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The drug conspiracy trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican crime lord known as El Chapo, has been something like a marathon of sprints: Four days a week, for nearly two months, a Shakespearean cast of witnesses has appeared in court and told the epic tale of how Mr. Guzmán rose from living in poverty in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico, to become one of the richest — and most ruthless — drug dealers in the world.

The trial, in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, paused just before Christmas and resumes on Thursday morning. It is expected to last for another month or two and is likely to proceed at the same grueling pace.

Here, in advance of the trial’s second half, is a brief recap of the testimony so far:

· During Mr. Guzmán’s early days as a young, ambitious trafficker, witnesses testified, the nascent kingpin struck up a partnership with Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, his first supplier of Colombian cocaine.

· In describing the inner workings of Mr. Guzmán’s organization, the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the crime lord’s operations chiefs, Jesús Zambada García, presented a kind of master class on the cartel, detailing its transportation methods, financing techniques and major players.