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Drugs
WorldAmericas

Mexican drug boss El Chapo ordered man killed over handshake snub, triggered cartel turf war

  • Handshake snub inadvertently triggered a turf war between cartels
  • Guzman is on trial in New York, charged with 17 criminal counts, and faces life in prison if convicted

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In this courtroom sketch Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, centre, sits next to his defence lawyer Eduardo Balarezo, left. Photo: AP
Tribune News Service

Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman had a fellow cartel leader’s brother killed in 2004 because the man would not shake his hand, a witness testified at Guzman’s trial.

Jesus (Ray) Zambada Garcia testified that Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, whose brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes ran the Sinaloa cartel’s allied Juarez cartel, inadvertently triggered a turf war with his disrespect.

“When he left, Chapo gave him his hand and said: ‘See you later, friend’. Rodolfo left him standing with his hand extended,” Zambada Garcia said Monday.

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“Chapo was really mad.”

Soon after, Rodolfo Carrillo was killed while leaving a cinema.

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“When he was coming out of the movies. He was coming out with his family, his wife and his children,” Zambada Garcia testified.

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