Witnesses recount rise of El Chapo empire
NEW YORK — The jurors at the trial of Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as El Chapo, were treated last week to a cinematic narrative about the early years of the kingpin’s career, detailing his rise from a young upstart in the drug trade to a wealthy and successful narco-entrepreneur.
Much of the tale was told by one of El Chapo’s first employees, Miguel Angel Martinez, who began working for the cartel as a pilot in 1987 before being promoted to running operations in Mexico City.
During four days last week as a government witness in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Martinez described how the crime lord went from being a novice trafficker with a staff of only 25 people to earning hundreds of millions of dollars that he spent on extravagances like a fleet of private jets and a rural ranch with a zoo where guests could ride a train past crocodiles and bears.
But as with many drugworld relationships, the bond between the two men ultimately soured. In this case, that occurred in 1998, after Martinez was arrested.
The kingpin trusted Martinez so completely that he placed many of his real estate holdings in his name, including a house where one of his mistresses was living. Martinez, in custody and facing mounting legal fees, sold the home without permission.
Within months, a team of assassins confronted him in jail, stabbing him seven times, he said. He survived, but suffered another knife attack, he told the jury last week, before the authorities moved him to a different jail. Even there, however, he faced death threats.
One night as he slept in his cell, he recalled, he was awakened by a band outside that was playing one of Guzman’s favorite songs, “Un Puno de Tierra.” Martinez considered it a message from Guzman.
Early the next morning, an assassin appeared outside his cell. This would-be killer, he said, pointed a pistol at the jail guard’s head and demanded that he open the door. When the guard said that he did not have a key, the assassin tossed two hand grenades at the cell door. Martinez told the jury that he survived the explosions by shielding himself in the bathroom.
On Thursday, after Martinez was excused, the jury got a glimpse into Guzman’s skills as a smuggler from his chief cocaine supplier, Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia.
A leader of the North Valley drug cartel, Ramirez recalled how in 1990 Guzman moved their first shared load of cocaine through Mexico to Los Angeles in less than a week — much faster, he noted, than the month it took most other Mexican traffickers. He seemed especially impressed by Guzman’s secret airstrip where his five planes landed after arriving from Colombia. The strip was not only well lighted, Ramirez said, but the Mexican ground crew also refueled planes quickly. The pilots were even given an early morning meal.
A team of Mexican federal police officers protected, and often took part in, the unloading of drugs, Ramirez said.
Known as Chupeta — slang for “lollipop” — Ramirez was one of the most astonishing figures to testify so far. Before his arrest in Brazil in 2007, he surgically altered his entire face — cheekbones, jaw, eyes, mouth, nose and ears — to avoid detection by the authorities.
Ramirez is scheduled to return to court today. According to court papers filed over the weekend, he will likely testify about coded ledgers in which he recorded his drug deals with El Chapo.