Genaro Garcia Luna is the highest-ranking current or former Mexican official ever to be tried in the US. Read more at straitstimes.com.
NEW YORK – Genaro Garcia Luna, once in charge of Mexico’s battle to root out illegal narcotics and vanquish drug kingpins, was convicted for secretly providing years of protection to the notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel.
Under that charge, which carries a mandatory 20-year prison term and a maximum of life behind bars, the jury concluded that he had helped the cartel import tens of thousands of kilos of cocaine between 2002 and 2008.Garcia Luna is scheduled to be sentenced June 27. His lawyer, Cesar de Castro, told US District Judge Brian Cogan that his client would appeal the verdict. Cogan gave him until April 7 to file the papers. De Castro had no immediate comment on the outcome.
Garcia Luna led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency before heading up public security as a cabinet minister from 2006 to 2012 for then Mexican president Felipe Calderon.he was arrested in 2019. On Tuesday, as Garcia Luna entered the courtroom to hear the verdict, he turned to his wife and daughter, blew them a kiss and put his hand on his heart. After the jurors filed in, he sat with his hands clasped and stared straight ahead at the judge, who read the verdict out to the court.
The phony officers, and sometimes real federal police working for Garcia Luna, helped cartel workers unload drugs on airport tarmacs and tipped the drug lords to imminent raids by US authorities. Jesus “El Rey” Zambada, who ran Sinaloa’s operations at Mexico City’s airport, testified that in late 2006 he stuffed bags with at least US$5 million and spirited them to an intermediary for delivery to Garcia Luna at a posh restaurant in the capital.
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