The former head of Mexico’s safety forces, Genaro García Luna, has been discovered responsible of serving to the nation’s infamous Sinaloa cartel develop with impunity and flood US cities with cocaine, changing into the highest-ranking authorities official to be convicted over hyperlinks to drug trafficking.
A jury in Brooklyn returned the decision on Tuesday, following a four-week trial through which members of the cartel as soon as run by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán testified that García Luna accepted tens of millions of {dollars} price of bribes from the identical prison organisation he was supposed to assist deliver to justice.
The prosecution alleged that the safety García Luna afforded the cartel allowed it to smuggle tens of hundreds of kilogrammes of cocaine into the US, and transfer round Mexico with out hindrance.
Members of the cartel have been even given legislation enforcement uniforms and credentials, in addition to police autos, US prosecutors mentioned.
“García Luna, who once stood at the pinnacle of law enforcement in Mexico, will now live the rest of his days having been revealed as a traitor to his country,” US legal professional Breon Peace mentioned following the decision.
“It is unconscionable that the defendant betrayed his duty . . . by greedily accepting millions of dollars in bribe money that was stained by the blood of cartel wars and drug-related battles,” Peace added.
In closing statements final week, assistant US legal professional Saritha Komatireddy mentioned García Luna managed Mexico’s “highways, airport and ports” and thus helped the Sinaloa cartel change into the “FedEx of cocaine”, shifting the drug throughout North America utilizing trains, ships, containers and submarines.
García Luna, who went on to change into Mexico’s minister of public safety and was the face of the nation’s warfare on medication throughout the Felipe Calderón administration, was discovered responsible of 5 counts, together with cocaine distribution and making a false assertion to the US authorities.
The 54-year-old now faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 20 years, and a most of life imprisonment. A sentencing date was set for June 27.
García Luna was arrested in Dallas in 2019, after proof given within the trial that led to the conviction of El Chapo pointed to his involvement with the Sinaloa cartel. He had pleaded not responsible to the costs.
US prosecutors known as a lot of former cartel members, together with Sergio “El Grande” Villarreal Barragán and the Sinaloa prison organisation’s one-time accountant Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, who testified that he oversaw tens of millions of {dollars} in money being given to García Luna in a Mexico City restaurant.
“You heard directly from the people who paid him,” prosecutors informed the jury throughout closing arguments final week, including that the defendant had “helped arrest and kill Sinaloa cartel rivals”.
García Luna’s counsel mentioned the witnesses have been criminals chargeable for “horrific crimes” who have been “testifying to save themselves” in alternate for extra beneficial sentences or their households being allowed to affix them within the US.
