Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman orchestrated a two-decade campaign to flood the United States with tons of cocaine as a ruthless leader of the Sinaloa cartel, a prosecutor said in closing arguments at his trial Wednesday.
The prosecutor added that El Chapo was someone who decided 'who lives and who dies'.
'The government does not have to prove that he was the boss, or the only boss, or even one of the top bosses,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg told jurors, though she hastened to add that Guzman was 'one of the top bosses, without a doubt.'
Guzman's lawyers have claimed the cartel's real leader is Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, who remains at large, and that their client was framed by Zambada.
Standing in front of a table piled with trial evidence including assault rifles and bricks of cocaine, Goldbarg took a calm, no-nonsense approach as she walked the jury in federal court in Brooklyn through the charges against Guzman one by one. El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro looked on in the courtroom.
Guzman, 61, was extradited to the United States in January 2017. The 10 criminal counts include engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy, and a life sentence if he is found guilty.
In this January 19, 2017 file photo provided U.S. law enforcement, authorities escort Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y
El Cahpo's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro is seen outside court on Wednesday. She has attended every day of her husband's trial
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg points at Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman (back row C) in this courtroom sketch during his trial on Wednesday
Goldbarg's summation capped an exhaustive government case that spanned 10 weeks of testimony from more than 50 witnesses, including law enforcement officials and former associates of Guzman who are cooperating with the U.S. government after striking plea deals.
Guzman's lawyers have aggressively sought to undermine the cooperators' credibility in their cross-examinations, something Goldbarg addressed head on.
'These witnesses were criminals,' she said. 'The government is not asking you to like them.'
However, she said, their testimony was corroborated by intercepted phone calls, text messages and letters from Guzman, as well as accounting ledgers seized in a raid on one of his safe houses.
Facing the press: Emma Coronal Aispuro (left outside her husband's trial on Wednesday morning) has told in an interview how they met when she was 17 and he was on the run after breaking out of prison in Mexico in 2001
'You know these cooperating witnesses are telling the truth because you heard the same thing from the defendant's own mouth,' she said.
The intercepted communications showed Guzman plotting drug shipments, dealing with corrupt government officials and, sometimes, ordering his adversaries killed.
'He's the one who decides who lives and who dies,' Goldbarg said.
Goldbarg then moved methodically through the evidence linking Guzman to each of a series of drug seizures by authorities in the 1990s and 2000s. Her argument is expected to last the rest of the day.
Goldbarg had began her closing argument by recounting the testimony of a former cartel crony who claimed he witnessed Guzman nearly beat to death two men from Sinaloa after paid-off authorities told him they were working for a rival cartel. The witness said El Chapo cursed at the men before shooting them in the head and ordering their bodies thrown on a bonfire.
Guzman is facing multiple drug and murder conspiracy charges that could land him in prison for life if he's convicted. The defense insists the allegations are fabricated. He is seen above in this January 2016 file photo
'The cartel's engines were corruption and violence,' Goldbarg told a jury in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The combination allowed Guzman 'to impose his will on anyone who got in his way,' she added.
Goldbarg spent much of her closing argument walking jurors through what she called an 'avalanche' of evidence, including testimony by cooperators and intercepted phone calls and texts that she said made in clear that Guzman called the shots. Of the 14 cooperators who took the witness stand, 11 testified that they took orders from the defendant, she said.
The prosecutors told jurors if they had any doubt Guzman was guilty, they should ask themselves why he acted the way he did: why he had bodyguards, hid out in the Sinaloa mountainside, had a mile-long (1.6-kilometer-long) tunnel dug to break out of prison and used spyware on his wife and two girlfriends.
'The questions could go on and on,' she said. 'The answer is common sense.'
The government's closing argument was expected to last most of Wednesday. The defense closing is set for Thursday.
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Main photo article Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman orchestrated a two-decade campaign to flood the United States with tons of cocaine as a ruthless leader of the Sinaloa cartel, a prosecutor said in closing arguments at his trial Wednesday.
The prosecutor added that El Chapo was someone w...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/30/23/9200508-6648141-FILE_In_this_Jan_19_2017_file_photo_provided_U_S_law_enforcement-a-1_1548889717903.jpg
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