El Chapo trial: Joaquín Guzman joked about arming infant daughter with AK47 in texts to wife, court hears

Guzman's lawyers are saying these cooperating witnesses are simply testifying in order to reduce their own sentences. His lawyers argue El Chapo is being framed.

Zambada said in the early 2000s cartel members would send payments of $300,000 every month to various Mexican government and police officials - all at the request of Guzman. 

He also implicated officials at Interpol being on the cartel's take. 

Zambada has testified on the Mexican states - Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango - where the majority of the country's marijuana and opium is produced. 

The cartel used the long stretches of unmonitored shoreline to receive shipments of drugs from Colombia as well. 

As the New York Daily News reported from outside of the courtroom: 

Despite his diminutive stature and nickname that means "Shorty" in Spanish, Guzman was once a larger-than-life kingpin both feared and admired in Mexico.

The defence has sought to counter that reputation, despite Zambada's claim the bribes and murders of those who investigated the cartel or sold drugs in their territory were ordered by El Chapo. 

Zambada is just one of 16 expected witnesses to testify in this trial. His testimony has included tales of not only bribes a 1992 nightclub shooting which left innocent bystanders dead, but details on how the cartel used to smuggle drugs. 

Tanker trucks with hidden compartments and a system of underground tunnels which crossed the US-Mexico border - all designed by El Chapo according to the witness, were just some of the methods. 

Zambada testified about switching drug shipments from large trucks to small, passenger vehicles: “It’s much harder for the authorities to detect them because on the same day thousands of vehicles are crossing. With 10 cars with 20 kilos each, if you lose one, you’ve lost 20. That’s not a lot. . . . It’s the ‘ant-speed’ operation’ to cross the drugs.”

Zambada told the jury that his brother, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, and Guzman used armies of sicarios, or assassins, to kill their enemies - there "were a lot of deaths," he said. 

Guzman faces life in prison should he be convicted, but that will not happen for a while. The trial is expected to last approximately four months. 

Zambada admitted he took part in several murder plots himself, though he said he never personally killed anyone.

He was wounded in a gunfight with enemy sicarios, and another one of his brothers, who had no involvement in the drug trade, was shot at his doorstep in Cancun, he said.

Dressed in dark blue prison clothing and speaking through an interpreter, Zambada also testified that the Sinaloa Cartel bought off officials at every level of government, including Mexican state governors, national attorneys general and members of the international police organization Interpol, to ensure safe passage for its products.

That's all the El Chapo trial coverage we have for today, but please check out our other reporting on the notorious man who escaped Mexican jails multiple times, is seemingly friends with actor Sean Penn, and who ran one of the wealthiest and dangerous drug cartels in history. 

We will return tomorrow for more live updates on his trial, taking place in New York. 

The trial of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzman will not be taking place today, according to Vice, and is set to resume on Monday.

With the first week of the highly anticipated trial now at an end, here are the key moments so far: 

- The initial hearing was delayed due to an (anonymous) jury member being excused. Reports suggest it was due to "anxiety" over the high-security trial. 

- In his opening statement, Guzman's defence attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said his client was not the real leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and shifted blame onto Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, another reputed drug trafficker in the cartel's leadership. Zambada remains on the loose in Mexico, Mr Lichtman claimed, because of bribes that "go up to the very top," including hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the current and former presidents of Mexico.

- A spokesman for Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto called the allegations "completely false and defamatory." Former President Felipe Calderon dismissed them as "absolutely false and reckless." 

- Federal prosecutors asked Judge Brian Cogan to throw out the defence's opening statement, saying it was "permeated with improper argument, unnoticed affirmative defences and inadmissible hearsay."

- Judge Cogan admonished Mr Lichtman, but did not throw out the opening statement.

- The court was shown video footage of the tunnels allegedly used by the Sinaloa Cartel to smuggle drugs into the US.

- Government witness Jesus 'El Rey' Zambada told the jury that his older brother, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, and Guzman used armies of assassins to kill their enemies. 

- El Rey gave details of how his brother, El Mayo, worked with El Chapo and others to form the Sinaloa Cartel, smuggling tons of drugs from Mexico to the US. For nearly five hours, he told the jury stories from Mexico's brutal drug wars, including when he was allegedly hunted down in 1994 by gunmen from rivals the Arellano-Felíx gang.

- The trial is due to continue on Monday, with El Rey expected to return to the witness stand.