El Chapo on Trial
On Monday the 19th of November, I spent the morning in the Brooklyn Federal Court in the Courtroom where El Chapo is being tried. The trial started a week ago on the 13th of November and anticipated to go for four months. The security was more intense than airport security, it’s normal to go through security when you enter a Court – but this was the next level. After going through the scanner I handed my phone in to security downstairs, then I went up to level 8, and found Court Room 8C. To get in to the Court, a further round of security scanning was required – a lot of signs at this point in Spanish and English reminding people not to bring guns or knives into the Court. I had to hand ID to the security, they took down my name and gave me a number.
I was ushered into the overflow Court because there were too many observers (from what I could tell they were mostly journalists). So, I watched the trial live on three large screens.
I can tell that there is a lot of security in the courtroom, and I can see how big the teams are, there are a lot of people on the prosecution team, and the defence team seems smaller. There seems to be 3 main lawyers running the case.
The significance of this trial has been espoused the world over by journalists, this is the first time a major Mexican Kingpin has been tried in the US. When this has happened in the past, those arrested have pleaded guilty, but El Chapo is the first major figure in the Mexican drug world who has gone to trial in the US, he faces a 17 count indictment that covers nearly three decades of alleged criminal activities. He’s accused of directing massive shipments of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, and faces life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
For me, having written a book about 7 Kingpins, with El Chapo being one of them, and having just read and written from that reading about the Sinoloa Cartel, being here at Court feels like the characters from my book are stepping off the page, and coming to life in front of me.
The witness who is giving evidence is Jesus 'El Rey' Zambada, he is understood to be one of El Chapo’s closest allies, and worked for him for a long time. He ran Mexico City Cartel. I find his evidence pretty disturbing, he essentially provided a tour to the inner workings of the Cartel.
Zambada speaks Spanish, and so the Prosecutor asks her questions (in English) and a translator then translates it for him (into Spanish), and he provides his evidence (in Spanish) and the translator translates the evidence to English. Zambada is dressed very casually for someone who is giving evidence at the Federal Court – and also for someone who is also being held as a prisoner (in the US).
There is a Cartel organisational chart on display in the courtroom, with photographs of the key players of the Cartel to assist the jurors in understanding the evolution of the management structure. It’s a little alarming when the prosecutor, as she leads the witness through his testimony removes pictures of certain figures as the chronology progresses, as Zambada tells of people being killed – then their photographs are removed.
Zambada’s evidence in the morning I spend in Court covers:
El Chapo ordering the murder of a man who had refused to shake his hand at a meeting in 2004.
How that killing fuelled a war between the cartels (with many casualties).
About a 20-ton cocaine shipment from Panama that was intercepted by the US Coast Guard as it was leaving, in which El Chapo had a significant investment – and how the negotiation with the Columbian Kingpin in charge of the shipment went after the interception.
Descriptions of brutal murders, a statement that El Chapo would carry several firearms at once, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and bazookas, the jurors were shown a photo of a pistol decorated with Guzman’s initials as the witness described the brutal way the cartel dealt with various violent threats and personal slights.
I am glad I went to Court for the morning, I learned a lot and it really brought the characters and the business activities of these Kingpins to life in a way that watching Narcos or the Sopranos never has for me!
