CONCORD, N.H. – A cousin of one of the world's most notorious drug lords who prosecutors say was working to distribute cocaine in the United States is due in a New Hampshire court Thursday for a change of plea hearing.
Manuel Jesus Gutierrez-Guzman had pleaded not guilty to charges that he planned to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine in the U.S., including in New Hampshire.
Prosecutors say his cousin is Joaquin Guzman, who led the violent Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico until his arrest in February. During meetings with undercover agents, Gutierrez-Guzman said he was a direct representative of his cousin, who is known as "El Chapo." Two of the meetings were in Portsmouth and New Castle.
Authorities said the investigation began in 2009 when a link to the cartel was discovered in Massachusetts. Undercover FBI agents posed as members of a European drug trafficking organization and met with the four men in Spain, Mexico and the U.S. During the meetings, Gutierrez-Guzman boasted that European distribution routes would initially involve shipments of 20 tons of cocaine at a time, according to prosecutors.
In July 2011, the cartel sent test shipments of pineapples and plantains from South America to Spain, then followed up with 750 pounds of cocaine, which was intercepted by police, investigators said.
Gutierrez-Guzman was arrested in 2012 in Spain with three others still awaiting trial: Rafael Humberto, Celaya Valenzuela and Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela. Another man, Jesus Soto, pleaded guilty last month in a separate, but related, case.
Joaquin Guzman, the cartel's boss, escaped prison in 2001 and ran the enterprise from a series of hideouts and safe houses across Mexico, earning billions of dollars moving tons of cocaine and other drugs to the United States, prosecutors have said. He has been indicted in numerous states besides New Hampshire.
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