How Did This Mexican Police Boss Dupe The DEA And Become A Millionaire? Find Out Soon As His Trial Begins

It’s been nearly three years since Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán was convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. Now a former security minister is accused of being El Chapo’s man inside the Mexican government and is facing trial in the same Brooklyn courtroom on Tuesday.

As Mexico’s architect of the 'war on drugs' from 2001 to 2012, Genaro García Luna was the DEA’s closest ally in Mexico. He worked with U.S. security officials and traveled regularly to meet with them. In fact, García Luna was practically untouchable. That is, until his name came at El Chapo’s trial when a cooperating witness from the Sinaloa Cartel spilled the beans.

What Happened: Genaro García Luna is being charged with taking millions of dollars in bribes to protect El Chapo and allow the Sinaloa Cartel to operate with impunity. He’s also been implicated in a money laundering scheme to the tune of $50 million in bribe money via international tax havens.

Protection Scheme For El Chapo And The Sinaloa Cartel

While working under then-President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), García Luna was assigned to implement Mexico’s war on drugs, which meant war on the powerful drug cartels. As a result, he developed a close relationship with the DEA and became one of the U.S.' closest allies in Mexico, per evidence unearthed by InsightCrime.org.

However, García Luna soon began receiving multimillion-dollar bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. In exchange, the cartel was able to safely move drug shipments across the U.S. border, receive sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into it and El Chapo and even received details about competing drug lords.

It was around the time that El Chapo shifted from smuggling cannabis to the far more profitable business of cocaine.

With García Luna’s help, the Sinaloa Cartel smuggled more than 50 tons of cocaine into the U.S. between 2002 and 2007. Between 2002 and 2008 another 53 tons of cocaine were smuggled to New York and Chicago, according to a criminal indictment in New York. 

A fascinating five-episode podcast details how after García Luna left his job as Mexico’s public security chief, he moved to the U.S. and brought his fortune with him. In Miami, he purchased a multimillion-dollar home and yacht where he essentially continued to peddle influence among his contacts via what a U.S. attorney called “an opaque constellation of shell companies, straw buyers, foreign bank accounts, cash businesses, and proxies.”  

If convicted, García Luna faces up to life in prison.

Photo: Genaro García Luna and Brooklyn Federal Court created by Benzinga with photos by Pinkcandy on Shutterstock and Embajada de Estados Unidos en México Wikimedia Commons