Prosecutors have detailed their evidence against Mexican drug lord El Chapo, including that he uploaded torture videos to YouTube, personally executed rival gang members and even smuggled seven tons of cocaine in jalapeno cans.
The 90-page memo, filed on Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court, laid out the brutal crimes El Chapo is accused of committing that were not detailed in his indictment, and which prosecutors want to present at his conspiracy trial in September.
It painted a picture of a calculating and violent man who insisted on personally overseeing the torture and interrogation of his rivals and orchestrated numerous murders, kidnappings and prison breaks.
A 90-page memo, filed on Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court, has laid out the brutal crimes El Chapo (pictured on January 19, 2017 while being extradited to the USA) is accused of committing that were not detailed in his indictment
As head of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman ordered his hitmen, known as sicarios, to kidnap rivals and present them to him ‘often bound and helpless’ so he could personally conduct interrogations, the memo states.
The document recounts one episode in 2006, when his men delivered to him two suspected members of the rival Las Zetas cartel, which was made up of former commandos in the Mexican Army.
Guzman insisted on first sitting down for lunch, then personally interrogated the captives in between beatings, before having them shot in the head. Their bodies were then dumped in a freshly-dug hole, doused in petrol, and burnt.
Nine years later, Guzman was fighting another rival cartel, the Beltrán Leyva, when he received news that one of its top members, Israel Rincón Martínez, had been kidnapped, the memo states.
The memo described a calculating and violent man (pictured after being captured on January 8, 2016) who insisted on personally overseeing the torture of rivals
Rincón was moved between a series of properties owned by El Chapo where he was tortured and beaten – with the interrogation uploaded onto YouTube by one of the cartel’s members.
Despite the drug lord’s insistence Rincón be kept alive so he could conduct a personal interrogation, the captive was dead by the time he arrived, prosecutors say.
The memo mentions another YouTube video showing Guzman pacing up and down as he interrogated a rival, which is expected to be shown to the jury during at his trial, set to begin on September 5.
It additionally alleges Guzman was behind an infamous gun battle at a disco in Puerto Vallarta that left six dead. This was intended to eliminate members of the Arellano Felix cartel, but they managed to escape the bloodbath.
‘Starting in the 1980s, the defendant systematically kidnapped, assaulted, tortured and murdered individuals who threatened the success of his drug tracking activity,’ the memo said.
The document also cites news footage showing a 1993 seizure of 7.3 tons of cocaine stashed in cans of jalapeno chili peppers in Tecate, California.
Prosecutors – claims to have some 300,000 pages of documents and hundreds of satellite photos, emails, videos and intercepted calls proving El Chapo’s guilt – requested some witnesses be allowed to testify anonymously for their protection.
They also mention his daring prison breaks, the first of which took place in 2001 when he stowed away in a laundry cart with the help of corrupt guards.
The drug lord is seen being escorted to a Mexican Army helicopter in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, on January 8, 2016 after he was captured following his first prison break
In this courtroom drawing, El Chapo, left, waves to someone during a court appearance as Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldfarb, addresses the judge on February 18 in Brooklyn Federal Courthouse
Then, in 2015, escaped from a maximum security facility for the second time – fleeing through a tunnel dug by his sicarios from the shower block to an abandoned house more than a mile away.
El Chapo’s sophisticated tunnel contained air vents, electric lights, emergency oxygen tanks – and even a motorbike on rails to speed his escape.
Eventually, his reign was cut short in January 2017 when he was extradited to the United States following his capture.
El Chapo’s attorney, Eduardo Balarezo, talks with the media after a hearing November 8, 2017 outside Brooklyn Federal Courthouse
As well as detailing his crimes, the memo also attempts to persuade the judge to exclude evidence that they say casts El Chapo as a ‘Robin Hood-style figure’.
This includes a notorious 2016 interview with Sean Penn, in which the U.S. actor claimed America was ‘complicit’ in the drug lord’s reign of terror.
They also want to cast off any mention of his ‘charitable giving’ to people in Sinaloa – a technique designed to win the support of the population aped from other drug kingpins like Pablo Escobar.
The judge at El Chapo’s trial has already agreed to prosecutors’ requests to grant anonymity to members of the jury to address any fears that they could be harassed or intimidated.
It came a year after a YouTube video showed a group of hitmen pledging loyalty to notorious drug lord while vowing to ‘take care of him’.
Since his extradition in January 2017, El Chapo has been held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, where he has repeatedly complained of the harsh conditions.
In 2015, El Chapo escaped from jail for the second time – fleeing through a tunnel dug by his sicarios from the shower block to an abandoned house more than a mile away. Pictured is the end of the tunnel
El Chapo’s sophisticated tunnel contained air vents, electric lights, emergency oxygen tanks – and even a motorbike on rails (pictured on July 14, 2015) to speed his escape
His lawyer, Eduardo Balarezo, told the New York Times he was assessing the memo and would ‘respond in due course.’
On Monday, he requested the criminal histories of drug lords, couriers, enforcers and accountants that prosecutors may put on the stand.
Balarezo has previously argued, largely to no avail, that his client cannot expect a fair trial in New York due to the frenzied publicity surrounding his case.
Guzman will go on trial facing a 17-count indictment accusing him of managing a criminal enterprise involved in importing and distributing hundreds of tons of narcotics and conspiring to murder rivals. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
If convicted he is likely to spend the rest of his life in a maximum security US prison.
Since his extradition in January 2017, El Chapo has been held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan (pictured in an undated file photo)