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A former Joaquin pilot "El Chapo" Guzman said Monday that he had nearly killed the Mexican drug lord when he had landed in the cartel's drug-trafficking plane – and had explained in detail the huge sums that prevented the police from staying away.
Miguel "Gordo" Angel Martinez testified in federal court in Brooklyn to recount his experience as "manager" of the drug cartel for Guzman in Sinaloa from 1986 to 1998.
He also revealed that this ruthless leader had magnificently rewarded Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni, then police chief of Mexico City, for the smooth running of his drug business.
"He was sent two or three times 10 million dollars each time," Martinez said during the third week of Guzman's drug trial.
Calderoni was shot dead in McAllen, Texas, in 2003, after fleeing Mexico to live in the border town of the United States. According to a 2003 article in The New York Times, he was shot dead on a public sidewalk at the age of 54, following death threats by former Mexican President Carlos Salinas.
Martinez's first job was to carry cocaine between Colombia and Mexico as a licensed driver in 1987, but it was a job in which he was not very good.
The camisole flew between Guzman and his bodyguard from Guadalajara to Durango when things went bad.
"When I went to land, the propeller hit the ground," Martinez said.
Guzman was "calm" in the face of the incident that capsized his heart but his bodyguard "wanted to kill me," recalls Martinez, who was fired as a cartel driver.
"Mr. Guzman told me that I was a very bad driver," he said, which made the jurors laugh and the gallery.
In a previous incident, Martinez had survived another forced landing – with 1,470 kilograms of cocaine on board, leaving Colombia for Sonora.
His co-pilot, an unidentified US Navy pilot who fell asleep in mid-flight, turned to him and said, "They did not fill the fuel tanks properly."
One of the engines of the plane died and the crash crashed on the runway. Cocaine has survived, Martinez said.
Guzman was delighted in chanting "Gordo, Gordo, Gordo, Gordo", which was the code of agreement applicable when a shipment of drugs arrived at their destination safely. According to Martinez, the little chief was determined to use cryptic language – and special whistling noises – when the illicit drug company was discussed.
"Mr. Guzman told me to always pay attention because the Americans could listen to our conversations," said the witness.
Kerosene was called "vino", planes were called "girls", cocaine was "shirts" and money was called "documents", added Martinez. And when Guzman wanted him to prepare the planes for an expedition, he told him "to organize a party".
Guzman, who proclaimed himself the godfather of Martinez's son when he was born in 1989, looked at his former friend while he was testifying with his arms crossed on his chest.
Jeffrey Lichtman, one of Guzman's lawyers, worked to discredit Martinez, who is part of the federal witness protection program, in his opening statements, saying he had a "daily habit of using cocaine 4". grams "for 15 years.
"The inside of his nose has fallen," Lichtman told the jurors.
Earlier in the day, Judge Brian Cogan said that Guzman's beauty queen's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, had been arrested with a cell phone – which is strictly forbidden in the courthouse. It is unclear when she was caught with the contraband, but prosecutors told the judge that there were "pictures of her cell phone in court".
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