Former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna was sentenced in a New York District Court on Wednesday to more than 38 years in prison for five counts of drug trafficking and organised crime.
District Senior Judge Brian M. Cogan presided over the hearing and handed the sentence to García Luna, deciding against the prosecution’s request for life in prison and a USD $5 million fine.
The former security chief was arrested in December 2019 by United States authorities in Dallas, Texas. His four-week trial ended in a conviction in February 2023, when he was found guilty of all charges and linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, who is the leading drug organization in the hemisphere.
He was once the highest-ranking law enforcement official in Mexico, leading security agencies in the country and outlining its peacekeeping strategies, the 56-year-old disgraced cop is being sentenced to 466 months in prison and a USD $2 million fine for his decade-long collaboration with Sinoloa Cartel.
Through a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that during Genaro García’s run as chief of the now-defunct Federal Investigative Agency (2000-2006) and the Secretary of Public Security (2006-2012), García Luna assisted and empowered the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for bribes, using his power and Mexico’s Security agencies to do the Cartel’s bidding.
The statement read, “In exchange for bribes, the defendant’s Federal Police Force acted as bodyguards and escorts for the Cartel, allowing Cartel members to wear police uniforms and badges and helping to unload shipments of cocaine from planes at Mexico City’s airport, then delivering the cocaine to the Cartel.”
As chief of security during former President Felipe Calderon’s and García Luna, a violent takeover of drug trafficking in Mexico that resulted in over 250,000 homicides and an increase in forced disappearance and human rights violations committed by the military and García Luna’s men.
Throughout his career, García Luna was both a key ally to the Sinaloa Cartel and a respectable official to foreign governments and international security organizations, being commemorated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Interpol while amassing a fortune for the Sinaloa Cartel.
In a heartfelt letter shared by García Luna, a day before his sentencing, the now-convicted felon urged Judge Cogan for mercy.
“Dirty money, bad habits, and misconduct cannot be hidden even in extreme conditions. Your Honor, with the deepest of my feelings, I respectfully request that you allow me to return to my family as soon as possible and reintegrate into the beloved society that I respect and belong to,” García Luna wrote.
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