By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell book
BBC - Honduras - CIA Trial book - NY Mag
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 9 – Pedro Sosa-Zarzuela is on trial for conspiracy to distribute narcotics.
On November 9 he was described in a car in Upper Manhattan with a kilo of cocaine for sale for $28,000. Inner City Press was in the courtroom.
In the run-up to the trial, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Crotty on November 4 granted an application to partially seal the courtroom, providing an audio feed into another courtroom as he did, previously, in the first trial of Joshua Schulte for CIA leaks.
But on November 9 it was open, with the witness on the stand describing the drug deal on 215th Street and Broadway.
The AUSA asked the witness to step down and put Post-it notes on the chart, to show where the sale took place.
There was other lawyers in the gallery, seemingly for co-defendants or cooperators.
On November 10, many of these remained in the courtroom when it was locked and sealed. In the hallway outside, Inner City Press spoke about access with the next witness, a cooperator as it turned out, Rodolfo Escoto. Once the doors were unlocked he took the stand and described dealing drugs, including with "Aguacate," and getting arrested. Then he pled guilty and became a cooperator, now testifying against his brother in the law, the defendant.
The trial continues. The case is US v. Sosa-Zarzuela, 21-cr-41 (Crotty)
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