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Saturday, October 18, 2014

FBI Informant Met Drug Lord El Chapo Guzmán In Mexican Mountains

Borderland Beat republished from Forbes

Mexican drug lord Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán Loera, imprisoned  leader of one of the most powerful criminal empires, met with a confidential FBI informant in 2010, according to a federal prosecutor at the drug trial of a member of Mexico’s ruling PRI party in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire.

According to trial documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Feith said on October 6 that during the meeting, “which took place in the mountains of Mexico, the CHS (confidential human source) was introduced to Guzmán Loera” by defendant Jesús Manuel Gutiérrez Guzmán, El Chapo’s business representative for the U.S.  Feith added that the meeting, which took place in April 2010, was not recorded and only involved the informant.

In 2011, El Chapo Guzmán, Gutiérrez Guzmán (El Chapo’s cousin), Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela, Jesús Gonzalo Palazuela Soto and Rafael Celaya Valenzuela, were indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute drugs in New Hampshire. All but El Chapo were arrested in Spain in August 2012 after FBI agents intercepted a shipment of 346 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil. Gutiérrez, Zazueta and Palazuela pleaded guilty, but Celaya, who identified himself as the cartel’s “attorney and financial planner,” decided to stand trial.

Celaya stands out from the group for his ties to the PRI, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s party. According to Mexican media, at the time of his arrest, Celaya was an active member of the PRI in the northern border state of Sonora. He tried to run for federal congressman but failed. 

During Peña Nieto’s 2012 presidential campaign, Celaya posted on Facebook pictures of himself with Peña Nieto and two now prominent PRI senators which were published in the Mexican media. While not denying ties to Celaya, the PRI said that during the presidential campaign Peña Nieto posed for thousands of photos with PRI members, but clarified that it “doesn’t imply closeness or commitment.”

On Wednesday, Celaya was convicted of conspiracy to distribute more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine, plus heroin and methamphetamines by a federal jury in New Hampshire.


While ties between organized crime and political parties, not only the PRI, are a known fact in Mexican politics, Celaya is the first PRI member to be convicted on drug charges in the U.S. in many years.

Secret video and audio recordings used during the trial showed Celaya , fellow cartel members and undercover FBI agents, who passed themselves off as members of an Italian organized crime syndicate, conspiring to expand the gang’s cocaine empire in the U.S. and into Europe.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Feith said Celaya and other members of the cartel met over the course of three years in the New Hampshire city of New Castle, as well as in Madrid, the Virgin Islands, Miami and Mexico. The conspirators and undercover agents at first discussed shipments of 1,000 kilos of cocaine with one of the cartel members promising they could deliver 20 tons.

According to court documents, Celaya’s lawyers argued that he should be acquitted because he never reached an agreement with the Sinaloa cartel to move drugs, meaning there was no conspiracy. They also argued that New Hampshire was the wrong venue for the trial.

Contrary to his co-defendants, Celaya turned down a plea deal that would have given him 10 to 20 years in prison, instead of the 10 years to life he faces after conviction. He is set to be sentenced in January.

27 comments:

  1. "Man who grassed will soon die"

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  2. Weren't the twin brothers from Chicago informants?

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    1. The twins aare filthy little putitas. They helped the DEA get El Niño with their info. So daddy paid the price when he traveled into Culiacan. They snitched on all their black distributors as well. They're the definition off dead men walking.

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    2. @2:06 After all.. all drug cartel rats do the same when they get handcuffed by the law to lessen their sentence.. Did they do something to you as well??.. lol

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  3. Told you the fed had him by the balls!

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  4. He didn't plead because he would have to be de-briefed and give truthful testimony which would point right back to high ranking PRI officials. And if he did that, he would be a dead man walking, or all his family would suffer. Better to shut up and get a lengthy sentence than certain death for him or his family. He certainly has dirt on EPN.

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  5. life! u don't beat the FBI always make deal

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  6. @ 6:13 they did snitch... but not right away... From what I understand Chapo had their father killed then they decided to rat....

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  7. yeah those twin brothers are big ratas

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  8. Informants meet informants... lol

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  9. Everybody in cartels become rats

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  10. The flores twins' dad disappeared, after the twins were discovered to be working with the government, but they had chicago politicians by their balls for a long time...
    SNITCHES WELCOME HERE!!!

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    Replies
    1. The twins started working with the gov AFTER the father vanished.

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  11. I'm still waiting for the corridos of vicente, zerafin, chino todos Los an pescado y estan poniendo dedo. Para eso no Se hacen corridos de ser cobardes.

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  12. Have you read the article from processo? Chapo rated people out for a Johnny Rockets hamburger, Mamuts and a TV in his cell. What a lil bitch.

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    1. You are a dumbass if you believe this

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    2. @ 12:48 he is a dumbass without believing that chapo "rated" people out

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  13. Mira chivis:: DISPUTAN EL DOMINIO


    De acuerdo con fuentes de esta dependencia, el enfrentamiento en Guachochi se originó a raíz de que integrantes de "Los Chávez Matamoros" entraron a disputar el territorio a "Los Salgueiro".


    A la pelea entre estas dos células del Cártel de Sinaloa, se suma que aprovechando el divisionismo entre las bandas locales, otras células de la misma organización, sólo que asentadas en los estados de Durango y Sonora, también intentan apoderarse de la plaza.


    En el estado de Chihuahua, el Cártel de Sinaloa domina los municipios de Parral, Guachochi, Guadalupe y Calvo, Delicias, Camargo, Jiménez, Batopilas, Morelos, Bocoyna y una parte de Urique. En este último, la versión es que también existen células del Cártel de Juárez.


    Aprovechando el divisionismo entre "Los Salgueiro" y "Los Chávez Matamoros", la célula sinaloense de Los Salazar, asentada en el municipio de Agua Prieta, Sonora, busca extender su dominio a la zona sur de Chihuahua.


    A ello se suma el hecho de que el grupo de Los Cabrera, de la misma organización, que controla el estado de Durango, igualmente pretende aprovechar la disputa Salgueiro-Chávez para asumir el control de los municipios chihuahuenses localizados en el Triángulo Dorado.
    Sobre la guerra en chihuas aqui los mugrientos y los linios no tienen que ver nada como muchos dicen.

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  14. The Mexican government has a special way of beating the truth out of people and the US by giving you 10k years in a supermax lol

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  15. twins dad is dad is not dead

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  16. Everyone talks shit about people that snitch. WHY???? Is it because really inside you're a nut huger????? I think so, why else would any of you be hurting to the point that you express it openly for everyone to see your true emotions???? Geezz people get over it, yeah THEY snitch, so what!!!. Did any of you really expect something extraordinary out of any one of these criminals????........ Maybe they actually believe the corridos they hear...lol.....

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  17. Esos del norte son peor que las viejas si es posible venden la alma de su madre al diablo con tal de que no los maltraten. Aprendan a los del sur como al de guerreros unidos prefirio darse un tiro que ser soplon y sin tanto corrido

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  18. Makes you wonder if these guys werent caught maybe chapo would still be free and not in jail peña doesnt want nothing to do with that

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  19. A dinosaur in the pri convicted.. only in America, mijo. Only in America.

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