Jesus Zambada is a trained accountant. Being able to handle numbers may have helped him with his criminal career. After all, he told the New York court, he was dealing with billions in sales.

The 57-year-old testified as a witness in the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán. As an ex-member of the cartel, he provided insights into the drug empire.

Guzmán is charged with drug trafficking, money laundering and leading the Mexican drug cartel Sinaloa. He is said to have smuggled tons of cocaine and heroin into the United States, making billions. He should be responsible for up to 3000 murders.

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Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán: Escaped twice, now in court

Zambada was arrested in 2008 and is still in detention. His brother Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Guzmán have been the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel since early 2000.

The Colombian cocaine was smuggled over land, by air and by sea into the USA. A kilo of cocaine was bought for $ 3,000 in Colombia - and about ten times sold in Chicago, Zambada said.

He himself was responsible for a warehouse in which between 80 and 100 tons of cocaine were processed each year. The drugs would have earned billions in profits.

The money also ran into corruption: "I controlled the airport in Mexico City, I controlled the authorities," said Zambada in Spanish.

The defense had called witnesses like Zambada a liar who just wanted to shorten their own punishment. Up to a verdict against Guzmán it may take several months, according to the court. If convicted, he faces a life imprisonment. The death penalty is barred according to an agreement between Mexico and the United States.

Since his delivery to the US in January 2017, Guzmán is in a high-security prison in Manhattan. In Mexico, the drug lord had previously achieved several spectacular prison outbreaks.