Beyond The Horizon

The El Chapo Files: The DOJ Memorandum Of Law In Support Of Pre Trial Detention (Part 3) (7/14/24)

The United States government's memorandum supporting the pre-trial detention of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán focused on several key points highlighting the necessity of keeping him in custody without bail.Key Points from the Memorandum:

Drug Trafficking: El Chapo led the Sinaloa Cartel, a major criminal organization responsible for transporting tens of thousands of kilograms of narcotics into the United States. The cartel used sophisticated methods, including submarines, airplanes, trains with secret compartments, and underground tunnels to smuggle drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana. Evidence presented included recordings of Guzmán discussing drug trafficking and seizures of substantial quantities of drugs linked to the cartel .
Violence: The cartel maintained its power through extreme violence. Guzmán was directly involved in acts of violence, including ordering and participating in kidnappings, torture, and murders. Testimonies included accounts of brutal killings and torture carried out on Guzmán's orders, demonstrating the cartel's reliance on violence to control its territory and eliminate rivals
Sophisticated Communications: Guzmán employed an encrypted communication network to avoid detection by law enforcement. This network was set up by an IT engineer who was paid a million dollars to ensure secure communications with associates in various countries, allowing the cartel to operate efficiently and securely
Corruption: The cartel's operations were facilitated by a vast network of corrupt officials, including law enforcement, military, and politicians. These officials were bribed to protect the cartel's activities, warn about law enforcement operations, and turn a blind eye to drug trafficking and other illegal activities .
Money Laundering: Guzmán's drug trafficking operations generated billions in illicit proceeds. The memorandum detailed how the cartel laundered money through various means, including bulk cash smuggling and the use of shell companies. These activities underscored the extensive and organized nature of Guzmán's criminal enterprise .
Weapons: The cartel had access to a significant arsenal, including AK-47s, grenades, and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Guzmán himself possessed a personalized collection of weapons, highlighting the militaristic aspect of the cartel's operations .

The memorandum argued that Guzmán posed an exceptional flight risk and a danger to the community, justifying the need for his pre-trial detention without bail. His history of violence, the extensive resources at his disposal, and his ability to evade capture for years supported the government's stance that no conditions of release could reasonably assure his appearance in court or the safety of the community.

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to contact me:

bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

source:

Detention Memo (justice.gov)

Duration:: 13m
Broadcast on:: 14 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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In this episode, we're getting right back to those El Chapo files as we pick up where we left off with the government's motion for pretrial detention. Part four, Guzman should be detained pending trial. A, a presumption of detention applies. This case involves offenses for which there is a presumption that no combination of conditions will reasonably assure the defendant's appearance or the safety of the community. CUS code 18, section 31, 42, E and three. The presumption for detention applies to CCE offense charged in count one, which prescribes a mandatory life sentence based upon Guzman's role in the offense together with a quantity of drugs and illegal proceeds at issue. Violation 85 of count one notices a conspiracy to murder persons who pose the threat to the Cinaloa cartel, which prescribes a mandatory minimum of 20 years in incarceration, but also can warrant a life sentence or the death penalty. CUS code 18, section 31, 42, E three and A. The presumption also applies to the drug trafficking offenses charged in counts two through 15, each of which prescribes a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years. The presumption also applies to count 16, which charges the violation of US code 18, section 924C, C section 31, 42, E three and B. Accordingly, the defendant bears the initial burden of showing that he would be neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk. For the reason set forth below, the burden cannot be sustained. A, the defendant is a danger to the community. The facts and circumstances of this case compel Guzman's detention as all four factors set forth in section 31, 42G, inescapably show that he poses a danger to the community. One, the nature and circumstances of the offenses charged. The nature and circumstances of the crimes charged are the most egregious. Virulent in nature, Guzman's criminal activity demands detention. As detailed above, Guzman's stewardship of the Cinaloa cartel is directly responsible for a large portion of the cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana that floods our streets and causes thousands of deaths each year. In addition to the tons of cocaine that he obtains from Colombian suppliers, Guzman manufactures heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, all for distribution in the United States. Guzman oversees a vast cocaine transportation infrastructure in South and Central America and within Mexico that brings cocaine to Mexico's northern border with the United States. He also maintains an equally formidable transportation infrastructure, which includes the use of tunnels to smuggle cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana over the Mexican-American border to the United States. Guzman uses drug distribution networks throughout the United States, including within the Eastern District of New York, to sell the drugs and obtain multi-billion dollars in cash profits. He also oversees a vast money laundering apparatus, which returns the illicit profits to Guzman and his Colombian partners. Guzman controls corrupt government officials at all levels of Mexico and other foreign governments through bribery. These payments protect his drug shipments as they are transported through Mexico to northern border towns to ensure a safe passage of these shipments through border crossings into the United States. Guzman has an arsenal of military-grade weapons to protect his person, his drugs and his drug empire. His heavily armed private security forces are used not only as Guzman's personal bodyguards, but also as protection for the drug shipments as they move throughout Mexico. Guzman maintains a stable of saccarios who carry out gruesome assassinations aimed at maintaining discipline within his organization, protecting against challenges from rivals and silencing those who would cooperate with law enforcement against his interests. Guzman's use of violence while enforcing discipline and fighting for territory has killed thousands. Thus, based upon the breadth of Guzman's international drug trafficking empire, his ability to thwart government and law enforcement efforts to disrupt his criminal activity and his unrestrained use of violence, the nature and the circumstances of the charged offenses justified detaining Guzman as a danger to our community. Two, the weight of the evidence. The weight of the evidence against Guzman overwhelmingly supports detention. The charges in the indictment will be proven with a variety of evidence acquired through in-depth investigations into Guzman and the Cinaloa cartel, not only in the United States, but throughout the Western Hemisphere. A, cooperating witnesses. The government will rely on the testimony of a large code array of cooperating witnesses, including dozens of witnesses who have had face-to-face dealings with Guzman to prove Guzman's power, corruption and violence within the Cinaloa cartel. Spanning the entire time period of the charged conduct, these witnesses will testify to every aspect of Guzman's organization from its inception in the late 80s through the building of an international empire, including his expansion into Central and South America and opening of drug distribution centers throughout the United States. Numerous Colombian cartel leaders and other suppliers are expected to testify concerning their multi-ton cocaine shipments to Guzman, including the details of Guzman's investments in the drugs. They will also testify concerning their use of air, sea and land routes to transport cocaine into Mexico. Finally, they'll quantify the astonishing illegal profits that Guzman made from the sale of drugs. Colombian and Mexican drug transporters are expected to provide further details concerning Guzman and the Cinaloa cartel's means and methods of transporting drug shipments along Guzman's chain of distribution from South and Central America through Mexico and across the Mexican-American border into the United States. For example, some transporters will discuss the use of cocaine-laden airplanes, which flew from clandestine airstrips in Colombia and Venezuela to others in Central America and Mexico. Others will discuss the use of tanker trucks carrying fuel to deter inspection by law enforcement while transporting cocaine from Central America across Mexico and into Northern Mexican border towns. Finally, transporters will discuss schemes to smuggle drugs across the Mexican-American border that subverted law enforcement detection, including the use of motor vehicles with secret compartments, trucks with cover loads, and tunnels dug beneath the borders. United States distributors are expected to testify concerning Guzman and the Cinaloa cartel's distribution hubs across the United States and the transportation of drugs from there to every part of the United States. Moreover, the witnesses will also discuss specific shipments and seizures that can be linked directly to Guzman and the Cinaloa cartel. Finally, the witnesses will identify the manner in which their networks collected the illegal cash proceeds and facilitated Guzman's massive money laundering apparatus and transporting bulk shipments back across the border. Many witnesses are expected to testify concerning Guzman's payment of bribes, the politicians, and members of law enforcement to ensure that Mexican criminal laws were not enforced. For example, one former member of local law enforcement in Juarez is expected to testify to being paid hundreds of dollars per month to release from custody Cinaloa cartel members who are arrested, remove roadblocks from routes over which trucks containing drug shipments were traveling and provide armed escorts for the drug laden trucks that were passing through their area. Finally, other witnesses are expected to testify about the violence perpetrated by Guzman's armed security force and Sicarios. They will detail specific murders, carried out under Guzman's orders, including that of Cinaloa cartel members, members of rival cartels, and also government and law enforcement officials. For example, Guzman, along with investors in drug shipments affiliated with the Cinaloa cartel, ordered the murder of Julio Beltran, a trafficker who was accused of doing private cocaine transactions contrary to the interests of the investors. Subsequently, assassins gunned down Beltran in the streets of Cooliacan using so many rounds of ammunition that Beltran's head was almost completely separated from his body. Several witnesses will testify about the wars fought against forces belonging to the Ariano Felix, Gulfs, La Zeta's, Vicente Carillo, and Beltran Leyva cartels. For example, one witness is expected to testify to the activities of one of Guzman's Sicarios during the Vicente Carillo War in Juarez, including his use of a house specially outfitted for murdering victims. The house had plastic sheets over the walls to catch spouting blood and a drain in the floor to facilitate the draining of blood. Other witnesses are also expected to discuss the purchase of weapons for use by the security forces and the Sicarios. B. Physical Evidence. The government will also prove its case against Guzman through physical evidence. For example, the government recovered drug ledgers from Colombian cartel bosses and suppliers, which detail the financial agreements between Guzman and the suppliers for various drug shipments. There will also be evidence produced through numerous physical surveillances in the United States and throughout the Western Hemisphere. The government will also rely on evidence obtained through numerous weapon and drug, weapon seizures. For example, the government will also produce evidence of a seizure in El Paso, Texas of a gun shipment tied to Guzman, which contained numerous AK-47s and 50 caliber long rifles. As discussed above, the government will produce evidence of the seizure of numerous drug shipments in the United States and Mexico, as well as throughout Central and South America. All told, the violation set forth in the indictment in corporate 200 metric tons or 200,000 kilos of cocaine that was seized by law enforcement and tied to Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel, C. Electronic Surveillance. Guzman's guilt will also be proven through consensually recorded conversations of Guzman during which he discussed specific drug transactions as well as other court authorized electronic surveillance, which detail in real time drug trafficking activity by Guzman and his cohorts. For example, law enforcement authorities intercepted and recorded communications establishing that Guzman organized and directed cocaine shipments that were intercepted by law enforcement authorities. Such seizures include one, approximately 373 kilograms of cocaine on or about January 15, 2014, by Ecuadorian law enforcement authorities, two approximately 25 kilos of cocaine on or about September 27, 2013, by United States law enforcement authorities, and three approximately 456 kilos of cocaine on or about June 6, 2013, by Ecuadorian law enforcement authorities. Thus, the weight of the evidence substantiates the government's betrayal of Guzman's role as the boss of the most prolific drug trafficking cartel in the world, who use corruption and violence to maintain his power. Consequently, the evidence will show that Guzman is an extreme danger to the community. All right, we're gonna wrap up right here. And in the next episode, we're gonna pick up with the history and characteristics of the defendant. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box. - You know those dreams you just don't wanna wake up from, but you gotta roll out of bed to make them happen. Putting in hours and hours, exhausted, you wanna give up, but you don't, you keep going, you hang in there, because you don't wanna save your dreams for your sleep. Do you have one of those? Be okay, financial. We go above, so you can go beyond. 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