El Chapo trial: Joaquín Guzman joked about arming infant daughter with AK47 in texts to wife, court hears

Trial of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman is expected to last four months

'El Chapo' Guzman's legal team arrives at court

The trial of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo“ Guzman continues in Brooklyn, New York, and is expected to last into early 2019.

This is the first time a major Mexican drug lord has been tried in a US court and pleaded not guilty. The trial has become increasingly tense in recent days, as Guzman’s attorney seeks to undermine testimonies from major drug traffickers.

Guzman, 61, faces a 17 count indictment that covers nearly three decades of alleged criminal activities. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Follow updates form the trial as they happened

Agencies contributed to this report

[13 November 2018 21:36 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels has told the jury that they will hear Joaquin Guzman "in his own words".

Mr Fels says Guzman's text messages will be shown as part of the trial evidence. The prosecutor claims Guzman began in the early 1970s by selling marijuana in Mexico, but built his infamous reputation by building tunnels across the Mexico-U.S. border to transport drugs.

[13 November 2018 21:39 · Lucy Anna Gray]

In response to Mr Fels and the DoJ's claims, Guzman's lawyers say he is being framed by cooperators.

[13 November 2018 21:57 · Lucy Anna Gray]

In their opening statement, Guzman's defence have claimed the Sinaloa Cartel bribed Mexico presidents, according to AFP.

[13 November 2018 22:21 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels told the jury that Guzman "sent killers to wipe out competitors," and "waged wars against longtime partners ... including his own cousins." 

Guzman, who has been held in solitary confinement since his extradition to the United States early last year, has 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. 

[13 November 2018 22:29 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Mr Fels described to jurors how Guzman built his reputation by allegedly constructing tunnels across the Mexico-US border to transport drugs so fast that he was "no longer El Chapo, the short one." Instead, he became known as "the speedy one."

[13 November 2018 22:37 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels said Guzman used some of his wealth to pay off the Mexican military and police and to finance assault rifles, grenade launchers and explosives to engage in "war after bloody war." 

More than a dozen cooperating witnesses are scheduled to testify, including some who worked for Guzman's Sinaloa cartel.

[14 November 2018 14:59 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Prosecutors have asked judge Brian Cogan to strike the opening statement made by Joaquín Guzman's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, yesterday.

Prosecutors claim - in a letter sent to the judge - that Mr Lichtman tried to improperly sway the jury by arguing Guzman had been selectively targeted for prosecution, an argument the court had barred him from making.

[14 November 2018 15:08 · Lucy Anna Gray]

Prosecutors said the opening argument from Guzman's lawyer was "rife with impropriety," and their letter to Judge Cogan challenged more than 20 statements from it.

"Mr. Lichtman's opening statement was permeated with improper argument, unnoticed affirmative defences and inadmissible hearsay. The Court should strike it, and instruct the jury to disregard it."

[14 November 2018 15:13 · Lucy Anna Gray]

The government said its request concerned only the part of Mr Lichtman's opening statement heard so far, and would not deprive him of the ability to make an "appropriate" opening statement.

[14 November 2018 15:27 · Lucy Anna Gray]

In his opening statement yesterday, assistant US Attorney Adam Fels said: "Money. Drugs. Murder. ... That is what this case is about."