Genaro Garca Luna, a former top law enforcement officer, was found guilty of accepting payments from El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel, a group he was entrusted with bringing to prison, totaling up to tens of millions of dollars.
Luna, a former secretary of public security and the director of Mexico’s federal investigation agency, was found guilty on all five charges that were presented against him on Tuesday after three days of deliberations. He was accused of lying on his application for US citizenship, working for the cartel, and plotting to bring cocaine into the US.
In exchange for the money, prosecutors charged Luna with guarding cocaine shipments the Sinaloa Cartel transported across Mexico. They claim that he shielded cartel members from arrest and informed drug dealers about police activities.
The verdict is in: Genaro Garcia Luna is guilty on all counts.
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) February 21, 2023
As the trial began last month, the prosecution informed the jury, “While he was expected to work for the Mexican people, he had a second job, a dirtier job, a more profitable job.”
Luna, who was detained in 2019, made an effort to dispute the accusations and entered a not guilty plea. His attorney informed the jury that the charges were based on evidence from criminals who had lied to obtain reduced sentences and to retaliate against him for his efforts to stop drug smuggling.
Former cartel members testified throughout the four-week trial, attesting to the money Luna accepted from the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for protection from the government. The hearings took place in the same court where El Chapo was found guilty of several offenses, including drug trafficking, and given a life sentence in 2019.
Luna is the highest-ranking Mexican official to be tried in the US – present or past. US Attorney Breon Peace of Brooklyn responded to his conviction by expressing pleasure that justice had been done.
