Joaqin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s US drugs trial kicks off under tight security
NEW YORK: The New York trial opened Monday under huge security for Joaquin ‘El Chapo' Guzman, one of the world's most notorious criminals accused of spending a quarter of a century smuggling cocaine into the United States.
The defendant accused of running the massive Sinaloa drug cartel, observed the first day of jury selection dressed in a navy suit, white shirt with a wide discostyle collar, flashing a smile but otherwise impervious.
The marathon Brooklyn federal trial, which is expected to last more than four months, will see Guzman face the US justice system after twice escaping prison in Mexico, once hidden in a laundry cart and then slipping down a tunnel that reached his prison shower.
US prosecutors have spent years piecing together a case that they hope will end with the 61-year-old spending the rest of his life in a maximum-security US prison.
Opening arguments are scheduled to start on Nov 13, after a week of jury selection, held behind closed doors under security reserved for the most dangerous defendants.
Of about 100 potential jurors, 45 were interviewed by Judge Brian Cogan on Monday, of which 17 were dismissed and no one yet impaneled. The judge struck two women after they raised security concerns about presiding over the proceedings, expected to cost millions and turn into the most expensive federal trial in US history.
“What scares me is that his family could come after jurors and their families,” one of the women told the court, just feet away from where Guzman was sitting, saying she felt “nervous” and “unsafe.”
The 12 jurors, with six alternates, will remain anonymous and once selected, will be partially sequestered. US Marshals will escort them to and from the federal court every day.
A moment of levity came when one potential juror was asked about a deli near his workplace stocking a sandwich called 'El Chapo'.
It's a bagel with cream cheese, lox and capers, he replied. “I don't know why it's called the El Chapo, but it's delicious,” he added to laughter from Guzman's lawyer and an unimpressed defendant.
Twelve ordinary men and women will determine whether Guzman – the diminutive father of two whose nickname means “shorty” – is guilty or not of 11 trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges.
According to the indictment, the Sinaloa cartel, which Guzman is accused of leading from 1989 to 2014, became “the largest drug trafficking organisation in the world.”
Prosecutors say that from 1989 to 2014, the cartel smuggled 154,626 kilogrammes of cocaine into the United States, as well as heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, raking in US$14 billion.
Guzman pleads not guilty, but the government has presented so much evidence – more than 300,000 pages and at least 117,000 recordings – that the defence complains they haven't had time to review it all.
At least some of the several hundred witnesses expected to testify are in witness protection programmes or are already in jail, housed in special wings to protect them from reprisals.