Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was so touched when an associate gave him a helicopter that “his little eyes were actually shining,” a cohort-turned-canary testified in Brooklyn court Wednesday.
Federal witness Jorge Cifuentes recounted for jurors how he purchased the “small” chopper, a blue MD 520N, for the pint-sized accused Mexican drug lord in 2003.
Cifuentes testified he bought the aircraft for Chapo in part to mark the second anniversary of the kingpin’s 2001 prison break. But he also ponied up the pricey present in the hope that Chapo would help him figure out who killed his friend Humberto Ojeda.
At one point on the stand, Cifuentes also alleged that officials from Pemex, a Mexican state-owned petroleum company, were in talks with Colombian cocaine traffickers in 2007 to possibly use their oil tankers to transport drugs. But that plan fell through, the witness said. Another time, Chapo considered buying a cruise ship to ferry drugs, the witness said, though that also fizzled.
Chapo is facing charges including operating a continuing criminal enterprise.