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

[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 16h16 hours ago
So the government's secret motion has just been unsealed & this seems like news. There were hints early on that AMLO had been tainted, if only by association, by corruption. Prosecutors are now saying that someone associated w/AMLO's failed campaign over 10 yrs ago took a bribe.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 16h16 hours ago
Here's the quote: "The bribe in question had been paid to an individual associated with the failed presidential campaign, over a decade ago, of the current president of Mexico. The bribe was not paid, as the defense had promised, to the current president."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 15h15 hours ago
The motion also says that, according to Alex Cifuentes, Oscar Naranjo, the VP of Colombia until Aug 2018, "provided the Cifuentes family with protection, and obtained payment by Cifuentes-Villa’s now-deceased brother, Francisco."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 15h15 hours ago
Prosecutors accused the defense of eliciting this testimony "to create a public sideshow in an attempt to damage U.S. foreign relations." (Wow.) They also said the defense wanted to "publicly damage" Pena Nieto--the president who extradited Chapo--to retaliate for being on trial.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 15h15 hours ago
This is the early hint about AMLO, I was referring to. The person in question here was later identified as Gabriel Regino (denied the accusation.)

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 14h14 hours ago
The El Chapo trial has become a parade of flamboyant characters. Here’s a portrait of the latest, Alex Cifuentes, who accused Pena Nieto of bribery. El Chapo Trial: What We Know About the Trafficker Who Incriminated a Mexican President - The New York Times

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

1/16/2019

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


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 12h12 hours ago
Just a little postscript on Alex Cifuentes revealed in a sidebar conference from today that was just released. On top of everything else, he apparently had a habit of secretly drugging his fellow prison inmates to keep them calm on the yard...

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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
On Feb 13, 2014, four Blackhawk helicopters took off from a Mexican Marine base in Baja California, heading east over the Sea of Cortez. The 40 troops on board were on a secret mission. Their target: Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, a leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Supported by another 50 troops on the ground in pickup trucks, the Marines converged on a ranch outside of Culiacan where Mayo had been living. For nearly a month, working w/the DEA, the troops had studying the trafficker, collecting intel of his "pattern of life."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
It was a new sort of operation, according to Victor Vasquez, DEA liaison to the Marines. The Mexican federal police had been cut out this time. "The corruption level in using them again was not going to work," Vasquez said yesterday at the trial of Mayo's partner, Chapo Guzman.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
In the end the raid failed. Mayo wasn't at the ranch. But days later--2/16/2014--a similar op was launched against Chapo. Troops descended on a house in Culiacan looking for him. However, the slippery kingpin managed to escape, fleeing thru a tunnel hidden underneath a bathtub.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
While much is known about that escape, it is less known that with Chapo that day was one of his mistresses, Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, a former lawmaker from Chapo's home state of Sinaloa.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Was she the one who pressed the button behind the bathroom mirror that activated that opened the bathtub hatch that led to wooden stairs that fed into the tunnel? We may find out in today's session of the trial.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Chapo was eventually apprehended by Mexican forces in Mazatlan on 2/22/2014, six days after fleeing w/Lucero through the tunnel. We are likely to hear much more about his escape, his capture and the strange narco love story of Lucero & Chapo when testimony starts again at 930...


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Should be a pretty good day.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from Day 31 of El Chapo's trial. More testimony coming this morning from Victor Vazquez, a DEA agent who captured Chapo in 2014. The story of that capture is covered episode 6 of our podcast. Listen:

EP 6: The Hunt


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
We saw this footage during Vazquez's testimony yesterday.

It shows Mexican marines and DEA agents on Black Hawk helicopters flying over Sinaloa toward a ranch owned by El Mayo, who was the target of an unsuccessful capture operation 11 days before they got Chapo.

(video clip: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Vazquez also narrated this footage. It shows Mexican marines and DEA agents raiding El Mayo's ranch on the outskirts of Culiacán on Feb. 13, 2014.

Mayo was gone by the time they arrived. They arrested two of his associates, which Vazquez said led to a large weapons seizure.

(video clip: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
The DEA eventually tracked Chapo to this house in Culiacán, but he escaped through a tunnel hidden underneath his bathtub. We went here for the podcast and walked through the end of the tunnel. Listen:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/738NnUSvlHzFWOCRx7Giep …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
We also heard testimony yesterday from an FBI cryptologist who studied El Chapo's drug ledgers. Here's her analysis, which explains how Chapo used coded language to keep his books.

1. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5687146-FBI-presentation-of-El-Chapo-drug-ledger-analysis.html …

2. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5687145-FBI-report-on-El-Chapo-s-drug-ledgers.html …

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
ICYMI: Story from last night @vicenews on a new corruption allegation from El Chapo's trial that involves Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

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:

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

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

(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 2h2 hours ago
Stay tuned for updates today. In addition to hearing more from the DEA agent Vazquez, we could get testimony from a very interesting cooperating witness.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 50m50 minutes ago
Absolutely riveting testimony from DEA agent Victor Vazquez about the capture of El Chapo in 2014. We heard him describe using battering rams to break down doors, marines chasing Chapo through tunnels, and saw photos of the weapons and drugs found in Chapo's safe houses.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 47m47 minutes ago
The marines ultimately tracked Chapo to a beachfront hotel in Mazatlan on Feb. 21, 2014. Vazquez described his concern as the marines stormed the hotel: "There's no tunnels in this hotel, I hope, so he's probably going to run out the window."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 45m45 minutes ago
Once inside, the marines went floor to floor searching for Chapo. Then Vazquez got the call on his radio: "777 - confirmado Vic. Come to the basement."

"That's when I knew we got him," Vazquez recalled.

He ran down to a parking garage, where El Chapo was detained on his knees.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 44m44 minutes ago
Vazquez said the Mexican marines on this operation didn't have much experience w/ the Sinaloa cartel so they asked Vazquez to identify Chapo and confirm his capture: "At that moment, I even froze myself. I said 'Holy — it is him. I looked at him and said 'Eres tu. It's you."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 41m41 minutes ago
We saw several videos from the raids on Chapo's safe houses in Culiacan and got new details on the hunt.

Will post those later. In the meantime, listen to our podcast, which describes another DEA agent's version of this story.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/738NnUSvlHzFWOCRx7Giep …


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 40m40 minutes ago
This was absolutely devastating testimony for El Chapo. In particular, they showed a photo of a small arsenal of weapons seized from one of the safe houses. Among the RPGs and other items was Chapo's diamond-encrusted pistol, leaving no doubt about who was living there.

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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 49m49 minutes ago
Before dawn on 2/22/2014, a small team of Mexican marines raided the Hotel Miramar, a block off the beach in Mazatlan. They were in hot pursuit of the drug lord El Chapo who had evaded them days earlier in Culiacan after escaping thru tunnel under the bathtub of his safe house.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 47m47 minutes ago
The 24 troops had taken large precautions entering Mazatlan, traveling in unmarked cars and trading in their uniforms for flip-flops and board shorts purchased from a WalMart.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 43m43 minutes ago
From a secret wiretap on Chapo's team, they were listening in on the cartel's communications, which were relayed to them from Nogales, AZ. virtually in real time. Now, they were ready to strike. After setting a perimeter, the troops went into the hotel.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 41m41 minutes ago
Standing outside was Victor Vasquez, a DEA agent embedded w/the troops who described the op at the morning session of Chapo's trial. Eventually, Vasquez said, a message came across the radio: "7-7-7! Confirmado, Vic!" Vasquez was astonished.

"I knew they had got him," he said.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 37m37 minutes ago
So ended a 6-day hunt for the drug lord which Vasquez described in mind-blowing detail. It started on 2/16/2014, when the Marines tracked down Chapo's personal lackey, The Nose, who led them on an all-night tour of Chapo's safehouses in Culiacan connected by a network of tunnels.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 32m32 minutes ago
Though Vasquez & the Marines found many things at the safehouses that night--RPGs, Chapo's monogrammed and diamond-handled pistol, a few crates of plastic bananas filled w/cocaine--they didn't find the kingpin. He'd escape-until that is the troops found him again at the hotel.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 31m31 minutes ago
After Vasquez got the radio run--"7-7-7, Confirmado!--he ran down into the hotel's basement parking garage.
And there, he said, was Chapo--on his knees surrounded by Marines. With him was his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, and their two twin daughters.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 29m29 minutes ago
As Vasquez approached him, he said he was thinking, "Holy , it is him." He looked at Chapo kneeling below him. "It's you," he said. "It's you."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 29m29 minutes ago
Spoiler: Chapo was jailed and escaped from custody (for the second time) the following year.
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[YESorNO]

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 57m57 minutes ago
DEA agent Victor Vazquez just recalled the successful 2014 capture of Chapo - winding a story for a spellbound audience. That winter Mexican marines and DEA searched 5 houses in Cualicán: “It was our idea to flush him out of the city - to make it hard for him to ever come back.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 58m58 minutes ago
Along for the ride was Chapo’s right-hand man, called Nariz because of his large nose. At the fifth house, they found a slew of weapons, including Chapo’s now-famous diamond-encrusted handgun with the initials “JGL” for Joaquín Guzmán Loera.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 58m58 minutes ago
Then on February 21, 2014, the marines and agents headed south to the beach town of Mazatlán. Along the way, they stopped at a Walmart to buy sandals and beach wear to blend in. Early the next morning they arrived at the hotel, Miramar.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 58m58 minutes ago
DEA agent Vazquez said that he stayed outside the hotel to monitor, while marines went inside. Then he heard “Confirmed, Vic,” over the radio. “Come to the basement.” He recalled: “I knew they got him - Joaquín Guzmán Loera.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 58m58 minutes ago
The marines weren’t experienced with the Sinaloa Cartel, specializing in the Zetas and Gulf cartels, so DEA agent Vazquez went to identify El Chapo. When he got there, Chapo was on his knees. “And I said, ‘Holy, it is him.’” He said to Chapo: “Eres tú, eres tú."


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 59m59 minutes ago
Chapo listened to the agent’s story of his arrest with a bowed head. When the agent said that Emma Coronel Aispuro and the twins were also at the hotel, she stared straight ahead, her gaze impenetrable.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Victor Vazquez is done testifying. Cross-examination by Eduardo Balarezo tried to raise questions about how hard the DEA really tried to catch Mayo Zambada. Also asked about some interesting particulars of the Chapo capture.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Balarezo asked Vazquez whether he was armed during the capture operations. This is a sensitive subject, since DEA agents aren't supposed to carry weapons in Mexico. Vazquez didn't want to answer, but prosecutors had introduced a photo that showed him w/ an assault rifle.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Balarezo also asked Vazquez about the intelligence that led to Chapo's capture, specifically inquiring about "drones" and other unspecified "electronic" intercepts. Prosecutors objected repeatedly and we didn't get more details.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Balarezo also went out of his way to point out that Chapo didn't have any gunmen with him at the hotel in Mazatlan — just his wife and young daughters, plus a nanny and one of his lieutenants who was armed. No shots were fired. He went peacefully.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Balarezo also showed this photo, taken right after Chapo was captured. He had Chapo stand up in court, then asked Vazquez to compare Chapo's face today to what's in the photo. Balarezo pointed to the mark on Chapo's face and the bruises, suggesting the marines beat up Chapo.

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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Balarezo tried repeatedly to get Vazquez to say he entered Chapo's hotel room with the marines. The DEA agent insisted he was down in the lobby the whole time. This is a point of contention because many believe DEA agents took Chapo into custody — not the Mexicans.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Balarezo also asked about other American agents who were present during the operation. The government objected and Vazquez didn't have to answer. The questions were clearly referencing Drew Hogan, the DEA agent we interviewed for our podcast. He was left out of this testimony.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
An agent from Homeland Security Investigations is now testifying about how the agency wiretapped El Chapo and cracked his communications network. Chapo used an elaborate "mirror" system where messages were passed from one underling to another up the chain of command.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
HSI agent said they wiretapped 77 devices associated with El Chapo and intercepted a whopping 1.5 million messages, mostly sent through BlackBerry Messenger. It was Chapo's preferred comms method after parting ways with Christian Rodriguez, the IT guy turned FBI informant.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Heading back up the courtroom, where HSI agent is under cross-examination. Stay tuned for updates, still expecting an interesting cooperating witness to be called later this afternoon.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Latest witness is Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, a former state legislator from Sinaloa who became romantically involved with Chapo… and also trafficked marijuana for him. She was 21 when they first met. She's now 29 and facing 10 to life in US federal prison.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Lucero has long brown hair, almost down to her waist, and dyed blonde at the bottom. She's clearly Chapo's type — she looks very similar to Emma Coronel and another mistress. Emma is also in the courtroom but not betraying any emotion as she listens to the testimony.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Lucero is from Cosalá, Sinaloa. She met Chapo when one of his workers brought her a phone and they began to communicate. It was later swapped out for a "fixed" BlackBerry. That means it had spyware installed on it — so prosecutors have records for all of their text messages.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Lucero said Chapo sent her to the mountains near where she had once lived to buy marijuana. She didn't know much about the business but he wanted to use her local connections. He gave orders to buy weed w/ the three B's: "buena, bonita, and barata" — good, pretty, and cheap.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Prosecutors have shown dozens of text messages between Lucero and Chapo where he blends their romantic relationship w/ business. Will share those later. Safe to say, this makes Chapo look terrible. He's calling her "amor" — my love — while giving orders to buy kilos. It's gross.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Testimony still ongoing, stay tuned for updates.
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Trial was about to resume w/ more testimony from Lucero but she was weeping uncontrollably on the witness stand. Judge decided not to bring out the jury and extended the mid-afternoon break. Chapo's wife Emma watched this unfold with a wry smile on her face.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Lucero was clearly stressed out even before she started crying. She has a nervous tic that's causing her to squint/blink her eyes repeatedly. She's soft-spoken, trying hard to avoid eye contact w/ Chapo.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
More updates coming soon, stay tuned…
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 10m10 minutes ago
We've heard a lot of incredible testimony in 9 weeks of El Chapo's trial but the story that Lucero Sanchez just told was probably the most incredible thing yet. She described fleeing from the 2014 raid by the DEA and marines with Chapo through the bathtub tunnel. He was naked.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
By the raid in 2014, Lucero says she was trying to distance herself from Chapo. "The relationship ended but it seemed like it would never end."

She had been forced to leave office in Mexico because of her connections to him. She was also starting to see his darkest side.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
Before the raid and the escape through the bathtub tunnel, Lucero was at another house with Chapo in Culiacán. They were eating a meal together when Chapo's secretary came to deliver a message: Chapo's cousin, known in the cartel as Virgo or Juancho, was dead.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
Lucero on Chapo receiving the news of his cousin's death: "First he did not react — he looked at me seriously and then he said some words I did not like. What he said was, from that point on, whoever betrayed him was going to die, whether they were family or women."
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3m3 minutes ago
On the day of the bathtub tunnel escape, Lucero had already been forced to flee from one house to another with Chapo, a place she'd never been before. It had a pool with TV screens nearby. She recalled Chapo saying, "That's so we can watch TV when we're dipping here in the pool."
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[YESorNO]

Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 13m13 minutes ago
The TV screens were actually surveillance cameras that showed what was happening on the street outside Chapo's house. Early the next morning, at around 4am, she awoke to a loud thump and yelling. The cameras showed Mexican marines using a battering ram on the front door.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 9m9 minutes ago
Lucero was terrified. Chapo and his secretary Condor are frantic. Then Chapo goes into the bathroom and calls for her: "He said, 'Love, love, come in here.' There was like a lid on the bathtub that came up. I was scared. I was like, 'Do I have to go in there?' It was very dark."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
The bathtub opened with a hydraulic piston w/ wooden steps underneath. Lucero: "The only other thing I could see was complete darkness."

Condor closed the tub. Lucero felt trapped. "For me it was horrible. I'd never been in a place like that. It was humid and filed with mud."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 6m6 minutes ago
Lucero could still hear the marines banging on the door with a battering ram. Chapo and Condor struggled with a second door inside the tunnel made of reinforced steel.

It opened, then they took off running. Chapo was in the front — again, totally naked. The others were clothed.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2m2 minutes ago
The tunnel under the bathtub led to Culiacán's sewer system. It was hot and humid inside. Lucero could feel the filthy water running up her legs.

I've been inside the tunnel — it's cramped. You have to hunch over to move around. This is where they were running for their lives.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2m2 minutes ago
Lucero was asked to estimate how long she was running through the sewer tunnels with Chapo who was, once again, totally naked: "Long enough to traumatize me. I think it was more than an hour, I believe."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2m2 minutes ago
Need to write a story. More on this coming later. Stay tuned for updates.
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[YESorNO]

Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 7h7 hours ago
Lucero Sanchez Lopez is testifying about #ElChapo sending her to the mountains for months on end to harvest marijuana (w/o pay) when she was just 21 years old. He was also sleeping with her. She’s painting a picture of a predatory, dangerous man whom she loved yet feared deeply.


Molly Crane-Newman‏Verified account @molcranenewman 7h7 hours ago
Sitting in the gallery is another 29-year-old woman: Chapo's wife and mother to his twin daughters, Emma Coronel. Coronel is the only family member of Chapo's permitted to attend this trial. Judging by Sanchez's testimony thus far, one wonders whether she even has a choice.
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 9h9 hours ago
Secrets, Secrets, Secrets. That was the focus of the cross-examination of the DEA agent who lead the operation and capture of Chapo at a beach resort in Mazatlán in February 2014. But reading between the lines of the objection-pocked testimony, another story emerges from the day.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 9h9 hours ago
The other side of the Chapo’s 2014 capture story is one the DEA agent didn’t tell … and which the prosecution kept from the jury with at least 49 objections and three sidebars. That version places DEA agent Victor Vazquez at the heart of the arrest, his hand on Chapo’s shoulder.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 9h9 hours ago
According to that DEA agent, he wasn’t even in the room when Chapo was initially detained but was needed to identify Chapo because no one in the team of Mexican marines even knew what Chapo looked like???


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 9h9 hours ago
Chapo’s defense pointed to other discrepancies. Despite wheeling in a ream of Chapo-related weapons throughout the trial, the prosecution has never shown one of the most famous, seized Feb. '14: JGL's diamond-studded, monogrammed handgun. Defense: “Have you seen the actual gun?”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 9h9 hours ago
“Are you aware of anything that would’ve prevented the government from bringing those here?” Chapo’s defense asked of certain weapons. But we won’t ever know. The prosecution objected, thus ending the DEA agent’s testimony.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
We've just learned more about the Title III wiretap operation on Chapo's communications that enabled the Hotel Miramar raid. It was run by Homeland Security Investigations out of Nogales and targeted 77 Blackberries used by cartel operatives.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
The cartel used a sophisticated comms method called the "mirror system." Field operatives would send BB chats to one of about 10 "office" devices. Those devices would cut/paste the chats and forward to 2nd tier devices. Those would cut/paste again to 1st tier devices at the top.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
Messages flowed in the same way down from top devices back thru intermediaries to the field operatives. The HSI team in Nogales was able to collect more 1 million of these messages from 2/2013 to 8/2014.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
Victor Vazquez & the Marines were able to use intel from the wiretap like this: When they detained The Nose, Victor asked him where Chapo was. The Nose first said he was @ a safehouse code named #3. But Vazquez had a BB chat showing Chapo had been taken to a house coded #5.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 10h10 hours ago
The cartel operatives referred at times to Chapo as "birria," a kind of goat stew. Vazquez told The Nose he knew "birria" wasn't at #3. It showed just how much US agents knew about Chapo. The Nose, sighing, agreed to help Vazquez find his boss.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 9h9 hours ago
Several secrets about the raid and capture in Mazatlan remain despite today's testimony. When the defense asked Vazquez on cross if any Americans aside from him were present, the judge sustained the govt's objection. Same w/when the defense asked if the raid had used drones.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 9h9 hours ago
The defense also asked Vazquez if it was his hand in the photo below. He denied it. Also denied being in the hotel room when Chapo was arrested. These questions led to more govt objections. There is great sensitivity in Mexico about US law enforcement being too involved in raids.

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 9h9 hours ago
After lunch there will be a brief hearing in court that will likely address the issue of how much more can be revealed about the raids, especially on these issues.
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Chapo's lover, Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez, has taken the stand. It's a true narco romance. She loved him, drugs for him, has now betrayed him. But her feelings remain.
"Until today," she said, "I'm still confused because I thought in our relationship we were romantically involved."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
The affair began in Feb 2011 when Lucero was 21 and Chapo in his early 50s. Both were from Sinaloa, Mexico. (Lucero later would go on to become a state lawmaker from the area.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
The courtroom dynamic was...awkward. Lucero tried hard not to look at Chapo. She has a facial tic that seemed exacerbated by her nerves. Chapo did not make eye contact w/her either. Chapo's wife, Emma Coronel, was in the room too, playing with her hair and staring forward.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Lucero said she went to work buying pot for Chapo in Mexico's Golden Triangle in Oct 2011. She arranged deals, met with pilots, purchased directly from growers. For this, she was not paid.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Chapo had bugged her phone w/spyware (as he did to Emma and other mistresses) and now the US govt has those texts. They're a bizarre mix of love and drug dealing.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
"Well it very well packed, love?" Chapo writes Lucero in Jan 2012 about a pot shipment. "How many are in each package?" Lucero answers: "10 kilos, love."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Lucero tells him at one point that she's stamped the pot w/a Heart & 4 brand.
"The heart means that I love you," she writes, "and the 4 means I bless the day you came into this world."
(Chapo's birthday is 4/4.)


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
Back after the break...
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[YESorNO]

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 7h7 hours ago
This is awful. The judge just extended break for another five minutes because Lucero started crying on the witness stand before the jury was brought in. She looks truly broken up. Emma meanwhile was sitting the gallery smiling.
This is literally a federal court tele-novela.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 6h6 hours ago
Good god.
Chapo's mistress just described in detail being in bed with him in Feb 2014 when the Mexican Marines burst into his safe house, sending Chapo--stark naked--fleeing into a tunnel hidden under secret hatch in his bathtub.
Will do this later. On deadline now.
But good god.
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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Emily Palmer Retweeted Emily Palmer

Earlier, when Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez took the stand to tell the jury about her budding romance with Chapo in 2011, she appeared nervous, scrunching her face when she blinked. The former local congresswoman is currently serving 10 years to life for drug sales conspiracy.

---Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer
Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez: Chapo’s lover, marijuana runner and later a local congresswoman took the stand today. Women play an important – albeit typically peripheral – role in the male-dominated drug trafficking business. She’s the first female cooperating witness.
2:44 PM - 17 Jan 2019


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 5h5 hours ago
Lucero said her romance began with Chapo when she was 21. At the time, his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was pregnant with their twins. “As of today, I’m still confused because I thought we were romantically involved as partners,” she said.
Emma bit her thumb.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Chapo’s and Lucero’s relationship continued on and off for years, and she would make trips throughout the Golden Triangle, packing planes with 350-400 kilos of marijuana at a time. She marked a shipment with: <3 4 for their love. (Chapo was born on 4/4.)


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Lucero described Chapo as a detail-oriented boss, who asked if she’d properly packaged the marijuana when 50 kilos didn’t fit on the plane and who had a disdain for the lesser-quality seedy marijuana. Chapo wanted the Three B’s: Buena, Bonita, Borata -- Good, Pretty, Cheap.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
“Sometimes I loved him and sometimes I didn’t because of the different attitudes he’d have,” Lucero said of Chapo and their relationship. When she visited him, she couldn’t have a cell phone, “and in fact they covered my eyes when they would take me to where he was.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Lucero also helped Chapo start three fake businesses in: Mexico City (which fronted as a juice maker), Los Angeles (she didn’t know for sure what they “sold”-- perhaps an ATV-like vehicle) and an import/ export company in Ecuador (“selling” fish flour -- or fishbone powder).


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
The couple’s relationship started to disintegrate in 2012. (They continued seeing each other.) So, “I decided to start another job, and I got into politics,” the former narco-trafficker told the jury. The courtroom tittered. Lucero was elected to the local Congress in 2014.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
2014 was a big year for Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez: she was elected to her local Congress and was also almost arrested with Chapo that February, when the DEA/ Mexican marines were hot on Chapo’s heels.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
The couple, Chapo’s communications secretary and a maid, escaped through a tunnel beneath the tub. Standing over the dark entrance, “I was like, do I have to go in?” Lucero recalled. Chapo was completely naked. “He took off running. He took off first. He left us behind.”


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Lucero (pictured here) would often shop for Chapo, as he could rarely leave the house. But when she bought him pants: “I’d have to cut the legs of the pants because they were a little long for his legs,” she said of Chapo, A.K.A. Patas Cortas (Short Legs).

Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
After a man was killed under his directive, Chapo turned to Lucero: “What he said was that whoever betrayed him, they were going to die,” she told the jury today. “Whether they were family or women - they were going to die.” She took it as a threat.
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Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3h3 hours ago
Waiting to post after being edited. But the headline, for now, says it all. "How El Chapo Escaped Naked In a Sewer With His Mistress"


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 3h3 hours ago
Today's Chapo trial surpassed everything before it. There was a weeping mistress, a naked Chapo fleeing in a bathtub tunnel, a cartel wiretap, Mexican marines in flip-flops, narco pillow talk, a diamond pistol & crates of plastic bananas filled with coke.

How El Chapo Escaped in a Sewer, Naked With His Mistress

1/17/2019

How El Chapo Escaped in a Sewer, Naked With His Mistress

Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
The Chapo trial has started to feel like dropping acid on white-water rapids with a mariachi band in the raft.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Alan Feuer

And they're playing the song "Un Puño de Tierra" on repeat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv3T2Y1QJ7M …

---Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer
The Chapo trial has started to feel like dropping acid on white-water rapids with a mariachi band in the raft.
5:58 PM - 17 Jan 2019

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