The trial of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo“ Guzman continues in Brooklyn, New York, and is expected to last into early next year.
This is the first time a major Mexican drug kingpin has been tried in a US court and pleaded not guilty.
Guzman, 61, faces a 17 count indictment that covers nearly three decades of alleged criminal activities. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Follow updates on the ongoing trial below
Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of El Chapo, told Telemundo on Monday that she never saw her husband do anything unlawful when they were together.
In a rare interview with the Spanish-speaking network, the former Mexican beauty queen pointed the finger at the media for portraying El Chapo as a murderous drug kingpin.
"[The media] made him too famous," Ms Aispuro said. "They [the media] don’t want to bring him down from the pedestal."
"[The media] made him too famous," Ms Aispuro said. "They [the media] don’t want to bring him down from the pedestal."
Ms Aispuro said El Chapo liked the notoriety he was getting from the media coverage.
"You have to be honest, I think he did like it, he does like it a little," she added.
"You have to be honest, I think he did like it, he does like it a little," she added.
Tirso Martinez Sanchez, the fifth informant to testify against Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, testified on Monday that the the alleged kingpin came up with the elaborate drug smuggling route into New York. The smuggling scheme involved hiding 15 to 20 tons of cocaine in rail tanker cars with secret compartments.
Mr Sanchez said El Chapo informed him of the plan in a secret meeting in a cabin near Toluca, Mexico, shortly after his notorious escape from prison in 2001.
“I was the inventor of that route,” El Chapo allegedly told Mr Sanchez.
The trial of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman will resume in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday.
Court ended early today thanks to a transportation issue for a witness that was due to appear.
So, with that, we will back for more from the trial tomorrow.
So, with that, we will back for more from the trial tomorrow.
The court also heard from a coast guard officer, who described some of the drug shipments he had seen.
One included 237 bales of cocaine - with each bale weighing up to 50 pounds (22 kilograms).
One included 237 bales of cocaine - with each bale weighing up to 50 pounds (22 kilograms).
It is unclear when, or if, the Flores twins are going to testify in the trail. They are both currently serving 14-year sentences in federal custody.
While it has been a relatively slow day for the trial today, there was the first mention for Pedro and Margarito Flores.
The pair are twin brothers from Chicago who flipped on El Chapo and secretly taped their phone calls with him, before handing the recordings to drug enforcement agents.
DEA agent Adrian Ibañez described a meeting with Pedro Flores in 2008.
The pair are twin brothers from Chicago who flipped on El Chapo and secretly taped their phone calls with him, before handing the recordings to drug enforcement agents.
DEA agent Adrian Ibañez described a meeting with Pedro Flores in 2008.
Ramirez Abadia also acknowledged lower-level operatives in the New York City area were knocked off under suspicion of stealing or snitching, including a woman in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Her husband and son also perished in the process, according to the defence.
Once he learned he had been indicted in the U.S., Ramirez Adadia fled to Brazil, where he made his face look like a theatrical mask with implants and injections. He also used disguises for photos on fake identification cards with various aliases in a bid to hide his identity, which ultimately failed.
Once he learned he had been indicted in the U.S., Ramirez Adadia fled to Brazil, where he made his face look like a theatrical mask with implants and injections. He also used disguises for photos on fake identification cards with various aliases in a bid to hide his identity, which ultimately failed.
Seeking to drive home the human toll of the violent drug trade, defence attorney William Purpura got Ramirez Adadia to confirm the ledgers also showed the expenses for murders for hire — $45,000 to have three people killed and $338,776 in another instance because, he said, so many hit men were involved.
The dead included a top lieutenant rubbed out in prison after his arrest merely because, Ramirez Adadia suggested, "he knew a lot about my organisation." Another time, the witness said he lured a mutinous cartel member to a meeting where the victim and his entourage were slaughtered in a gangland-style ambush, their bodies then loaded in pickup trucks for disposal.
The dead included a top lieutenant rubbed out in prison after his arrest merely because, Ramirez Adadia suggested, "he knew a lot about my organisation." Another time, the witness said he lured a mutinous cartel member to a meeting where the victim and his entourage were slaughtered in a gangland-style ambush, their bodies then loaded in pickup trucks for disposal.
Ramirez Abadia testified how his Norte del Valle cartel used a fleet of planes and boats to ship tons of cocaine to Mexico, where the Sinaloa cartel was tasked with smuggling it into the United States under the direction of Guzman and others. Prosecutors say the massive amounts of drugs and cash flowing back and forth across the U.S. border in the 1990s and early 2000s were documented in ledgers that looked like mundane business records.
Today's proceedings may have slowed slightly in this lengthy hearing, but major revelations have come to light this week in the trial of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman.
A key government witness, former Colombian kingpin Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, told the jury explosive details of alleged drug smuggling from Mexico to the US.
A key government witness, former Colombian kingpin Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, told the jury explosive details of alleged drug smuggling from Mexico to the US.
It seems many haven't been particularly enthralled with today's testimonies...
A former US customs agent, Steven DeMayo, gave his testimony to the Brooklyn court this morning.
Mr DeMayo previously investigated how the infamous Sinaloa cartel was smuggling cocaine to the US. He found 2,000 kilos stashed at a warehouse in New York in 2003.
Hello and welcome to another day of the El Chapo trial - where a number of law enforcement officials are due to take the stand.
Testimony about what happened to shipments travelling from Colombia to Mexico - many worth millions and millions of dollars - were a big part of yesterday's testimony - including the tale of a captain who sank a boadt containing a shipment as he had been allegedly sampling the product.
Although, Chupeta is said to have relied on his lieutenants filings - so the defence are likely to argue that he did not know the full extent of what was involved in the operation.
His testimony in the afternoon yesterday involved a lot of testimony about the books he kept in relation to his dealings with El Chapo. Mostly the size of shipments.
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of another day of testimony in the El Chapo trial.
Former Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, or Chupeta, will be cross-examined by the defence today.
Former Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, or Chupeta, will be cross-examined by the defence today.
More cross-examination of Colombian drug lord Chupeta is set for tomorrow after his revealing testimony Monday afternoon.
After the lunch break, Chupeta revealed his alleged attempts to bribe and corrupt US law enforcement agents who were working on the ground in Colombia.
He testified that he had never once “directly” known of an American agent who accepted one of his bribes.
After the lunch break, Colombian drug lord Chupeta testified he had bribed his country’s police officials who worked with a unit affiliated with the US DEA called the “Sensitive Investigative Unit”.
He also revealed a series of cocaine shipments that had been sent to the Sinaloa cartel that became known as “Juanitas” — he reported the amount of cocaine for each shipment.
He also claimed his cartel had provided bribes to Colombia’s Navy in order to obtain “navigational charts where the American frigate would be in the Pacific Ocean.”
Agencies contributed to this report
