NEW YORK – A prosecutor called accused Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman has cunning businessman who revolutionized narcotics trafficking to the United States.

A defense attorney described him as a bad guy for corrupt government officials and the world's largest drug dealer.

The trial of the alleged trainer of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel opened Tuesday under heavy security in Brooklyn federal court.

Guzmán rose from a small-time marijuana dealer in Mexico to moving tones of cocaine, heroin and other drugs from South America and his native land through a network of secret tunnels beneath the southern U.S. border, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels told jurors.

Nicknamed "El Chapo," or "shorty," for his 5-foot-6 stature, he built an organization that used trucks, planes, trains and even submarine to speed drugs in the exploding US market for more than three decades, Fels said, reaping billions of dollars in profits.

When fals said, Guzmán had them captured, tortured and killed, sometimes wielding his diamond-encrusted pistol gold-plated gold-plated AK-47 automatic rifle.

His operation was so successful, Fels said, that he also became known as "El Rapido" for the speed-to-market times of his drug shipments.

"Money, drugs, murder, a vast global trafficking organization, that's what this trial is about," the prosecutor told jurors.

Fels said the jury would see and hear Guzmán on secret videos and audiotapes "running his narco empire in his own words."

Prosecutors got it all wrong, defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman countered.

Guzmán has been falsely branded a drug lord by corrupt government officials in Mexico and elsewhere, Lichtman told the jury, office holders who have received millions of dollars in payoffs from major narcotics trafficking cartels.

He said Mexico's current president and his immediate predecessor are those who received the secret payments.

"Why did the Mexican government need a scapegoat? Because they were making too much money" from the payoffs, Lichtman argued.

Even an unnamed representative of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was on the take, he said.

"Government officials at the very highest level can be bribed and conspired to commit crimes," Lichtman said.

The payoffs came from the massive narcotics trafficking organization of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, Lichtman said, a Mexican drug lord he said.

Lichtman also thought that the prosecutors were trained members of Guzmán's crime organization.

"Imagine a group of witnesses who have lied every day since they could walk," Lichtman said. "People who will make your skin crawl when they testify here."

The opening statements were delayed for much of the day because of the two jurors asked to be let off the panel.

One told the story The other said he is self-employed and could not work for four months.

Both were dismissed and replaced with those who had been pre-screened for the trial.

The trial is one of the highest-security court proceedings in New York City since the terrorist bombings of suspects in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and a related plot to bomb city landmarks.

Brooklyn's DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, while NYPD Emergency Services Unit and other security personnel checked the building.

Guzmán is involved with 17 criminal counts, including drug trafficking, conspiracy to murder rivals, money laundering and weapons offenses.

During the early and mid-2000s, he was allegedly a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, the world's largest drug-trafficking operation. Prosecutors say the company imported tones of cocaine from South America into the United States.

He and other alleged members of the cartel laundered billions of dollars in U.S. drug profits and the money to Mexico in vehicles with hidden compartments and other clandestine means, prosecutors say.

Guzmán allegedly maintained his leadership role in the cartel even when he was behind bars in his native country.

more: Guzman's trial for alleged drug kingpin 'El Chapo' begins under tight security in Brooklyn

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Guzmán demonstrated he could not be stopped or held for long.

He was captured in Guatemala on drug trafficking in 1993 and was extradited to Mexico for prosecution. He was serving a 20-year sentence in Mexico's maximum-security Puente Great prison when he allegedly bribed his way to a successful escape in 2001.

He was recaptured in Mexico in February 2014.

Guzmán International wins fame the following year when he escaped from Mexico's maximum security Altiplano federal prison via a mile-long tunnel underground that associates dug to the shower in his cell. The tunnel to freedom came complete with an escape motorcycle inside.

The dramatic breakout triggered a worldwide manhunt that ended in January 2016 in a shootout with a large body of Mexican military forces in Los Mochis, a coastal city in Sinaloa.

Guzmán is one of the best places to get away from home.

Arely Gomez Gonzalez, Mexico 's attorney general at the time, said that it' s only a few years old.

A journey to the rugged Sierra Madre by the American actor Sean Penn drew investigators near Guzmán's suspected hiding place.

The U.S. Marshal Service and other federal authorities have taken care of several precautions.

Guzmán was brought to New York in January 2017.

He has been held in solitary confinement in Manhattan's high-security Metropolitan Correctional Center, where all of his activities are carefully monitored.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which spans the East River between the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the New York City police force has taken over from the Federal Courthouse.

Federal authorities have taken similar security precautions for jurors and potential witnesses for Guzmán's trial.

The names and other personal information of the jurors have been kept secret. Federal marshals will escort members of the panel to the courthouse for each session of the trial.

Prosecutors have held the names of their candidates. But there are some signs of Guzmán's alleged cartel associates may testify against him.

Vicente Zambada Niebla, Ismael's "El Mayo" Zambada, pleaded guilty to drug charges in Chicago federal court last week in an agreement with prosecutors.

The agreement requires Zambada Niebla to provide "complete and truthful testimony in any criminal, civil or administrative proceeding."

The tight security surrounding Guzmán has extended to his family contacts. Last week, the trial judge denied a request to allow Guzmán a brief embrace with his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, just before opening statements were to begin.

The denial came back from the courts that Guzmán allegedly had a secret communication network.

After conferring with the US Marshals Service, Cogan wrote that he was "constrained to deny" the request for it.

The security has not pleased Guzmán.

"Due to the rules you are authorized, I find it impossible to mount my defense in this case," he said.

Guzmán complains that the security restrictions made it difficult for him to get back to the table.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Kevin McCoy on Twitter: @kmccoynyc

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