El Chapo faces ‘drug trial of the century’
Fall guy or ruthless killer? “Money. Drugs. Murder… That’s what this case is about.”
MANHATTAN COMES TO A STANDSTILL AS TRIAL OF THE CENTURY BEGINS
It was nearly two years ago that Joaquin Guzman Loera, the infamous drug lord known as El Chapo, was extradited from Mexico and flown across the border, ending one of the century’s most notorious criminal careers.
As the longtime leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, he wore many guises: the savvy smuggler who packed cocaine in cans of jalapenos, the brutal killer said to have shot up a Puerto Vallarta nightclub and the folklore hero who twice escaped from prison. But this week, after decades of eluding officials in his homeland, where he was convicted in 1993 on drug and homicide charges, the legendary kingpin finally went on trial in a US court.
What are the charges?
At the trial on Tuesday in US District Court in Brooklyn, the infamous Mexican drug lord was alternately portrayed as a calculating leader of a bloodthirsty smuggling operation that funnelled tonnes of cocaine and other drugs into American cities and a scapegoat for a conspiracy whose actual mastermind bribed crooked Mexican officials as high as the president to keep his freedom.
Who sits on the jury?
In opening statements amid tight security in federal court in Brooklyn, Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels told a jury whose identities have been kept secret how the man who got his start in a modest marijuana-selling business became a kingpin known for using an army of hit men to wipe out his competitors and anyone within his Sinaloa cartel who betrayed him. “Money. Drugs. Murder . ... That is what this case is about,” Fels said.
What’s the evidence?
With evidence that includes drug ledgers, satellite photos and secretly recorded audio tapes, prosecutors argued that during his more than 20 years in business, Guzman, now 59, raked in $14 billion in illicit profits, a fortune he protected with a vast payroll of corrupt officials and an army of professional assassins.
Who else is accused?
Defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman sought to shift blame in his opening to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, another reputed drug trafficker in the cartel’s leadership who is still at large in Mexico. The lawyer claimed that unlike Guzman, Zambada remains on the loose because of bribes that “go up to the very top,” including hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the current and former presidents of Mexico. He also suggested US law enforcement turned a blind eye to the situation.
Why’s the trial so big?
The trial is a watershed moment in America’s war on drugs and in the fraught relationship between the US and Mexico. The trial in New York, which could last up to four months, will allow the government to tell the epic tale of Guzman’s remarkable life story.
What has Chapo said?
Guzman, who has been held in solitary confinement since his extradition to the US early last year, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune smuggling tons of cocaine and other drugs in a vast supply chain that reached well north of the border.
Despite his diminutive stature and nickname that means “Shorty” in Spanish, Guzman was once a larger-than-life figure in Mexico who has been compared to Al Capone and been the subject of ballads known as narcocorridos. He appeared in a dark suit and tie on Tuesday as he listened to Fels describe how he started modestly in the early 1970s by selling marijuana in Mexico, but built his reputation by constructing tunnels across the Mexico-US border to transport marijuana and cocaine.
I will see you then for what I believe will be a very interesting experience for all of you.”
Brian Cogan |
US District Judge, to New York jury assembled for the El Chapo trial