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Trial of Man Charged With 5 Kilos of Coke from Colombia Has Dramatic Reading, Proof of Life

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN

SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 28 –   Three men were charged with a conspiracy to distribute five kilos of cocaine, and import the drugs from Colombia to Puerto Rico. One was Vincente Estevez.

   On January 20, 2022 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl held a status conference. Inner City Press covered it.

  Judge Koeltl set a hearing on motions for May 20, and the trial for July 25, to avoid a time in August he will be out.

On July 27, Inner City Press went to cover the trial. At defense table was Estevez and two defense counsel.

Quickly there were a sidebar, then it was announced that the courtroom would be closed, but audio made available - ironically in the same courtroom where the partially sealed trial of Josh Schulte was recently held. It went like this:

Witness works for DEA Caribbean. He's from Colombia. He is undercover in drug trafficking and money laundering cases.

AUSA: Do you surreptitiously record conversations?

Agent Pedro Gonzalez: Yes. I infiltrate. In this case we 1st heard from Cartagena, Colombia. We had 3 undercovers on the team.

 AUSA: Gov Exhibit 103. (Neither Inner City Press nor any other member of the media or public can see)

Now with witness off the stand, and jury gone, still the lawyers' argument is shifted to the "robing room" and the courtroom locked.

On July 28, Agent Gonzalez' testimony continued, with dramatic readings and an explanation of proof of life. Inner City Press live tweeted, here:

OK - Back on Drug Enforcement Administration criminal case with sealed courtroom

 AUSA is on direct examination of DEA agent Pedro Gonzalez, playing undercover videos showing - to jury but not Press or public - UC2 seated at right, they play-act transcript:

AUSA: You said, You have to be vetted, buddy. What did you mean?

Gonzalez: That they won't let you into the lab without checking you out. This lab was making 7000 kilos of cocaine.

AUSA: When you said "Italian league," what did you mean? Gonzalez: Major cartel. Camejo had contacts in Spain, too. AUSA: 508t, page 13.

 AUSA: How were they going to see if all the money was paid? Agent Gonzalez: They were going to weight it.

AUSA: 508t, page 27. You read UC1 and UC2, I'll do Camejo. UC2: I'm giving it to you for 22, bro. I'm dropping my pants.

UC1: It's 33 here

Camejo: Not so much Inner City Press @innercitypress Camejo: We're talking about me having 5 or 6 million dollars put together. I want 300. UC2: Get the money and we'll get it for you. AUSA: What's the topic here?

Agent Gonzalez: Pricing and how many kilos. 

AUSA: What is this photo?

Agent Gonzalez: It's a proof of life, to show that we had the (sham) cocaine, we took a photo with El Heraldo newspaper from Cartajena, Colombia, on Sept 21, 2020. And here's a video of the cocaine. AUSA: 602a. [yet more video we can't see]


The case is US v. Camejo et al., 20-cr-686 (Koeltl)  

***

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