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BROOKLYN DOWNTOWN, Brooklyn (WABC) –
The opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday morning in Joaquin's American trial "El Chapo" Guzman. Potential jurors asked how well they knew of Guzman's reputation as a ruthless drug lord in Mexico.
Its ruthless reputation raises security concerns in New York.
Joaquín Guzmán was extradited last year to face charges of drug conspiracy in the United States.
He is accused of having participated in dozens of murders and having smuggled more than 200 tons of cocaine across the border.
Guzman's criminal background has prompted New York authorities to keep him in solitary confinement in the high security wing of a federal prison in Manhattan, which hosts notorious terrorists and criminals.
During the pre-trial hearings, the authorities took Guzman in and out of the prison by closing the Brooklyn Bridge to make room for a police force consisting of a SWAT team and an ambulance, followed by helicopters.
At the time, the judge pointed to the expense and logistical nightmare that this could create, especially for New Yorkers who depend on the bridge to get to work.
The trial could last up to four months.
The jurors were questioned in Brooklyn federal court about their views on the legalization of marijuana, their command of Spanish and their feelings towards law enforcement officials and their families. witnesses who cooperate.
Guzman was sitting at the defense table and listening to an interpreter and wearing street clothes – a dark suit and a white open-neck shirt – instead of a prison uniform for the first time since his extradition to the United States at the beginning of last year.
There is speculation that a special cell for Guzman was set up at the bottom of the Brooklyn Courthouse.
El Chapo escaped twice from prison in Mexico through a tunnel.
The jurors will remain anonymous and will be escorted by federal officers to the courthouse. Strongly armed federal agents will turn the courthouse into a fortress.
Prosecutors said that Guzman routinely ordered the assassination of all those who were bothered during his heyday in Mexico as head of the Sinaloa cartel.
In his own way, a group of government witnesses who survived the wave of violence and should give details of the ruthless way in which he kept power for 20 years in the merciless world of international drug trafficking. The defense says that the witnesses are the real bad guys whose testimony should not be trusted.
The names of the witnesses were recorded on court documents. Prosecutors said their identities should be protected because their cooperation could place them at the center of an avenging cartel. According to court documents, some are held in special units of the prison for their protection, while others participate in witness protection programs.
The list of people who could come to the witness stand is long. The twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, former Chicago-based narcotics wholesalers, had previously worked with Guzman prior to their arrest in 2008. They agreed to cooperate and record telephone conversations over the size of the smuggled shipments. on boats and planes.
In one of them, a voice identified by Guzman asks, "How much can you get rid of in a month?"
The brothers now imprisoned have paid a heavy price for turning around: prosecutors said that in 2009, their father was murdered in Mexico by a team of cartels.
(Associated Press contributed to this report)
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