El Chapo Trial: Chapo ran "Cocaine Trains" to NYC, says Tirso Martinez

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat
Prosecutors want "Fast and Furious" off limits

About the cooperative witness:

Tirso Martinez-Sanchez a Mexican native, was arrested in Mexico on Feb. 2, 2014, and extradited 

from Mexico to the United States on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015.  He was facing decade-old charges that he shipped tons of cocaine into this country.

Martinez employed a network that included railroad cars to ship and store cocaine between 1999 and 2003, according to the 2004 indictment. [see hearing transcript below]

Martinez worked with the Carrillo Fuentes and Beltrán Leyva organizations, as well as Colombian traffickers  Victor and Miguel Mejía-Múnera.

Martinez had been held in the Altiplano No.1 prison in Mexico before being brought to New York.

On the State  Departments  website it states the Martinez-Sanchez organization used front companies to traffic cocaine in boats, rail tankers and trucks across Mexico’s border with California and Texas and on to major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The witness was the leader of the MSO and was as an importer, transporter, and distributor for other large narcotics traffickers, such as the Juarez cartel, members of the Federation. Martinez is responsible for organizing the laundering and remittance of millions of dollars drug proceeds back to Mexico.

It is believed that between 2000 and 2003, the MSO’s railroad network imported, transported, and distributed approximately 76 metric tons of cocaine into the United States.

Today's testimony

Martinez, once a most wanted felon, acted as a distributor facilitating drugs into the United States, is now on the witness stand in the trial of El Chapo as a cooperative witness.

The witness said that the drug operations of the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels were consolidated after the death of Amado Carillo Funentes.  Martinez, who has a laundry list of monikers, including “Futbolista” [footballer/soccer] because of his love and obsession with the sport compelled him to purchase futbol teams.

He testified to working for both cartels between the 1990s and the 2000s

The two cartels worked in tandem with an alliance , he explained, in the early 1990s, with Carillo as leader of Juarez Cartel and Chapo and El Mayo Zambada as leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.

After Amado’s death [at left] by a botched plastic surgery, one of the second tier leaders  Eduardo Gonzales Quirarte aka “Flaco Quirarte”, had a mental break down and even shot himself which left him so impaired he was forced to “retire” from the business.

Tirso spoke describes the suicide attempt like this: "He was very high and a patrol attempted to stop him. He fled instead. He called Alvarez Tostado and told him, 'Compa, I'm not going to let them catch me. I'm going to kill myself instead."

He shot himself in the head.

It was this event that turned the reigns of Juarez to Amado’s brother Vicente and the cartels merger.

The merger created a stronger business model for the two cartels.  It meant more influence in corrupting officials and police. It also meant the sharing of plazas [routes/cities] and ports.  

Cocaine train

Martinez testified about how the cartel used trains to ship drugs to Chicago. Each cocaine shipment with 1,200 to 1,800 kilos. These were worth up to $30 million in Chicago, earning Martinez about $200,000 to $300,000 each shipment.

Martinez says he met Chapo for the first time in person in 2001. This was just after his escape from a Jalisco prison.  Martinez says he and his boss were taken to a cabin outside Mexico City, towards Toluca.  Hoods were placed over their heads so they could not see where they were going.

Martinez testified that Chapo boasted about being the conception  person of the cocaine train they were using.

Alfredo Vasquez, Martinez’ boss lied to El Chapo about how many railcars they had, saying they had up to 60 when it was far less at about 6 to 8.

He says he transported cocaine via rail tanker  used for cooking oil.  This was between 2000 and 2003.  It was sent to Chicago, NY and L.A.

He said, Chapo put them on notice to expect larger shipment coming through the rail system. 18-20 shipments between 30 to 50 tons, were sent worth $500-800 million.

After the cocaine arrived in New York and Chicago, it would be unloaded from the tankers  at warehouses into cars with hidden compartments. They would coordinate drop off of the cars, at McDonalds and Burger King.

They would go inside to meet the pick up contacts and give them the keys.

What happened to Flaco after shooting himself in the head?

Eduardo González Quirarte

After vanishing for a decade and a half, Eduardo González Quirarte, reappeared in 2016, albeit through his attorneys.   He “emerged” to initiate an “amparo trial” to rid himself of those old nagging arrest warrants.

In August of 2016 through his lawyers, he presented two demands for guarantees before a District Court of Amparo in Criminal Matters in Mexico City.

It turned out to be a smart move, because in March of 2017, the judge granted him protection in the federal judicial system and annulled the warrant that would have put him behind bars.

If he is called to answer for crimes connected to the actions of the criminal group of the Carrillo Fuentes in Quintana Roo, from the 90s, he is set with a court ordered amparo that should protect him against charges for crimes attributed to him in Chihuahua.

The amparo renders ineffective “the arrest warrant issued against the complainant, as probable responsible in the commission of crimes of organized crime; against health in its modality of introduction, transportation and extraction of narcotics and collaboration to promote these modalities; and collection of firearms and ammunition for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force.” [from the ruling]

The accusations arose from the arrest of some assassins of the Carrillo Fuentes clan between 1997 and 1998, and from the search of a building located near a deposit of Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) on the road from Ciudad Juárez to Casas Grandes. On the property, which Eduardo was seen entering and leaving, firearms and boxes of cartridges caliber 7.62 were secured, and a laboratory for the production and transformation of cocaine was discovered.

The accusations against the plaintiff for organized crime were due to his alleged participation in tasks such as the provision of money and administration of various assets of the Juarez Cartel. He was no longer a part of the cartel after the merging with Sinaloa Cartel.

The  United States named González Quirarte on its list of drug kingpins on May 31, 2002, the same date that the capo Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada was sanctioned by the Treasury Department.

According to data from the Federal Office for the Control of Foreign Assets, he is charged by a federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas since April 21, 1994, for allegedly participation in the crimes of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute large amounts of cocaine and marijuana, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to participate in money laundering.

Below is filing from the 7^th by the government who wants operation fast and furious off limits. “it has no relevance to the trial”.  Read filing below

Click on hyperlink below to enlarge and adjust

   Chapo Trial Fast and Furious by Chivis Martinez on Scribd

Below is hearing transcript of Tirso.  It contains info on indictment and plea

   El Chapo Trial Tirso 2017 Hearing by Chivis Martinez on Scribd