“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico’s Former Top Law Enforcement Figure Sentenced to 38 Years in US on Drug Trafficking & Bribery Charges.
“After years of destructive narcotrafficking and deceit, Garcia Luna will spend nearly 40 years where he belongs: federal prison.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stated that “Garcia Luna accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel to allow millions of kilograms of cocaine to flood the streets of the United States. Instead of protecting the citizens of Mexico, Garcia Luna was protecting drug cartels.”
“Today’s sentencing sends a powerful message that no one is above the law,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger. “HSI continues its partnered commitment to disrupting and dismantling the criminal networks responsible for bringing deadly narcotics into the U.S.”
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Garcia Luna’s conduct included facilitating safe passage of the Cartel’s drug shipments, providing sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into the Cartel and helping the Cartel attack rival drug cartels, thereby facilitating the importation of multi‑ton quantities of cocaine and other drugs into the United States.
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Trial of Mexico’s Former Top Cop
Following a four-week trial in February 2023, Garcia Luna was convicted by a jury of Engaging in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, International Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy, Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and Making False Statements.
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The trial consisted primarily of convicted turned cooperating drug traffickers who testified to their bribing of, delivering money and negotiating with Luna. Former members, including “El Rey,” the brother of recently arrested Sinaloa leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
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“El Mayo” is also facing Judge Cogan in the same courtroom and his next hearing is later this week after being rescheduled. Possibly in relation to the sentencing date of Garcia Luna, which had been postponed several times since his conviction over a year and a half ago.
Cartel members testified that bribe money was handed off to Luna in a variety of locations, including at a “safe house” located in Mexico City where large amounts of cash were hidden in a false wall, at a car wash in Guadalajara and at a French restaurant in Mexico City across the street from the US Embassy.
In exchange for the millions of dollars in bribes, the Federal Police Force leaked sensitive information that enabled the cartel to evade detection by law enforcement or use the information in attacks on rival traffickers. In 2012, with the end of Felipe Calderon’s presidency, Luna retired and worked in the private sector in the US.
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Last Minute Plea for Clemency
Prosecutors requested a life sentence while the defense sought the minimum of 20 years in prison. The CCE charge alone carries a minimum of 20 years in prison.
The day before, the Luna himself sent a letter to the Judge Brian Cogan asking for clemency, insisting that he never had any ties to drug trafficking and that he is “a good man.”
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With all this, he concludes by asking the judge to consider all these factors surrounding this trial when issuing the sentence, “among others the false information provided by the current Mexican government and the criminal witnesses, their complicity against me and my responsibility in the frontal fight against drug trafficking where powerful political interests also clash.”
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He recalled that “I am the Mexican with the most recognitions and decorations” in several countries including the United States “for the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking,” and stressed that he participated in the highest levels of collaboration in intelligence and security with the United States. He insisted that he never profited from his positions, and that “there is no record or history of contact or link with any criminal.”
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Although he did not dare to explicitly declare his innocence, he concludes his letter by stating that “I have never been a threat or risk to the community” and that throughout his life there is “no criminal record, quite the contrary.” Therefore, he begs the judge to “allow me to return as soon as possible to my family and reintegrate into the beloved society to which I respect and belong.”
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