Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will be moved twice a week during his long-awaited drug trafficking trial in Brooklyn — out of concerns that he could be assassinated, a high-ranking police source told The Post on Monday.
The diminutive, 61-year-old drug lord will only be spending weekends in a high-security wing in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. On Mondays, he’ll be transported from there to Brooklyn federal court and will return to the MCC on Fridays, the source said.
Guzman — accused of running the Sinaloa Cartel, the most powerful in the world — will travel via police escort along the Brooklyn Bridge, which will be briefly closed to pedestrians and vehicles during that time.
“They talked about closing the bridge twice a day but that’s crazy. That would disrupt the whole city,” the source said.
Authorities were concerned about “more than a breakout while moving him,” the source added. “We were worried about somebody killing him. It’s a drug war.”
Jury selection in Guzman’s trial began Monday morning. He was transported to court before dawn for his scheduled 9:30 a.m. appearance, a source said.
Guzman, who has twice escaped maximum-security prisons in Mexico, also had a police escort take him to court for his pre-trial hearings.
A police source with knowledge of the security plan said authorities have considered that Guzman could slip away in a style similar to Rédoine Faid, a convicted armed robber who escaped from a French prison via helicopter and with the help of heavily armed gunmen in July.
“El Chapo could try something like the escape outside Paris,” a source said.
Authorities beefed up security in and around the courthouse with bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detectors outside the courtroom, which is closed to the public during jury selection. Only five members of the media are allowed inside.
Jurors who are selected will remain anonymous, Judge Brian Cogan previously ruled. They will be transported to and from the courthouse each day by armed US marshals.
Guzman, whose nickname means “Shorty,” was extradited to the US from Mexico in January 2017 and has been holed up in solitary confinement in a high-security wing at MCC since.
Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel has funneled more than 200 tons of narcotics into the US, and, as longtime boss, he’s hired sicarios, or hitmen, to rub out witnesses and rivals.
The trial is expected to last as long as four months. Opening statements are expected Nov. 13.
Cogan said there’d be adjustments to avoid the logistical nightmare caused by transporting Guzman each day to and from court — sparking speculation that Guzman will be housed in a special cell in the basement of the Brooklyn courthouse. It’s unclear if that arrangement has been made.