US prosecutors seek life sentence for former security chief García Luna

The US government is seeking a life sentence for former Mexican Federal Security Minister Genaro García Luna, who was convicted in 2023 of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel.

In February 2023, García Luna, Minister of Security during the 2006-2012 government led by former President Felipe Calderón, was found guilty of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise; international cocaine distribution conspiracy; conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine; conspiracy to import cocaine; and making a false statement on an application for U.S. citizenship.

Jurors in a U.S. federal court in Brooklyn voted unanimously to convict García Luna on charges of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, which was founded in the 1980s by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García and others.

The former federal official, who headed the now-defunct Federal Investigation Agency before becoming homeland security secretary, is expected to be sentenced on Oct. 9. He was arrested in Texas in 2019.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace wrote that García Luna “served for more than a decade as Mexico’s top law enforcement official, responsible for overseeing the country’s federal police and anti-drug efforts.”

“But, as proven at trial, defendant abused his power and authority by accepting millions of dollars in bribes from a drug trafficking organization he swore to prosecute. In exchange for millions of dollars, defendant furthered a conspiracy responsible for the deaths of thousands of American and Mexican citizens,” he wrote.

Peace said it is “difficult to overstate the magnitude of the defendant’s crimes, the deaths and addictions he enabled, and his betrayal of the people of Mexico and the United States.”

He also said that “his crimes demand justice.”

“For these reasons, and those set forth below, the Government respectfully requests that the Court impose a sentence of life imprisonment,” Peace wrote.

“… A life sentence will … send an urgently needed message that there are serious consequences for accepting bribes from and providing assistance to the cartels,” the U.S. attorney said.

He also said that “the court should impose a significant fine of at least $5 million” on García Luna.

“As discussed above, the cartel paid millions of dollars in bribes to Defendant. Defendant also continued to have access to the wealth he had amassed during his corrupt tenure. As recently as last year, Defendant offered an inmate at the MDC millions of dollars in exchange for false testimony,” Peace wrote, referring to an inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

On page seven of the nine-page letter, the U.S. attorney said that “the defendant lied to and betrayed his fellow officials, U.S. law enforcement, and the Mexican public on a daily basis.”

“Defendant lied when he said he was fighting the drug cartels, despite being their critical ally. Defendant lied again when he immigrated to the United States, fraudulently concealing his criminal conduct. And, undeterred by his conviction, defendant also lied to this court when he filed a motion for a new trial based on a perjured statement that was the product of defendant’s corrupt scheme to obstruct justice,” Peace wrote.

AMLO: ‘I don’t wish harm on anyone’

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has used the arrest, trial and eventual conviction of García Luna to bolster his claim that Mexico was a “narco-state” during Calderón’s presidency.

Earlier this week, in a letter to an American journalist, García Luna accused the president of having ties to drug traffickers.

English translation via Garcia Luna’s attorney:

“I was repeatedly offered a deal by the New York Attorney General’s Office to charge me with drug trafficking crimes in exchange for a short term of imprisonment (6 months) and receiving financial benefits…” photo.twitter.com/len3x4YMXn

— Keegan Hamilton (@keegan_hamilton) September 17, 2024

Despite the accusations against him – which he denied – López Obrador said Friday he bore no ill will toward the former security minister.

“I don’t want anyone to suffer,” he said during his morning press conference after being asked about the U.S. government’s request to sentence García Luna to life in prison.

“I don’t wish harm on anyone,” López Obrador said.

Mexico News Daily