NEW YORK —Accused drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s network of secret tunnels allowed the Sinaloa Cartel to stockpile American-made weapons while easily smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States, a government informer testified Thursday.
Jesus Zambada, in his second day of testimony at federal court in Brooklyn, also told the jury that leaders of the lucrative cartel routinely paid monthly $300,000 bribes to the Mexican attorney general’s office, along with local police, airport officials and local politicians.
“He’s a friend of mine, go see him and give him $100,000,” the witness quoted Guzman of instructing him before a 2004 meeting with a Mexican general. “Go greet him and give him a hug.”
Bribes were also paid to Interpol, the global police organization with 192 member nations, Zambada insisted. The witness said money was funneled via Guzman’s lawyer to the crooked officials.
Zambada, a 57-year-old accountant/drug dealer who joined the cartel in 1987, is the first of several witnesses expected to give the anonymous jurors an insider’s look at Guzman’s powerful position atop the murderous, money-making cartel.
Guzman’s tunnel system was a game changer for the business, allowing quick movement of drugs between Mexico and the U.S. with little risk of detection, he testified. The speed of the underground delivery earned Guzman a second nickname, “El Rapido” —the speedy one.
“It’s the most secure way to cross drugs over to the United States,” Zambada testified. “And it’s the securest way for the money that’s being brought back.”
The cartel’s weapons came “from the United States of America” through the same tunnels, he added.
Guzman, held in solitary confinement since his arrest in January 2017, faces life imprisonment if convicted. Guzman, 61, never blinked in his seat at the defense table as he listened intently to Zambada’s testimony.
The witness’s brother Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada is allegedly the current head of the cartel and a longtime partner-in-crime of Guzman.
According to Zambada, El Chapo and El Mayo ordered the drug hits, rewarded the killers and sought to bribe their way out of any legal trouble.
“There can be incidents,” he testified. “There can be confrontations, people killed, fights.”