NEW YORK (USSS) – Genaro Garcia Luna, the former Secretary of Public Security in Mexico from 2006 to 2012, was convicted today by a federal jury in Brooklyn of all five counts of a superseding indictment charging him with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise that includes six drug-related violations, international cocaine distribution conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to import cocaine, and making false statements. The verdict followed a four-week trial before United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan. When sentenced, Luna faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life in prison.
As proven at trial, from 2006 to 2012, Garcia Luna was Mexico’s top law enforcement official, serving as Secretary of Public Security and, in that capacity controlled Mexico’s Federal Police Force. Previously, from 2001 to 2005, the defendant was the head of Mexico’s Federal Investigative Agency (“AFI”). The defendant used his official positions to assist the violent Sinaloa drug cartel in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes. Garcia Luna’s conduct included facilitating the safe passage for 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.
The evidence included testimony from former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel with direct knowledge of the defendant’s corrupt activities. For example, 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 helped unload shipments of cocaine from planes at Mexico City’s airport, then delivered the cocaine to the Cartel. The defendant was paid in U.S. currency — $100 bills in bundles of $10,000 at times — stuffed variously in a suitcase, briefcases and duffel bags. The bribe amounts increased over the years as the Sinaloa Cartel grew in size and power through the assistance of the defendant. Former members of the Cartel testified that bribe money was handed off to the defendant 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 U.S. Embassy. Further, in exchange for the millions of dollars that the defendant was receiving in bribes, his federal police leaked sensitive information that enabled the Cartel to evade detection by law enforcement or use the information in attacks on rival traffickers.
Finally, after moving to the United States in 2012, Garcia Luna submitted an application for naturalization in 2018, in which he lied about his past criminal conduct on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel in an attempt to become a U.S. citizen.
Garcia Luna’s co-defendants in the superseding indictment, Luis Cardenas Palomino and Ramon Pequeno Garcia, former high-ranking Mexican law enforcement officials who worked under Garcia Luna, remain fugitives from U.S. authorities.
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