El Chapo Trial: Vicente Zambada Niebla takes the witness stand

Chivis Martínez Borderland Beat

One of the long-awaited cooperative witness testimony began today as Vicente Zambada Niebla was sworn in today to ell the truth and nothing but the truth in the trial of El Chapo Guzman.

Zambada [or VZN] is the 43-year-old son of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García. 

Zambada cut a plea deal with the government just two months ago. 

Zambada,  arrested in 2009, pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking and will be sentenced in February.

As Zambada entered the witness box and sat down, observers report a nod of recognition between Zambada and Chapo, and a smile.

News outlets uniformly reported something about Zambada’s looks.  Saying his appearance hasn’t changed since his arrest, and that he was handsome and articulate. 

Then it was down to the business of testifying.

He began his narrative, speaking of Chapo teaming up with El Mayo in the late 80s, Chapo's fleeing Mexico to Guatemala in 93, after authorities were hunting him down in connection to the murder of Cardinal Ocampo. Chapo’s subsequent arrest in Guatemala and his imprisonment in Mexico. and his famous first prison escape, in a laundry cart, in 2001.

Chito

Zambada testifies that "Chapo" told him that the man in charge of the laundry at the federal prison in Jalisco, a guy named Chito, [Francisco Javier Camberos Rivera] hid him under a load of dirty sheets and blankets.

He then explained Chapo’s account of how he counted the click of each of the checkpoint doors he passed through to count how many remained until freedom.

"When Chito let the cart loose to talk to a policeman, Chapo told him that he was in fear of the cart toppling over, he laughed at the memory of what could have happened if the cart had been turned over.” Today, Chito is still confined to a maximum security prison number 8  in Guasave, Sinaloa

He recounted at time when he was in the room as a trafficker was giving his father, El Mayo, a sales pitch with respect to trafficking cocaine by train to Chicago and when Chapo asked permission to assassinate a rival, Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes.

Zambada also testified that when Chapo was on the run, hiding in the Sierra’s after the escape, that Chapo would share stories with him.  Including how Chapo once tried to murder rival, Ramon Arellano Felix, at a Puerto Vallarta night club.

The plan to spring Arturo Guzman out of Altiplano

Something not testified to before, was a story about the brother of Chapo, Arturo aka El Pollo. [below left]

When Pollo was arrested he was in Altiplano prison, the same prison Chapo would later tunnel out of, when Vicente hatched a plan to break him out. The plan was to fly a helicopter over the yard and drop a rope with a large "steel bubble". Arturo could climb inside and avoid being shot as the helicopter exited the prison yard.

However, before the plan could be executed, Arturo was murdered. Zambada says the killers were they Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and Benjamin Arellano Felix, Chapo’s archenemies.

Zambada testified that the AFO and Chapo conflict began in 1988, when Ramon Arellano Felix shot and killed one of Chapo's friends, Armando Lopez, at a birthday party for Mayo Zambada. Chapo's conflict with the Carrillo Fuentes began in 2003 because Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes was mistreating, even killing, some of Chapo's people in a town near Culiacan.

Zambada claims that in both wars, he was a part of the peace negotiation teams, attempting to quell fighting and killings. Both times he failed.  Apparently, he was trying to establish how involved he was.  Remember he was born in 1975.

He was often his father's messenger, flying in private jets, wherever necessary in Mexico in delivering messages from his father.

He says he personally took part in a meeting in the Sinaloa mountains with cartel leaders, representatives of Pemex, [Mexico national oil company] and representatives for unnamed "high level politicians.”

The deal on the table: Shipping one hundred tons of cocaine in an oil tanker vessel owned by Pemex.

Additional corruption:  

Zambada, declared that his father, had on his payroll to the tune of 50k per month, Humberto Eduardo Antimo Miranda, [name not given in testimony] senior official of the Secretariat of National Defense ( Sedena) during the administration of Felipe Calderon, and the personal escort of former President Vicente Fox, Colonel Marco Antonio de León Adams.

He recounted a meeting that his father had at the beginning of 2007 with General Humberto Eduardo Antimo Miranda, at that time senior officer of the Sedena.

"I took General Antimo to Culiacán to meet my father, he was a general, a senior official of the Ministry of Defense," Zambada said.

"There were rumors that other generals were being paid to be at the service of Arturo Beltran Leyva, Los Zetas and Carrillo Fuentes," said Zambada.

"General Antimo told my father that Arturo, Los Zetas and Carrillo Fuentes were looking for other generals to ask them to go against my father, and Chapo.

He says that in the alleged meeting in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Antimo Miranda, general of the diplomatic division of the General Staff (EMP), told him that he and other generals had decided that they would be on the side of El Mayo and El Chapo.

Zambada: He told my father that he would warn him of any information about Arturo, Los Zetas and Carrillo Fuentes. My father told him that I would give him a monthly payment. He then gave him a payment of 50k and he would then receive $ 50,000 a month thereafter.

El Chiclet

Chiclet Adams

Coronel Marco Antonio de Leon Adams, aka El Chiclet, was El Mayo's personal spy, passing sensitive info to the trafficker. An example: Adams told El Mayo and Chapo the deployment of forces sent to capture Chapo after he escaped from prison in 2001.

"When we talked about him on the radio or on the phone, we said 'El Chicle' --- because in Mexico there was a brand of Chicles Adams (Chiclets Adams)," he explained.

Zambada explained how Colonel De León Adams was involved in a rescue of Chapo.  He claimed that is was due to information given to them by El Chicle they safely removed Chapo from Tepic, Nayarit, aboard a helicopter owned by him, and flew him to Culiacan.

Zambada says his father’s monthly payouts to authorities totaled about $1 million.

Below click to enlarge---interesting portion of VZN’s plea agreement,  where he agrees to delay sentencing until AFTER the conclusion of his cooperation.