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Over the years, Mr. Zambada said, he rose through the ranks and became his father's highest lieutenant, overseeing cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico and from Mexico to the US border, in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. At various times, he played many and varied roles for the cartel: ambassador, director of operations, and messenger.
In 2009, however, Mr. Zambada was arrested during an army operation in Mexico City and extradited to Chicago. At first he had to be sued in this country for drug trafficking while he was the right arm of his father. But before the trial began, his lawyers launched a bomb: they claimed that he was secretly working as a spy for the DEA, exchanging information about his rivals in return for the opportunity to run his business freely.
the authorities acknowledged that Mr. Zambada had met with federal agents, they have long denied the existence of a counterpart agreement. In a recent ruling, Judge Brian M. Cogan, who hears Mr. Guzman's case, said Zambada's assertions about his cooperation with the Americans could not be mentioned at the trial.
Zambada finally pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in a secret procedure in Chicago in 2013. It's been five years since he's waiting to appear in court to tell his story.
He did so on Thursday, energetically explaining to the jurors how he had previously planned to take Mr. Guzman's brother out of the prison with a helicopter. (The brother, Arturo, was killed before the escape could be attempted.) He also testified that in 2007, he had met a group of "high-level politicians" and representatives of Pemex , the national oil company of Mexico, to discuss a draft shipment of 100 tons of cocaine in a tanker owned by the company.
But his testimony on Thursday was centered on his father.
One of the first questions the prosecution asked him was: "What does your father do for a living? "
There was only one answer.
" My father is the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, "said Zambada.
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