Witness at US trial says El Chapo wanted informant killed

El chapo’s wife is back in court as witness says drug kingpin wanted informant who was working with the FBI killed

  • Trial of accused drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman continued on Monday
  • Alex Cifuentes, Guzman’s self-described one-time ‘right hand man’ testified
  • Cifuentes is one of about a dozen witnesses who have so far testified against Guzman after striking deals with U.S. prosecutors 
  • The trial has provided a window into the secretive world of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organization
  • Cifuentes said that Guzman ordered him to kill the cartel’s communications expert, Christian Rodriguez, after learning that he was cooperating with the FBI
  • Cifuentes was unable to track down Rodriguez, who now lives in the United States and testified at the trial last week, because he did not know his last name 

Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s wife Emma Coronel Aispuro was pictured arriving at federal court in Brooklyn, New York where the Mexican drug lord is currently on trial.

During Monday’s testimony, the court heard how El Chapo was excited about the prospect of getting his life story on film, to evade the soldiers hunting him at a moment’s notice and the court heard how he ordered the killing of an informant during witness testimony. 

The witness, Alex Cifuentes, was a member of a Colombian drug-trafficking clan when he was sent in 2007 to live with Guzman and his associates at one of the kingpin’s hideaways in Mexico – complete with satellite TV and maid service – ‘for business reasons,’ he told jurors in federal court in Brooklyn.

Business was as robust as Guzman’s vanity: Cifuentes testified last week that his organization ended up making $40 million a month by supplying stockpiles of cocaine that the Sinaloa cartel smuggled into the United States. 

The wife of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, Emma Coronel Aispuro, arrives at the US Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn on January 14

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro arrives at federal court in Brooklyn, New York where the Mexican drug lord is currently on trial

Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s wife Emma Coronel Aispuro arrives at federal court in Brooklyn, New York where the Mexican drug lord is currently on trial

Plenty of cameras were waiting to greet the wife of El Chapo as she headed into court

Plenty of cameras were waiting to greet the wife of El Chapo as she headed into court

Lawyers for Guzman say Cifuentes is one of several cooperators who are framing their client in hopes of getting leniency in their own cases.

Cifuentes described Monday how when his wife suggested that Guzman should make a movie about his life as a near-mythical outlaw on the run, ‘He loved the idea.’ There were two drafts of the story written but it never made it to production, he said.

Another time, when it appeared the military was closing in on the camp, Guzman ordered his followers to grab their assault weapons and flee on foot into the darkness, the witness said. ‘We were running practically all night,’ he said before trucks arrived to take them to another one of Guzman’s half dozen hideouts in the region.

There also was testimony about Christian Rodriguez, a computer tech hired by the cartel to set up a secure communications system installed with spyware that allowed Guzman to covertly track his associates and love interests.

The kingpin ‘was really interested in what people were saying about him,’ Cifuentes said. ‘If it wasn’t pertaining to him, then he really didn’t care.’

During another conversation, Guzman informed Cifuentes that Rodriguez had given information to authorities about Cifuentes’ drug dealer brother.

El Chapo (seen above at his arrest in 2016) case continues as he's pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment, including firearms possession, murder conspiracy, and importation and distribution of cocaine

El Chapo (seen above at his arrest in 2016) case continues as he’s pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment, including firearms possession, murder conspiracy, and importation and distribution of cocaine

Emma Coronel Aispuro the wife of El Chapo smiles as she walks out of  Brooklyn court Monday

Emma Coronel Aispuro the wife of El Chapo smiles as she walks out of Brooklyn court Monday

Guzman said ‘that we should look for him to kill him,’ Cifuentes testified. His response: ‘I started looking for him.’

In an intercepted phone call to his mother about his brother, Cifuentes asked her to ‘send him my regards and tell him that Christian was the one who blew the whistle.’

The hit never happened and the tech ended up helping the FBI collect scores of incriminating text messages that are a centerpiece of the prosecution.

Meanwhile, El Chapo’s case continues as he’s pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment, including firearms possession, murder conspiracy, and importation and distribution of cocaine. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk