Witness: El Chapo told me to give $100,000 to general

November 15, 2018 Associated Press

During his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Feels, left, gestures to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, second from right, sitting next to his attorney Eduardo Balarezo, at Brooklyn Federal Court, as Guzman's high-security trial got underway in the Brooklyn Tuesday. Guzman pleaded not guilty to charges that he amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune smuggling tons of cocaine and other drugs in a vast supply chain that reached New York, New Jersey, Texas and elsewhere north of the border. Elizabeth Wil

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A former Mexican cartel member is testifying for the U.S. government at the New York City trial of the notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Jesus Zambada detailed on Thursday how the Sinaloa cartel paid bribes, preferably in U.S. dollars, to high-ranking police and other officials to protect its drug operation.

He said that in one instance, Guzman directed him to give $100,000 and a hug to a general.

On Wednesday, Zambada identified Guzman in the courtroom and told jurors he “was one of the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico.”

The witness described how the cartel made massive profits by smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States.

Defense lawyers say Guzman is being framed.