NEW YORK – At the height of drug-related conflicts in Mexico in 1993, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was the victim of an assassination attempt.

A team of armed men sent to eliminate the infamous drug dealer instead killed a Roman Catholic cardinal in an airport in Guadalajara, outraging enough the Mexican public to unleash a huge manhunt at Guzman. He was captured, but prosecutors claimed he was not being discouraged by a brutal pursuit of power that lasted for decades, prison breakouts and traces of corpses.

The story of the assassination will be part of an epic tale that will take place on Tuesday in a well-secured conference room in New York, as prosecutors and defense lawyers make their opening statements at Guzman's long-awaited trial in New York. United States.

Guzman, held in solitary confinement since his extradition to the United States early last year, pleaded not guilty to the charge of amassing a multibillion – dollar fortune that was carrying tons of cocaine and other drugs in a vast supply chain New York, New Jersey, Texas and elsewhere north of the border.

If he is found guilty, he faces a life sentence.

Prosecutors said they would use thousands of documents, videos and recordings as evidence, including information relating to the shooting at the Guadalajara airport, the refuges for drug traffickers , to the escape from Guzman prison in 2015 and to the operation of keeping the order to resume it.

More than a dozen cooperating witnesses are scheduled to appear, including some who have worked for Guzman's cartel for Sinaloa. Prosecutors say they risk revenge by speaking up and that the court has taken steps to conceal their identity. US District Judge Brian Cogan prevented draughtsmen from the courtroom from drawing them.

Guzman's lawyers are expected to attack the credibility of witnesses by focusing on their own criminal record, claiming that some have an interest in lying to gain clemency in their own affairs.

Eduardo Balarezo, one of Guzman's lawyers, hinted that he was hoping to convince the jurors that Guzman was not in charge of the cartel but a lieutenant receiving orders from someone else. d & # 39; other.

"Now that the lawsuit is upon us, it's time to get up or shut up," said Balarezo.

Despite his small size and nickname which means "Shorty", Guzman was once a larger-than-life character in Mexico, who was compared to Al Capone and Robin Hood and was the subject of ballads called "narcocorridos".

Among the highlights of his story: how he was known to wear a gold-plated AK-47; for the smuggling of cocaine into cans marked jalapenos; to make shipments using aircraft with secret landing lanes, container ships, speedboats and even submarines.

But Guzman is perhaps best known for escaping to Mexico, the first time in 2011 hiding at the bottom of a laundry bin. He escaped again in 2015 through a kilometer long tunnel dug into his prison cell by a shower in which he slipped before escaping on a motorcycle.

Guzman's second escape was a black eye for the Mexican government, an amplified embarrassment when actor Sean Penn was able to find him and interview him in one of his hiding in Mexico while he was on the run from the authorities.

The extradition of Guzman to New York has shaken the drug world in Mexico.

The Mexican security analyst, Alejandro Hope, said that he had created "a kind of civil war within the Sinaloa cartel", which basically ended with the "death penalty". arresting internal rivals and allowed his sons to take control of what remains a "weakened" traffic but far to be completed operation.

Hope said he saw no sign that extradition from Guzman and his incarceration in the United States had a major impact on drug flows or routes.

"But symbolically, I think it's important – it's a little late in an era – there are only very few royal pivots of this size, of this size," he said. Hope. "We are actually leaving this era, the era of the pivot." Small gangs now dominate, he said.

Raul Benitez, security expert and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said that Guzman's oversized myth was also blurred.

In Mexico, reports on the Guzman trial occupy a prominent place in the media, although some consider it to be ancient history.

"He is totally isolated, he can not approach anyone, his wife has not even been able to approach him, so he is offside," said Benitez, referring to a judge's order. prohibiting Guzman's wife from hugging her in the courtroom. during the trial.

The decision to leave will be made by an anonymous jury of seven women and five men, who will decide. The trial is expected to last until next year.

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Peter Orsi's associate editor in Mexico contributed to the writing of this report.