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

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  • #781
great big general THANK YOU and LIKE to YESorNO for all the posts during this trial. Really, really appreciate having it all here, easy to access.


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  • #782
El Chapo’s bombshell text messages to mistress revealed

January 18, 2019

"Dating El Chapo means always having to say you’re sorry.

Newly released text messages between Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his mistress offer a look inside the drug lord’s twisted love life, showing he sent her love notes mixed with death threats — and that the two may share a secret lovechild.

“Look, the mafia kills people who don’t pay or people who snitch,” Chapo wrote in one 2012 message to Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez that was released in his Brooklyn federal court trial Thursday, “but not if you’re serious, love.”

The message was supposedly a warning to Sanchez — who worked in Chapo’s drug empire while having a years-long affair with him — to keep a low profile because people were talking about her.

“Lies are what cause problems. Don’t lie and people will always see the good, love. Always remember that. I’m telling you this because I love you,” he continued.

In response, Sanchez, 29, insisted she was “not doing anything bad” and gushed about how much she loved him — but while testifying Thursday, she said she was “feeling threatened” and was worried “he could actually hurt me.”..."

https://nypost.com/2019/01/18/el-chapos-bombshell-text-messages-to-mistress-revealed/
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  • #783
$100 million is ordinary money in the world of ‘El Chapo’

JAN 22, 2019

"In any other context, the nine-figure bribe former Sinaloa cartel secretary Alex Cifuentes told New York jurors he arranged for a Mexican president-elect would defy belief.

But for the mega-rich narcoratti who have lined up to testify in the ongoing trial of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, $100 million is just the price of doing business.

“We need to think about these organizations as multibillion-dollar corporations,” said David Shirk, a professor of international relations at the University of San Diego and a drug trade expert. “When you think of these guys not as colorful thugs but as captains of industry, it’s really easy to understand why there’s so much money involved.”

Still, the dollar amounts tossed around in testimony have been eye-opening for many experts, who estimate that the U.S. narcotics trade is worth as much as $40 billion a year, on par with worldwide revenue at Coca-Cola Co. But they rarely get to hear directly from the illegal drug industry’s senior executives.

Eleven former cartel officials have testified for the prosecution since the trial started in early November, with many more expected to take the stand before it’s over.

Most are in federal prison waiting to be sentenced for drug trafficking, murder and other crimes and hope their testimony will be rewarded with shorter sentences and special visas for their families. The few who are free are in witness protection....

Cross-examination has produced tales of wealth that often sound less like legal testimony than a spec script for “Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous.”...

Shirk said that for drug traffickers, violence is simply a business strategy.

“If they could take someone to court for failing to provide a shipment, they wouldn’t need to kill them,” he said."

$100 million is ordinary money in the world of ‘El Chapo’
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El Chapo’s lawmaker mistress used fake ID to visit him in prison

January 22, 2019

"Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s lawmaker lover on Tuesday recounted for jurors how she used a fake ID to visit the drug baron while he was in prison in 2014.

Security footage from the jail shows then-Mexican congresswoman Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez — who appears heavily pregnant — holding up the phony documents before she’s allowed in to see Guzman.

“This was a primarily personal visit, correct?” prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi asked Sanchez in Brooklyn federal court, where Guzman is on trial.
“Yes,” the 29-year-old replied.

The photos of her in the prison were later leaked, leading to her impeachment in September 2016.

The disgraced lawmaker said she and the kingpin corresponded primarily through letters....

She sobbed on the stand last week, but remained composed during her Tuesday testimony."

https://nypost.com/2019/01/22/el-chapos-lawmaker-mistress-used-fake-id-to-visit-him-in-prison/
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  • #784
El Chapo’s money takes front stage during trial: See how much he’s worth

Jan 22nd 2019

"...El Chapo’s Net Worth: $1B

The massive dollar amount of the alleged bribe brings up El Chapo’s net worth. In 2009, Forbes estimated his fortune at $1 billion — an amount high enough to earn El Chapo a spot on its billionaires list. However, a fortune built on decades of brutality and nefarious and murderous behavior isn’t exactly above board or easily audited...."

El Chapo’s net worth takes front stage during trial
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El Chapo and his wife wear velvet blazers to court

January 22, 2019

"Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his wife both showed up to the notorious Mexican drug lord’s drug-trafficking trial Tuesday wearing wine-colored velvet blazers.

Guzman walked into Brooklyn federal court wearing a claret-colored velvet smoking jacket, complete with a pocket square and a white unbuttoned shirt with the collar spread.

His beauty-queen wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, arrived wearing the same velvet hue...."

https://nypost.com/2019/01/22/el-chapo-and-his-wife-wear-velvet-blazers-to-court/
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  • #785
Ex-Prison Official Details Second Career as El Chapo Fixer
A former prison official says he was recruited by the Mexican kingpin known as El Chapo to help run his cartel.


Jan. 22, 2019

"NEW YORK (AP) — After escaping a Mexican prison in 2001, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman recruited a former security chief from the same lockup as a fixer for his Sinaloa cartel, a jury was told Tuesday at a U.S. trial where the kingpin and his wife made a fashion statement.

The former official, Damaso Lopez Nunez, described how he first met Guzman when the kingpin asked for contraband in exchange for cash bribes at the prison in the state of Jalisco, Lopez testified, adding that the drug lord also gave him a house. Lopez quit his job before Guzman famously escaped in 2001 by hiding in a laundry bin, he said.

The defendant's wife listened to the testimony while wearing a burgundy-colored, velvet blazer that matched one sported by her husband, leading to speculation that it was a show of solidarity....

The jury also heard testimony Tuesday from Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, a former state legislator who claimed her affair with Guzman ruined her political career. She testified that she was tossed out of office in 2016 following press reports that she had visited "El Senor" in prison.

Sanchez said she had publicly denied being involved with him out of fear for her life.

"I started receiving death threats from El Senor's enemies," she said."

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...icial-details-second-career-as-el-chapo-fixer
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  • #786
Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Here are the text messages where Damaso and El Chapo discuss assassinating a police officer for the corrupt mayor of La Paz, Baja California Sur

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5691417-Text-messages-between-El-Chapo-and-Damaso-Lopez.html …

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Here's a subtitled version of the Guacho interrogation video that was shown today in court.

(video clip: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Part 2 of the Guacho interrogation video w/ subtitles.

(video clip: Keegan Hamilton on Twitter )


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Here's a love letter than El Chapo sent to his mistress Lucero Sanchez from prison. He calls her "my queen" and references the plan to have her visit him with a fake ID. My story on her @vicenews:

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/eve44j/the-strange-terrifying-tale-of-the-mistress-who-flipped-on-el-chapo …

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Still more testimony and evidence to share from today but need to leave the courthouse. Stay tuned for more updates.
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  • #787
Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
And speaking of things we’ve already talked about … remember that infamous fight between Chapo and the Beltrán-Leyvas? Yeah, the judge did, too, halting the recap to ask the prosecution: “Is there anything new?” But, Lic’s testimony provided a few insider tidbits, such as:


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
Arturo blamed Chapo for Alfredo Beltrán-Leyva’s arrest, and in April 2008 “he decided to fight against mi compa – to make war,” Lic said.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 1h1 hour ago
On April 30, 2008, there was a shootout between the Beltrán’s pistoleros and the federal police (shooting for Chapo with the coordinates he gave them). Chapo’s pistoleros sat it out. “He preferred for the government to be the ones who did the work,” Lic explained.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 55m55 minutes ago
Here’s a photo from Lucero’s September 2014 visit with Chapo at Almoloya prison. Lucero, then serving as a local congresswoman, used a fake ID, given to her by Chapo’s attorney. The photos were published by Televisa in April 2015, which lead to her impeachment in September 2016.

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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 54m54 minutes ago
Lucero said she visited Chapo twice after his 2015 escape, although she continued denying their relationship to the media and in Facebook posts which the defense showed earlier today.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 52m52 minutes ago
And I'll end the night with a love letter written by Chapo to Lucero, addressed: "Para mi Reyna," meaning "For my Queen." Please excuse all spelling, it is not in accordance with @nytimes style, but for having a second-grade education, Chapo's handwriting is not all that bad.

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  • #788
Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 59m59 minutes ago
Damaso, who will appear again tomorrow, has the serious dope on Chapo. He knows where all the bodies are buried and talked about several today.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 58m58 minutes ago
He laid out how Chapo's war w/the Beltran Leyva brothers started in 2008 after Alfredo Beltran Leyva was arrested and the family (Chapo's cousin) thought he ratted Alfredo out to the police. The opening shots were fired on 4/30/2008, leaving many dead.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 57m57 minutes ago
Among the dead was a young gunman, Juacho, who worked for Chapo b4 changing sides. Juacho was snatched & interrogated by Chapo & his crew. The jury saw a sanitized video of the interrogation which was still chilling: Juacho, black-eyed and bound to a chair, answering questions.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 56m56 minutes ago
Damaso also described how Chapo's pistoleros once went into battle w/the Beltran Leyvas in cars marked w/ X's so they wouldn't shoot their own crew. A gunfight erupted at a highway gas station. Again, many died.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 54m54 minutes ago
Tomorrow, Damaso is likely to give new details on one of the big myths surrounding Chapo: his 2015 prison break thru a tunnel dug into the shower of his cell. At the bottom of the tunnel was a motorcycle, which, according to lore, he rode to safety. We'll find out if it's true...
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  • #789
Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 36m36 minutes ago
Keegan Hamilton Retweeted Ryan McCarthy

Fun fact: While DEA and HSI were monitoring El Chapo’s comms network in 2013-14, they were able to figure out which phone he was using by the uniquely poor spelling and grammar in his text messages.

---Ryan McCarthy‏Verified account @mccarthyryanj

El Chapo's handwriting is fascinating....
3:19 PM - 22 Jan 2019


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 24m24 minutes ago
This is Damaso Lopez aka El Licenciado, the witness this afternoon. His testimony will continue tomorrow, but he likely won't be asked about his role in murder of legendary Mexican journalist Javier Valdez. My story last month @vicenews:

The cartel leaders suspected of killing a legendary Mexican journalist could testify against El Chapo

Dec 12, 2018

"The newspaper he left behind is called RioDoce, or River 12, a reference to 11 rivers that criss-cross the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The name represents the flow of information, the spreading of truth. That’s why the assassins shot him 12 times, at 12 noon, as if his death alone didn’t make it clear what the killers aimed to silence.

Javier Valdez Cárdenas, the cofounder of RioDoce, a publication renowned for its coverage of organized crime, was gunned down May 15, 2017, just half a block from the newspaper’s offices in Sinaloa’s capital city Culiacán. In a world numbed by senseless violence, the killing still shocked. It galvanized the press in Mexico and around the world in renewed calls for an end to impunity and attacks on reporters.

The rallying cry was "Ni uno más."

Not one more...."

The cartel leaders suspected of killing a legendary Mexican journalist could testify against El Chapo

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  • #790
Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 21m21 minutes ago
Today, in a sidebar conference the judge IMPLORES the prosecution to move on from the tedious questions that have flooded the last 10 weeks of testimony. He later reminded the prosecution of his request, when they asked (again) about Chapo’s diamond-encrusted panther pistol.

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Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 20m20 minutes ago
And then, because why, not: here’s the panther pistol - and Chapo dancing with a woman.

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  • #791
El Chapo planned to flee authorities in his car while naked

January 22, 2019

"He didn’t want to be exposed.

After Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped authorities by running nude through a secret underground tunnel in 2014, the Mexican drug lord wanted to steal a car — while still butt naked, his former mistress testified Tuesday.

“He was desperate and he was telling the guy we should steal a car so we could leave,” Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez told jurors in Brooklyn federal court, where her former flame is on trial...."

https://nypost.com/2019/01/22/el-chapo-planned-to-flee-authorities-in-his-car-while-naked/
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Jury Hears Details of Tunnel Escape From ‘El Chapo’ Mistress

January 22, 2019

"BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CN) – Short of the drug kingpin himself, there are not many people who could testify to how Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman escaped authorities through the tunnels he famously used to move drugs. But over two days on a New York witness stand, 29-year-old Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez did just that.

“For me, it was horrible, because I had never been in a place like that,” Sanchez, a mistress and alleged partner-in-crime of Guzman, said Thursday of the humid, muddy, narrow tunnel, built beneath a home in Culiacan where the couple had been hiding out in 2014....

To date, Sanchez is the only female cooperating witness to take the stand against Guzman. Painting herself as a victim acting for love, Sanchez said her affair with Guzman was marked by a skewed power dynamic...."

Jury Hears Details of Tunnel Escape From 'El Chapo' Mistress

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(Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pictured second from right with a former wife, Estela Pena. Coopering witness Miguel Angel Martinez sits on the other side of the drug kingpin. [Photo via U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York])
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  • #792
El Chapo, wife wear matching outfits - in apparent troll of mistress

January 22, 2019

"A former Mexican legislator better known as a mistress of accused Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman retook the stand at his trial on Tuesday, but was upstaged by an apparent sartorial statement of solidarity between the alleged drug kingpin and his wife.

Just before Lucero Sanchez continued the testimony she began last week, describing both her personal and professional relationship working for the Sinaloa cartel, Guzman appeared in court wearing a nearly identical outfit being sported by his well-dressed wife, Emma Coronel: Burgundy velvet blazers – hers more fitted - white shirt, and black pants.

It's believed Guzman’s courtroom outfits are brought to court by Coronel, who is not allowed to visit, or even speak with her husband. But she’s been seen entering the courtroom with various garment bags, which presumably can be passed along back to Guzman.

Defense attorneys for Guzman joked about the outfits, which to many seemed like a message of solidarity aimed at Sanchez. Who in turn offered the court much more detail Tuesday about the years she spent as not just El Chapo’s Sinaloa partner, but his top mistress....

As Sanchez was dismissed, El Chapo - who had been staring at her for much of the morning while she sat on the stand - witness all morning, looked at her as she passed in front of him. She only looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and was taken by the U.S. marshals."

El Chapo, wife wear matching outfits - in apparent troll of mistress

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(Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel, wore matching burgundy-colored velvet jackets in court on Tuesday. [Courtesy: Jane Rosenberg])
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  • #793
Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
For more on Damaso Lopez and the murder of Javier Valdez, listen to episode 7 of our podcast

EP 7: The Fallout


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
Wherein @alanfeuer finds symbolism in the Hugh Hefner jackets worn today in court by Mr. and Mrs. Chapo https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html …

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 1h1 hour ago
For the record, @Emily_Saul_ said the color of the jackets was “claret.” Despite our dogged reporting, we were unable to confirm the brand.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 57m57 minutes ago
I stand corrected by @Emily_Saul_

https://nypost.com/2019/01/22/el-chapo-and-his-wife-wear-velvet-blazers-to-court/ …


El Chapo and his wife wear velvet blazers to court

January 22, 2019

"They’re the Donny and Marie of the Mexican underworld...."

https://nypost.com/2019/01/22/el-chapo-and-his-wife-wear-velvet-blazers-to-court/


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  • #794
Wednesday, January 23rd:
*Trial continues (Day 33) (@ 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 28.
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.
1/17/19 Day 31: State witnesses: Victor Vasquez, DEA agent (in Mexico) who captured El Chapo in 2014. Homeland Security Investigative agent (no name given). Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, a former state legislator from Sinaloa who became romantically involved with Chapo. Trial continues on Tuesday, 1/22, as 1/21 is a holiday.
1/22/19 Day 32: State witnesses: Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez. Dámaso "Lic" López Nuñez aka El Licenciado. the former deputy director of security and custody at Puente Grande prison in Jalisco, who orchestrated Chapo's epic prison escape through a mile-long tunnel in 2001. Trial continues on 1/23.
 
  • #795
Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Hello from Day 33 of El Chapo's trial. Expecting more testimony today from this guy, Dámaso López Nuñez aka El Licenciado. He may offer new details on Chapo's escape through a mile-long tunnel that went into the shower of his prison cell in 2015. Stay tuned for updates…

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Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 3h3 hours ago
Dámaso is 52. He testified yesterday that he went to law school for 3 years and met Chapo in 1999, while they were both at the Puente Grande prison in Mexico. Chapo was an inmate, Dámaso was was the deputy director in charge of security. Chapo came to ask him a favor.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
At first, Chapo asked for small things, like new shoes and clothes. Then he wanted help getting his second wife, Griselda, into the prison. Chapo was only allowed visits from his first wife, Alejandrina. To see Griselda, Dámaso said, "it would have to be done clandestinely."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Before long, Dámaso was giving Chapo all kinds of perks, including a cellphone. In exchange, Dámaso said, "when I needed anything I would ask and he would give it to me." Chapo gave him a $10,000 bribe, a new house, and paid the medical bills when Dámaso's son was in an accident.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Chapo also bribed the guards and was allowed to receive visits from key members of his cartel, like his brother Arturo aka El Pollo.

When the government launched a corruption probe in Sept. 2000, Dámaso decided it was time to resign. But that wasn't the last he heard of Chapo.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Not long after he resigned, Dámaso got a call: "My compadre was worried. He wanted me to speak to the director so things would not affect him."

There was a crackdown. Chapo was losing the special privileges that let him live like a king in the prison. Dámaso helped him out.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
By 2001, Chapo had bigger problems: Mexico had agreed to extradite him to the US. He decided it was time to escape. Dámaso claims he had nothing to do with what happened next: Chapo supposedly hid in a laundry cart and got wheeled out the front gate of the prison.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
The 2001 escape is covered in episode 3 of our podcast.

Journalist Anabel Hernandez doesn't buy the laundry cart story — she thinks Chapo walked out of the prison disguised as a police officer.

Dámaso said the laundry cart story is true.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Dámaso: "He told me the only person responsible for that escape had been Chito, who was employed in the laundry… he had taken him inside a laundry cart that was picking up dirty laundry and transported him to the parking lot… he put him in the trunk of his car."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
About 7 months after the escape, Chapo summoned Dámaso to a meeting in the mountains of Nayarit. He brought up the prison guards who were arrested after the escape: "He told me they were innocent, they had been unjustly detained. He felt a moral commitment to help them."
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  • #796
Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Dámaso said Chapo's lawyer was helping the prison guards: "He told me that really the plan for his escape was spontaneous. This was because some of his friends in the federal government had notified him that an extradition order had been issued."


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Dámaso told Chapo he had trouble finding work and so "He offered me a job."

At first he was in charge of acquiring properties. But he had other skills. He's educated — his nickname Licenciado means the lawyer or the graduate. He was well connected. He became a corruptor.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
By the time Chapo was captured again in 2014, Dámaso was involved in all facets of the business. He had all sorts of federal officials in his pocket. He coordinated shipments of cocaine from Colombia in submarines. He was basically Chapo's right-hand man.


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

My thread yesterday has more details, but Dámaso was also involved in some gruesome violence. He fought with Chapo's sons for control of the cartel after Chapo was extradited to the US in 2017. He's also blamed for killing a prominent Mexican journalist.

---Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton
Hello from Day 32 of El Chapo's trial. More testimony coming this morning from Lucero Sanchez, the mistress who was with Chapo when he escaped naked through a tunnel under his bathtub. But there's more to her story. Lots more. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/eve44j/the-strange-terrifying-tale-of-the-mistress-who-flipped-on-el-chapo … @vicenews
4:31 AM - 22 Jan 2019


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
For more on Dámaso's role in the murder of Javier Valdez, check out…

My story from last month: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kzvkqz/the-cartel-leaders-suspected-of-killing-a-legendary-mexican-journalist-could-testify-against-el-chapo …

Episode 7 of our podcast:

EP 7: The Fallout


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 2h2 hours ago
Heading up to the courtroom now, stay tuned for more updates.
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  • #797
Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
#BREAKING @vicenews: Damaso Lopez just gave the full story of El Chapo's 2015 escape from prison though a mile-long tunnel. Chapo's wife Emma played a key role, passing messages and coordinating. He said they paid a $2 million bribe to the director of Mexico's prison system.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Dámaso said Chapo's sons were in charge of acquiring land near the prison. They spent months digging the tunnel. Chapo said he could hear the sounds of excavating, and that it was so loud other inmates were complaining.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Damaso said they were able to pinpoint Chapo's location inside the prison by smuggling in a GPS watch. Chapo put it on and they used the coordinates to dig the tunnel. It led into the shower in Chapo's cell.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Inside the tunnel, there was a motorcycle. Damaso said it was mounted "on some kind of pulley." Emma Coronel's brother was driving it. They took him from the exit of the tunnel to a warehouse nearby on an ATV. Then he got on a plane and flew to the mountains.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Emma Coronel had no expression on her face during this testimony. She sat picking her fingernails and fiddling with her hair while Damaso described her as having repeated meetings with him and Chapo's sons to plot the escape. Unclear how she was never charged w/ a crime.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
Damaso said that after Chapo was recaptured, he was plotting yet another tunnel escape with the help of Emma and his sons, but the corrupt prison director never came through with the help moving him back to Altiplano. He was kept in Juarez and extradited to the US.


Keegan Hamilton‏Verified account @keegan_hamilton 4h4 hours ago
More testimony happening now. Stay tuned for updates.
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  • #798
Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Here's how the escape worked: Chapo's sons purchased a GPS watch and land near the jail (so Chapo could tunnel out). Lic was tasked with sneaking the watch into the jail to get Chapo's exact cell coordinates. He also rented a bodega - the first stop in the escape route.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Lic began meeting with Emma in March 2014. They met again about a month later. Emma facilitating messages to Lic which she had received through his attorney. By the third meeting around May/ June, Chapo's sons were also involved. They all met again around July 2014.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Lic and Chapo's sons met a final time in 2015, by then Chapo sent message that "he was already hearing noises," from the excavation, Lic recalled. Breaking through the concrete underground was so noisy that other inmates complained.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Chapo was a careful planner. He decided to make the escape on a Saturday or a Sunday, when jail and court officials weren't there.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Here's how it worked: Chapo slid into a tunnel under his shower and hopped on a pulley-run motorcycle, which took him to a bodega on a nearby plot of land. Emma's brother was waiting for him and drove him on an ATV to an airstrip. His pilot, Cachimba, flew him to the mountains.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
When Chapo was arrested again in January 2016, the meetings with Emma started again. Emma told Chapo that he would "make a huge effort to escape again and that he would send word to see if I would help him." Lic agreed. They met several more times to plan.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
In total, they poured $2 million to the jail system and even had the chief of prisons in Mexico working on another 2016 escape. However, Chapo was moved from Altiplano to a jail in Ciudad de Juarez and that next escape never happened.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
Chapo's wife, Emma, was stone-faced throughout the entire story which detailed how she helped her husband escape in 2015 and had planned another attempt in 2016.


Emily Palmer‏Verified account @emilyepalmer 4h4 hours ago
NEW ON CHAPO's 2015 JAIL ESCAPE: The story we didn't know was the role his wife played in helping orchestrate it. Lic told us today that he met with her a handful of times, planning to get a GPS watch, as well as a plot of land and bodega to facilitate the escape.
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  • #799
Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Chapo trial news: Emma Coronel, the kingpin's wife, was neck deep in helping him in escape prison in 2015 thru a tunnel dug into the shower of his cell. She brought messages from him to his allies on how to do it & may have snuck a GPS in watch to him that guided the diggers.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Emma was--again--in the courtroom as this testimony was delivered by Damaso Lopez Nunez, one of Chapo's close aides. Emma--again--was stone still and silent. But this is the most damaging testimony against her yet, implicating her clearly in crimes. She has not been charged.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
It all started in May or June 2014, Damaso, when Emma started visiting Chapo at the Altiplano prison following his Feb 2014 capture in Mazatlan. She met w/Damaso and Chapo's son, Ivan, Alfredo and Ovidio to deliver the kingpin's orders.



Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
The plan:
The sons were to buy a plot of land near the prison & a watch w/a GPS locator that would pinpoint Chapo's location. The trick was getting the watch to Chapo. Damaso never said how that happened but only Emma was mentioned as having visited him in prison.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
The day of the escape, 7/11/2015, Chapo went into the tunnel, dug into the shower of his cell. A motorcycle w/a driver was waiting at the bottom. Chapo was sped thru the tunnel to his son's land. From there, Damaso said, he rode an ATV to a warehouse. Later, he flew to Sinaloa.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Damaso implicated Emma in another prison break attempt which took place after Chapo was re-captured (re-re-captured?) in January 2016. Chapo was sent back to Altiplano prison and the plan was to repeat the nearby-land-tunnel trick. But then he moved to a different prison.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Damaso said he met with Emma in 2/2016 and Emma told him that Chapo was working on getting back to Altiplano from the new prison in Ciudad Juarez. How? Emma said he had paid a $2 million bribe to the chief of Mexico's prison system.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 4h4 hours ago
Who paid the bribe? We don't know.
But it's remarkable that Chapo's wife, sitting in a federal courtroom watching all of this, has been placed in the very heart of two prison break conspiracies.
Yikes.
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  • #800
Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Before Damaso dropped the bomb(s) about Emma he took the jury thru letters that Chapo wrote him from prison. They provided a fascinating glimpse into how the drug lord ran his business.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Chapo tells Damaso to make sure in his absence that the sicarios & their widows get paid (wives of dead gunmen apparently got stipends.) He checks up on the progress of their synthetic heroin project and reminds Damaso to pay rents on the front companies in Europe.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
"Crop duster should be started and flown so it doesn't get ruined," Chapo writes. There are also cryptic orders clearly in code which were never explained. "Go easy on the thing with the three intellectuals."


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Back to the Emma prison break conspiracies for a moment: Neither Chapo's lawyers nor the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn are commenting about the situation.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 2h2 hours ago
Clearly, though, this week has been Emma Coronel week at the trial.
Yesterday, as Chapo's mistress took the witness stand in drab blue prison garb, Emma showed up in court wearing a garnet velvet smoking jacket that just so happened to exactly match the one Chapo was wearing.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
The testimony about her rolein the prison break wasn't the first she seems to have abetted Chapo's crimes. Two weeks ago the govt introduced text messages between her & Chapo. In one, she hands her phone to her father who proceeds to conduct serious narco business with Chapo.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
(The father, Inés Coronel Barreras, is himself a convicted drug trafficker.)
The text messages also showed that she at the very least abetted Chapo's escape from a joint FBI-Mexican raid in 2012 at a safe house in Los Cabos.


Alan Feuer‏ @alanfeuer 1h1 hour ago
The messages also show the couple discussing a plan to put their new house--4 bedrooms, high ceilings--into the names of the twin daughters who were babies at the time.
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