Corruption Crackdown: Ex-Mexican Security Chief Sentenced to 38 Years

Former Mexican Security Chief Gets 38 Years for Drug Trafficking

Genaro García Luna, Mexico's former top law enforcement officer, led the country's fight against drug cartels...

Genaro García Luna, Mexico's former security chief, sentenced to 38 years in US prison for accepting millions in bribes from Sinaloa Cartel, led by 'El Chapo' Guzmán.

Genaro García Luna, Mexico's former secretary of public security, has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and fined $2 million by a US federal court for his involvement with the Sinaloa cartel, led by notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán. This verdict comes after his conviction in February, where a jury found him guilty of accepting millions in bribes to facilitate the cartel's drug trafficking operations for over a decade.

García Luna's downfall began when Jesus Zambada García, brother of El Chapo's partner Ismael Zambada García, testified against him in 2018, revealing that he had bribed García Luna with $3 million in cash on two separate occasions. García Luna's wealth, which included luxury homes and real estate in Mexico City, raised suspicions as it was deemed unaffordable on a Mexican civil servant's salary.

His sentencing is a significant milestone in the US's efforts to combat organized crime and corruption. García Luna's case highlights the complex web of corruption and collusion between government officials and cartels. As the former head of Mexico's Federal Police Force, García Luna's involvement with the Sinaloa cartel compromised the country's national security and enabled the cartel's reign of terror.

“After years of destructive narco trafficking and deceit, Garcia Luna will spend nearly 40 years where he belongs which is the federal prison,” US attorney representing the Eastern District of New York, US, Breon Peace said.

Adding 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 US”

Anne Milgram, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), stated that, “instead of protecting the citizens of Mexico, Garcia Luna was protecting drug cartels.”

Genaro García Luna, Mexico's former top law enforcement officer, led the country's fight against drug cartels from 2006 to 2012 under President Felipe Calderón. However, his career took a dramatic turn when he was arrested in Dallas, Texas, in 2019.

García Luna's defense team argued that the charges were a vendetta by criminals he had helped put behind bars, thanks to US cooperation. Interestingly, the same judge who sentenced García Luna had previously handed down a life sentence to notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2019.