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Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, top drug officer in Mexico, is escorted on arrival at Long Island MacArthur Airport, New York, United States, on January 19, 2017, after his extradition from Mexico . US Managers / Handout via REUTERSReuters
By Brendan Pierson and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, alongside drug lord Ismael Zambada, and has personally invested in massive cocaine shipments to the United States, said Wednesday. jurors jurors.
The testimony of Jesus Reynaldo Zambada, 57, was presented on the second day of Guzman's drug trial in Brooklyn federal court.
Jesus Zambada, who was extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2012 and cooperates with US authorities, presented the internal workings of the cartel which, according to prosecutors, would have generated billions of dollars for the sale of cocaine, heroin , marijuana and methamphetamine.
Guzman, 61, faces 17 counts of indictment and life imprisonment where he is convicted. His lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told the jurors in his opening statement that Ismael Zambada was the cartel leader and Guzman a mere scapegoat.
Jesus Zambada, with a degree in accounting, said that he had been involved in the deal by 1987 when he had developed an accounting system to collect money from the bank. 39, money from cocaine buyers in the United States. He indicated that he remained in the organization until his arrest by the Mexican authorities in 2008. At that time, the organization was largely led by his brother, always on the run, and by Guzman.
Zambada reported that its work included receiving shipments of several tons of cocaine from Colombia by boat on a beach in Cancun and supervising a warehouse in Mexico City where cocaine was stored before being smuggled into the United States. United.
Speaking calmly and dressed in civilian blue and orange, he told the jury that cocaine was carried in tanker trucks filled with gasoline to avoid detection at US border crossings.
Zambada also discussed the financing of cross-border drug deals, saying the Sinaloa cartel's top and middle leaders would pool funds to invest in shipments from Colombia. Each investment, equitably shared with Colombian suppliers, could generate profits of several tens of millions of dollars, he said.
Zambada said his brother and Guzman had jointly invested in several tons of shipments in the 2000s. He gave some more details about Guzman, although he said he spoke to her several times over the phone. In court, Guzman was sitting at a table with his lawyers, listening to the testimony and showing no emotion.
The Zambada should continue to testify Thursday. He is the first of several former Guzman associates under cooperation agreements that are expected to testify at the trial, which is expected to last up to four months.
US Attorney General Adam Fels told the jury in his opening statement on Tuesday that the evidence would trace the story of Guzman's rise from a low-intensity marijuana smuggler to a powerful drug lord who has become one most wanted fugitives in the world.
After years of flight and two dramatic escapes in a prison, Guzman was finally captured in January 2016 in his hometown of Sinaloa, northwestern Mexico, and extradited to the United States a year later.
The Sinaloa cartel played a major role in narco violence between rival gangs that tore apart parts of Mexico.
(Report by Jonathan Stempel and Brendan Pierson, edited by Alistair Bell and Rosalba O & # 39; Brien)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
