling him upside down from a helicopter.

Lichtman: "According to you Mr. Guzman claimed he never gave up the drugs?"

Cifuentes: "That's what he said."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 55m55 minutes ago
Cifuentes apparently told US authorities that Chapo showed his hands to the producer and told him to look at the scars left by the military's beating.

Lichtman asked: "Did you see the scars?"

Cifuentes said no. Lichtman's point was that Chapo had no scars. The story was BS.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 50m50 minutes ago
Chapo's helicopter story was the last thing Lichtman asked about. It really gets to the heart of one of the big problems with this trial: Just because a witness makes a claim, it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Lots of testimony being treated as fact with no corroboration.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 49m49 minutes ago
Another fun claim from Cifuentes, as relayed by Lichtman: "Damaso Lopez made hats and t-shirts with the words 'Cartel de Sinaloa' on them."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 45m45 minutes ago
Update on the story I shared this morning about Chapo's plot to have someone murdered in Canada: Cifuentes testified that the day he was arrested in Mexico in Nov. 2013, he was supposed to meet with the Canadian leader of the Hell's Angels to discuss the plan for the killing.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 41m41 minutes ago
We got more details about Chapo's life in the mountains.

According to Lichtman, Cifuentes said it was "pretty primitive conditions.…all the chairs in his house were the plastic folding variety…he slept on a simple wood frame bed… his night table was just planks of wood."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 40m40 minutes ago
Lichtman quoted Cifuentes as telling US authorities that Chapo's house in the mountains "was filled with old tube televisions… you told the government he didn't he know what a plasma television was." That contradicts a previous statement about Chapo having plasma TVs.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 38m38 minutes ago
Was Chapo actually poor? On one hand, Cifuentes told US authorities Chapo claimed to own a fleet of planes and have stash houses across Mexico that each contained $5-10 million in cash. On the other hand, Cifuentes also said Chapo "would often lie about his wealth and influence."
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 34m34 minutes ago
Chapo wasn’t that wealthy, according to Alex Cifuentes. While they lived together in the Sinaloa mountains, he noted a few inconveniences: they sat in plastic folding chairs, Chapo’s bed was made of simple wood, and they sat around a tube television. He hadn’t heard of a plasma.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 33m33 minutes ago
In fact, in 2008 Chapo had a debt of more than $20 million, Alex Cifuentes told the jury today. Chapo’s attorney credited the debt in part to his war with the Beltrán-Leyva Organization.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 36m36 minutes ago
According to Lichtman, Cifuentes also told U.S. authorities that Chapo was $20 million in debt because of his war with the Beltrán-Leyva organization. "There was a deficit in 2008 of more or less $20M," Cifuentes confirmed.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 33m33 minutes ago
We also got some wild testimony about Cifuentes family drama. Long story short, Alex Cifuentes hired one nephew to kill another because one of the nephews ordered the kidnapping of his own grandmother, which was also Alex's mother. Confused? So was I.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 33m33 minutes ago
Lichtman's cross-examination of Cifuentes ended right before the lunch break. About to get re-direct. Expecting two law enforcement witnesses to be called next, followed by another cooperating witness. Stay tuned for updates.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 30m30 minutes ago
By the end of cross-examination today there were a total of more than 80 objections and at least 6 sidebars. We beat the Chapo trial record … and probably a few more.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 49m49 minutes ago
Day ends with testimony from Victor Vazquez, a DEA agent who was involved in the capture of Chapo in 2014.

We spoke to another ex-DEA agent who participated in this capture operation for our podcast. Listen:

EP 6: The Hunt


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 46m46 minutes ago
Vazquez was targeting three Sinaloa cartel leaders: Chapo, Mayo, and Rafael Caro Quintero. He only wanted the DEA to work with the Mexican marines — not the federal police: "We had done it with them before and simply the corruption level, using them again was not going to work."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 42m42 minutes ago
The capture op began Jan. 19, 2014. Vazquez embedded w/ Mexican marines at a base in La Paz. Why there? "In Culiacán you're going into the lion's den, the area of control of the most powerful cartel in the world. You can't be there sittin' gathering information. Not possible."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 38m38 minutes ago
The marines are the most trusted branch of Mexico's military. Even so, Vazquez said he and his men didn't tell the base commanders in La Paz about their capture mission. Why? "The fear of corruption. We wanted to keep it just amongst us and the marines from Mexico City."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 34m34 minutes ago
Vazquez launched an operation to capture El Mayo on Feb. 13, 2014. He set out from La Paz w/ 40-45 Mexican marines on four Black Hawk helicopters, heading to a ranch just east of Culiacán. By the time they arrived, the sun was setting. Mayo was gone.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 31m31 minutes ago
Vazquez described how Mayo was likely able to slip away: It took two hours to to reach Sinaloa from La Paz. "They control the whole state — the lookouts are letting their supervisors, their bosses know four helicopters just crossed the Sea of Cortez and are entering their state."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 28m28 minutes ago
Vazquez said the marines arrested two of El Mayo's associates, then spent two days searching for him unsuccessfully around Culiacán. Then they had to relocate. He explained why they couldn't stay in Sinaloa: "You can't trust any military, any law enforcement in that state."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 26m26 minutes ago
That's where we left off this afternoon. Vazquez will be back on the witness stand tomorrow. Expect him to talk about the raid on Chapo's house in Culiacán, his escape through a tunnel beneath his bathtub, and his subsequent capture at a beachfront hotel in Mazatlan.
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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 12m12 minutes ago
A good question from @NPRKelly: Why did El Chapo’s lawyer bring up the bribes to EPN and not prosecutors? My answer here:

Listen: The Latest In The Trial Of Notorious Drug Lord 'El Chapo'

January 16, 2019

"Wednesday was another day of wild testimony in the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Vice News editor Keegan Hamilton about the latest from the Brooklyn courtroom."

The Latest In The Trial Of Notorious Drug Lord 'El Chapo'
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 18m18 minutes ago
#BREAKING @vicenews: Newly unsealed filing says El Mayo's brother allegedly bribed an individual who worked with Mexico's current president (@lopezobrador_) on his failed 2008 presidential campaign

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5686593-El-Chapo-trial-Government-to-preclude-cross.html …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 15m15 minutes ago
The same unsealed court filing also includes some wild bribery allegations about Oscar Naranjo, the former vice president of Colombia…

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 10m10 minutes ago
Correction: AMLO's first presidential campaign was 2006, not 2008.
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[YESorNO]

Listen: In 'El Chapo' Case, A Bribery Allegation Involving Former Mexican President

January 16, 2019

"Transcript....

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

I'm not sure if you watch the show "Narcos" on Netflix. One of the narratives is drug lords paying government officials at the highest levels money in exchange for protection. Well, in a real-life courtroom in New York yesterday, just such a stunning allegation was made. A witness working for prosecutors said the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman paid off Mexico's former president, Enrique Pena Nieto. And let's turn to one of the reporters who has been covering this trial. He's outside the courthouse this morning. It's The Wall Street Journal's Zolan Kanno-Youngs...."

In 'El Chapo' Case, A Bribery Allegation Involving Former Mexican President
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US agent: Mexican police excluded from 2014 El Chapo manhunt

JANUARY 16, 2019

"NEW YORK
A U.S. agent testified Wednesday that Mexican police were purposely kept in the dark about secret efforts in 2014 to hunt down notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman because they couldn't be trusted.

Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Victor Vasquez told a jury in Guzman's trial that he was the American liason for an operation to try to capture the top leadership of the Sinaloa cartel. He demanded only Mexican marines on his team because he believed, unlike the police, they wouldn't tip off the cartel.

Involving police "was not going to work" because of the "corruption level," Vasquez testified in federal court in Brooklyn.

Deep-rooted corruption and ineffectiveness among police forces has led Mexico to rely heavily for years on the military — and particularly the marines — to combat drug cartels in parts of the country....

Earlier Wednesday, cooperator Alex Cifuentes acknowledged on cross-examination that he had told investigators that his Colombian cartel once paid for protection with a "monthly allowance" to "General Naranjo" — an apparent reference to Gen. Oscar Naranjo Trujillo. The former general, who was known in his country for fighting drug-traffickers, denied the allegation on social media."

US agent: Mexican police excluded from 2014 El Chapo manhunt
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 12m12 minutes ago
Story just posted @vicenews: AMLO is linked to the latest corruption allegation to emerge from El Chapo's trial

Mexican president AMLO linked to new corruption allegation in El Chapo trial

Jan 16, 2019

"BROOKLYN — The list of Mexican presidents linked to corruption allegations in trial of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has risen to three, and now includes the man currently in office, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

A court filing unsealed Wednesday evening by U.S. federal prosecutors mentions a bribe allegedly paid by the younger brother of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Sinaloa cartel leader who remains free in Mexico, to an unnamed individual who worked on López Obrador’s failed 2006 presidential campaign.

A spokesperson for López Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1 after campaigning on a promise to curb corruption, did not immediately respond to a request for comment...

The government again asked the judge to block testimony about high-level corruption, but Cogan denied the request Wednesday and ordered the motion from prosecutors to be unsealed:..."

Mexican president AMLO linked to new corruption allegation in El Chapo trial

The motion:

El Chapo trial: Government to preclude cross-examination about...

(President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks during the morning press conference at National Palace on January 14, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico. [Photo by Pedro Gonzalez Castillo/Getty Images])


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 25m25 minutes ago
Read the story for details, but important to note that AMLO is not directly accused of taking a bribe. The allegation, according to a newly unsealed court document, is that an unidentified person affiliated with his 2006 campaign took a bribe from El Mayo's brother.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 7m7 minutes ago
This is a masterful story by @alanfeuer about Alex Cifuentes, the witness who claimed El Chapo paid a $100 million bribe to EPN

El Chapo Trial: What We Know About the Trafficker Who Incriminated a Mexican President

January 16, 2019

El Chapo Trial: What We Know About the Trafficker Who Incriminated a Mexican President
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[Niner]

Thursday, January 17th:
*Trial continues (Day 31) (@ 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 26.
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.
1/14/19 Day 28: The prosecution has indicated that it intends to rest on or around Jan. 23. State Witnesses: Alex Cifuentes Villa, described himself as Chapo's "secretary, his right-hand man, and his left-hand man." Trial continues on 1/15.
1/15/19 Day 29: State witnesses: Alex Cifuentes Villa. The defense indicated today that El Chapo could testify. He’s now officially on the witness list meaning the option is technically open. Trial continues on 1/16.
1/16/19 Day 30: State witnesses: Alex Cifuentes Villa. Victor Vazquez, a DEA agent who was involved in the capture of Chapo in 2014. Trial continues on 1/17.

 

[YESorNO]

1/16/2019:

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
After four days on the stand, a portrait of Alex Cifuentes’s life emerged - one touched by so many big names in the drug trafficking world: El Chapo, El Mayo and Efraín Hernández, as well as both El Señor de los Cielos and Pablo Escobar (each 1 degree removed).


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
After years working with Andrea Velez, Alex Cifuentes put his wife in charge of finding someone to make the hit because “she betrayed my boss,” he said. He selected the Hell’s Angels for the job. He was to meet the leader on 11/12/13 but was arrested that day instead.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
A bribe or a gift? Alex Cifuentes told the jury today that his brother gave someone he believed to be a DEA agent a cellphone box with “some dollars” inside. Chapo’s defense called it a bribe. Alex called it a gift.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
Other shady dealings: Alex Cifuentes said his brother, Jorge, used a family connection in the Colombian prosecutor’s office and paid $500,000 for arrest warrants from the U.S.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
“Doing something behind Joaquín’s back would mean being murdered,” Alex Cifuentes said of Chapo. He said he never went behind his boss’s back.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
Still, after Alex Cifuentes was detained by the U.S. Coast Guard, Chapo lost some trust in him, distancing himself from him and putting him up in safe house -- the one with the secret mile-long tunnel under the bathtub. (Sweet deal for a guy in the proverbial doghouse.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
On cross the defense sought to show Chapo as a man with an imagination - who lied about everything from owning a fleet of planes - to his interactions with government agents.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
While planning his life movie in 2012, Chapo told the producer that the Mexican army had smashed his hands with the butts of their rifles, lassoed his feet with rope and flown him upside down from a helicopter. Still, he never gave up the location of his drugs. Exaggerate much?



Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 12h12 hours ago
“Did you see the scars on his hands?” Chapo’s defense attorney asked, gesturing to the defendant. (Alex Cifuentes had not.) “There are no scars on his hands,” the attorney said.
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[YESorNO]

Still from 1/16/2019: (these reporters are still tweeting late at night

- dedicated I guess- while I'm in bed...

)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
After Alex Cifuentes, we heard from a lieutenant colonel in the Ejército de República Dominicana who testified to a wiretapped call, an expert witness in cryptanalysis from the FBI who decodes fake business records and a DEA supervisory agent who lead in Chapo's 2014 capture.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
Born in Durango, Mexico (neighboring Chapo’s Sinaloa) Victor Vazquez served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps before later joining the DEA. While working in the Mexico City office, he lead a joint mission with the Mexican marines targeting El Chapo, El Mayo and Rafael Quintero.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
Although other operations had included the federal police in Mexico, Vazquez decided to exclude them this time around because “we have done it with them before and simply the corruption level -- using them against was not going to work.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
“You’re going into the lion’s den of the most powerful cartel in the world,” Vazquez said of the operation targeting both Chapo and Mayo, as well as Rafael Caro Quintero. They’d attempt to arrest whoever popped onto their radar first … and that was Ismael Zambada.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
On Feb. 13, 2o14, the Mexican marines and DEA agents got a hit on Ismael Zambada’s ranch on the outskirts of Cualicán. Four loud black hawk helicopters and some Marine pick-up trucks descended on the area. Lookouts likely alerted El Mayo. He was gone when they arrived.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
The DEA and Mexican marines spent another two days searching for Mayo without luck. (He’s never actually been arrested … ever.) Then the group moved locations to avoid any potential ambush in the “lion’s den," Vazquez told us today.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 11h11 hours ago
Tomorrow: More from Vasquez on the successful arrest of Chapo in February 2014. Of course, Chapo wouldn’t be behind bars all that long … famously breaking out the next year by casually descending a hole dug under his shower. But first he changes shoes:

Watch: Footage of the Moment El Chapo Escaped

Jul. 15, 2015

"Closed-circuit video shows the moment Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo, disappeared from his cell. Additional video shows the tunnel he used to escape."

Footage of the Moment El Chapo Escaped
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