Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman didn’t have to buy his own guns — admirers just gave them to him, his former bodyguard said.
“Whenever it was a birthday or a special occasion, people would gift him those,” Isaias Valdez Rios said in Brooklyn federal court Thursday when shown a picture of yet another diamond-encrusted handgun owned by his ex-boss, on trial for drug trafficking and conspiracy.
“I never heard Mr. Guzman say, ‘Oh, can you order me a gold-handled pistol,’ or like, one with his initials,” Valdez testified.
Jurors Thursday where shown a photo of a pistol, the handle of which was embedded with diamonds to form the shape of a black panther.
The gun mirrors yet another diamond-studded, panther-emblazoned gun Guzman was known to carry — though the feline on that firearm is made of white diamonds.
Guzman is also known for his beloved “J.G.L.” diamond-handled .38 super pistol, which bears the initials for his full name, Joaquin Guzman Loera.
In addition to bedazzled handguns, prosecutors say “El Chapo” toted a gold-plated AK-47 rifle, witnesses have said.
Valdez also said Thursday he’d seen the Sinaloa Cartel head walking around with a camouflage-painted AK-47 as well.
Yet not all guns made the cut, per a former witness who said Guzman once mocked his own gun gift.
Chicago-born drug trafficker Pedro Flores said he tried to present Chapo with gold-plated Desert Eagle .50-caliber pistols during their first meeting in the mountains of Mexico in May 2005.
“It wasn’t positive,” Flores told jurors last month of Guzman’s reaction to the arms, which weighed 5 pounds apiece. “I guess I watch too many movies.”