- Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is on trial in Brooklyn, charged with 17 counts of having links to drug trafficking in the US and Mexico.
- The trial started in November 2018, and prosecutors have brought in a number of people to testify against Guzman, including cartel cohorts and one of his mistresses.
- The trial has exposed secret escape tunnels, naked escapes, bribes, and people within the Mexican government have been accused of accepting bribes.
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's federal trialreads like a telenovela.
The Mexican drug lord has watched from his seat in a Brooklyn courtroom as prosecutors have brought out cartel cohorts, a Colombian kingpin, and even a mistress to testify against him.
The trial has led to accusations of murder rooms, secret tunnels, and bribes. Mexican government leaders have also been accused of accepting bribes — including former President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Guzman pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges connected to claims that he built a multibillion-dollar fortune by smuggling cocaine and other drugs across the Mexico-US border.
He is charged with 17 counts of having links to drug trafficking in the US and Mexico.
Here are the most shocking twists and turns that have happened at his trial so far.
SEE ALSO: El Chapo's 7-year-old twin daughters attended his trial for the first time since it started
Prosecutors say Guzman sent "more than a line of cocaine for every single person in the United States" in just four shipments.
In opening arguments for the case, Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels described the amount of cocaine Guzman was accused of trafficking over the border.
He said that in just four of his shipments, he sent "more than a line of cocaine for every single person in the United States,"according to the BBC.
That amounts to more than 328 million lines of cocaine, Fels said.
A former Colombian kingpin who altered his face to hide his identity explained international drug trafficking to the court.
Former Colombian kingpin Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia testified how his Norte del Valle cartel used planes and ships to bring cocaine to Mexico, where the Sinaloa cartel would smuggle it to the US under the direction of Guzman.
Abadia testified that he kept a ledger that showed how much hit men were paid and that he bribed Colombian authorities with millions of dollars.
He estimated that he smuggled 400,000 kilos of cocaine, ordered 150 killings, and amassed a billion-dollar fortune through his cartel.
He was arrested in 2007 and extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to murder and drug charges.
The son of one of Sinaloa cartel's top leaders testified against Guzman.
Much of the prosecution team's hard-hitting testimony came from its star witness, Vicente Zambada Niebla.
Zambada is the son of one of the cartel's top leaders, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who is considered one of Guzman's peers within the Sinaloa cartel hierarchy.
The younger Zambada, nicknamed El Vicentillo, described in detail the exploits of the cartel in his testimony against Guzman.
In one bit of testimony, Zambada said Guzman had the brother of another cartel leader killed because he would not shake his hand when they met to make peace in a gang war.
"When [Rodolfo] left, Chapo gave him his hand and said, 'See you later, friend,' and Rodolfo just left him standing there with his hand extended," Zambada said, according to BBC.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in Chicago in 2013 and to a trafficking-conspiracy charge in Chicago days before Guzman's trial began.
Guzman's defense attorneys have argued that Zambada's father is, in fact, the true leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider