6 tons of trouble
Tape of giant coke deal played for El Chapo jurors
It’s a recording that could tip the scales at cocaine kingpin Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman’s trafficking trial in Brooklyn.
The secretly taped phone call, played for jurors Thursday, features Chapo negotiating the purchase of 6 tons of Colombian cocaine from the South American country’s FARC guerrilla group in May 2010.
“I am very glad that, that, uh, you are giving us this opportunity without having met us,” Chapo says in Spanish to an unidentified FARC boss in the call played by prosecutors.
“We are serious here,” Chapo assures the rebel.
Though the men never mention cocaine by name during the call, Chapo says he can pay $2 million in cash for the first 2 tons in the deal and then supply real estate as collateral for the other 4 tons.
The Mexican druglord — who’s now facing the possibility of life in prison at his federal court trial — gingerly insists to the FARC leader that he must be allowed to test the quality of the drugs before payment.
“Tomorrow I will send the technician over there to see it,” he says during the call.
“And on Monday he will see the merchandise, and I will immediately send him the money,” he says.
Prosecutors played the call as former Colombian drug lord Jorge Cifuentes testified for a third day.
Cifuentes said his brother helped organize the 6-ton deal that aimed to move the drugs from Colombia through Ecuador and all the way to Mexico — but the plan eventually fell through.
“He’s talking to the cocaine supplier, a member of the FARC,” Cifuentes testified when asked to clarify what was going on in the recording.
He gushed about Chapo’s skills as a negotiator, saying the deal initially called for Chapo to pay cash for 2.5 tons.
“First of all, he’s a really good businessman — because now he’s saying he’s going to (pay cash for) 2 and not two and a half — and second, he’s saying he’s going to put up my properties as collateral,” Cifuentes said.
During the call, Chapo also offers his nephew, who was already on the ground in South America, as human collateral in the deal.
Cifuentes said the intercepted call was not encrypted — as most of the cartel’s communications normally were — because Chapo’s security engineer failed to renew a license for an encryption service.
Under cross-examination Thursday, Cifuentes admitted he’s been a professional criminal and liar most of his life.