The Prosecutor’s Office USA celebrated the sentence to just over 38 years in prison drug trafficking and García Luna”>Genaro García Lunaformer right hand of Felipe Calderon; He noted that “it belongs to a federal prison.”
In a statement, the agency cites Breon PeaceUS Tax Eastern District of New Yorkwho commented in this regard that:
“The sentence handed down today against Genaro García Luna is a fundamental step in the defense of justice and Rule of Law. His betrayal of the public trust and the people he had sworn to protect resulted in the importation of more than one million kilograms of lethal narcotics into our communities and unleashed untold violence here and in Mexico (…) after years of deceit and destructive drug trafficking, García Luna will spend almost 40 years where he belongs: in a federal prison.”
Moments before the judge Brian Cogan sentenced Felipe Calderón‘s former anti-drug czar to 460 months in prison, around 38.33 years, of which the time he has spent in prison will be reduced (almost 4 years), so, if he serves the entire sentence, the former federal official He would be free beyond the age of 90.
You might be interested: Brian Cogan sentences Genaro García Luna to more than 38 years in prison
The document from the US Prosecutor’s Office highlights that Felipe Calderón’s former right-hand man used his official positions to help the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for millionaire bribes and his activities -of the former official-:
“They included facilitating the safe passage of the Cartel’s drug shipments, providing confidential information about the Cartel’s security forces and their investigations, and assisting the Cartel in attacking other rival drug cartels, thus facilitating the importation of quantities of various tons of cocaine and other drugs to the United States.”
With this, García Luna becomes the first secretary of State of Mexico convicted in the US for being part of a drug trafficking network, before him, only politicians such as former governors have been sentenced Mario Villanueva o Thomas Yarrington.
What was dictated by Cogan – a judge considered ruthless in his sentences – echoes what was stated by Breon Peace, prosecutor of the Eastern District of New York after the jury found the “former super cop” guilty:
“García Luna, who once stood at the pinnacle of law enforcement in Mexico, will now live out the rest of his days having been revealed as a traitor to his country and to the honest members of law enforcement who risked their lives to dismantle the drug cartels.”
At the time, Peace said that Calderón’s former right-hand man betrayed his duty as Secretary of Public Security by accepting millions of dollars in bribes:
“Stained by the blood of the Cartel wars and drug-related battles on the streets of the United States and Mexico, in exchange for protecting those murderers and traffickers that he solemnly swore to investigate.”
Genaro García Luna’s links were pointed out by Opposition politicians and journalists during his administration with a security official, but they gained greater relevance in 2018 when, during the trial against “El Chapo” Guzmán, “The King” Zambada was questioned by the Prosecutor’s Office about the bribes that his brother, “The May” handed over to former anti-drug czar Felipe Calderón.
The following year, an investigation against him was reactivated, which led to his arrest on December 9 of 2019 in Texas.
During his trial, the US Prosecutor’s Office presented the network of complicities that García Luna wove with senior drug trafficking bosses while he was Secretary of State. Throughout the process against him, García Luna has maintained, in writing, that it is a exemplary person and that the accusations against him “are out of reality.”
Ex-Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna Sentenced to Over 38 Years’ Imprisonment @DEAHQ @DHSgov
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) October 16, 2024
You might be interested in: Felipe Calderón must give an explanation about García Luna: Marko Cortés
García Luna and his defense even tried to bring the accusations against him to the former president. Lopez Obrador but the strategy during the trial did not work for them, in addition, they tried on several occasions to have a new process opened, which also did not bear fruit.
Today, past 1 year and 8 monthsthe sentence is handed down after finding him guilty of the following charges:
- Heading a criminal enterprise (links to the Sinaloa Cartel)
- Conspiracy to distribute drugs (cocaine)
- Conspiracy to distribute and possess drugs (cocaine) for distribution in the United States
- Conspiracy to import drugs into the US (cocaine)
- Giving false testimony to the authorities when applying for nationality
leo
Related