NEW YORK _ He was a ruthless and hands-on drug boss who knew when to rein in a hot-headed chief enforcer whose body count sometimes spun out of control.
That's the portrait of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera painted Tuesday by a series of highly damaging phone calls played for jurors in Brooklyn federal court.
FBI agent Stephen Marston testified that the calls were intercepted between April 2011 and January 2012 after U.S. authorities successfully flipped Guzman's chief technology guru and got the keys to the Sinaloa Cartel's encrypted communications network.
In one call dated April 9, 2011, and authenticated by Marston, a man identified as Guzman is heard chatting with cartel bodyguard Orso Ivan Gastelum Cruz about his ongoing fights with police.
"Did you beat them up?" Guzman purportedly asks in the dramatic recording.
"Yes," Cruz cackles. "I gave them a good kick up the ass."
"Talk to them," Guzman instructs later during the call. "You know that they are policemen _ better not to smack them around."
When Cruz bemoans having to deal with officers he considers problematic, Guzman suggests tying them up rather than killing them outright at the first sign of trouble.
"Once you have them tied up and such, we'll check it out _ to make sure you don't execute innocent people," Guzman says.
The kingpin then reminds Cruz that many of the officers are on the cartel's payroll and an integral part of their vast drug smuggling enterprise.
"Don't be chasing cops. They are the ones who help _ leave them alone," Guzman says.
Guzman then suggests Ivan should hold any problem cops hostage rather than killing them outright at the first sign of trouble.
"Once you have them tied up and such, we'll check it out _ to make sure you don't execute innocent people," Guzman says.
"Well, you taught us to be a wolf, act like a wolf _ well, I'm remembering that, and that's the way I like to do it," Cruz says in one memorable line.
Guzman, 61, has pleaded not guilty to more than dozen charges in the drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy and illegal firearms case.
He sat quietly Tuesday as jurors heard call after call involving the operations of his billion-dollar empire _ each one seemingly more devastating than the last.
During a phone call on July 9, 2011, a cartel operative identified as Gato confirmed to Guzman he was making the monthly bribe payments to a high-ranking federal police commander.
"Is he receiving the monthly payment?" Guzman asks during the Spanish-language call played in court with an English translation.
"Yes. He's receiving the monthly payment," Gato confirms.
Then in a surprising turn, Gato then puts the alleged police commander on the phone.
"Whatever we can do for you, you can count on it," Guzman tells the unidentified officer.
"You have a friend here," the commander responds.
Before breaking for the day, jurors were shown a grainy video of Guzman allegedly interrogating the head of the rival Los Zetas cartel.
The man is seen tied to a pole as Guzman paces back and forth demanding answers.
Marston did not identify the man under interrogation but authenticated the video that was previously uploaded to the website LiveLeak.com.
Marston testified that FBI investigators intercepted a call made by one of Guzman's associates while the interrogation was actually taking place, and they were able to sync it with the video.
Other excerpts played Tuesday touched on the organization of drug shipments and the purchasing of ammunition.
Marston is due back on the witness stand Wednesday as prosecutors close in on the two-month mark of the expected three-month trial.
Guzman, whose 29-year-old beauty queen wife Emma Coronel returned to the courthouse Tuesday after a holiday break spent with their 7-year-old twin daughters in Mexico, faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted as charged.
Coronel caused a stir in the courthouse early Tuesday when she walked in wearing a Star of David necklace around her neck.
While the Star of David is a widely recognized symbol of Jewish identity, Guzman's defense lawyer Eduardo Balarezo said Coronel wasn't attempting to sway anyone with a show of solidarity.
