The once-highest ranking law enforcement official in Mexico took millions in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel and enabled transportation of more than a million kilograms of cocaine into the United States
NEW YORK — Genaro Garcia Luna, the 56-year-old former secretary of public security in Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan Oct. 16 to 460 months of imprisonment and a $2 million fine for his decadelong assistance to the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.
Following a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York multiagency investigation, Garcia Luna was convicted in February 2023 of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, international cocaine distribution conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to import cocaine and making false statements.
HSI Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram announced the sentence.
“Today’s sentencing sends a powerful message that no one is above the law,” said Berger. “HSI continues its partnered commitment to disrupting and dismantling the criminal networks responsible for bringing deadly narcotics into the U.S.”
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, controlling Mexico’s Federal Police Force. From 2001 to 2005, the defendant was the head of Mexico’s Federal Investigative Agency. The defendant used his official positions to assist the violent Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes. Garcia Luna’s conduct included facilitating safe passage of 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.
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. The defendant was paid in U.S. currency stuffed in suitcases, 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, a car wash in Guadalajara and a French restaurant in Mexico City across the street from the U.S. Embassy. Further, in exchange for the millions of dollars in bribes, the defendant’s Federal Police Force 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 cartel in an attempt to become a U.S. citizen.
In connection with post-trial proceedings, the court also found that while he was awaiting sentencing, Garcia Luna obstructed justice when he sought to bribe fellow inmates to provide false testimony in an attempt to overturn the jury’s verdict.
The investigation was led by HSI’s El Dorado Task Force, the first-of-its-kind money laundering task force in the nation, and the New York Strike Force, a crime-fighting unit comprising federal, state and local law enforcement agencies supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
“Today’s sentencing of Mexico’s former secretary of public security, Genaro Garcia Luna, sends a clear message to corrupt leaders around the world who use their positions of power to help the cartels: no amount of power will shield you from justice,” said Milgram. “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 United States. Instead of protecting the citizens of Mexico, Garcia Luna was protecting drug cartels. The DEA will continue to relentlessly pursue drug trafficking organizations and those who protect them.”
“Today’s sentencing of Genaro Garcia Luna is a critical step in upholding justice and the rule of law. His betrayal of the public trust and the people he was sworn to protect resulted in more than 1 million kilograms of lethal narcotics imported into our communities and unleashed untold violence here and in Mexico. This sentence sends a strong message that no one, regardless of their position or influence, is above the law,” said Peace. “After years of destructive narcotrafficking and deceit, Garcia Luna will spend nearly 40 years where he belongs: federal prison.”
HSI New York leads and directs all operational and administrative activities of the El Dorado Task Force. The El Dorado Task Force is the premier money laundering task force in the nation and comprises more than 200 law enforcement personnel representing approximately 35 federal, state and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies. It encompasses a standalone Cyber Division as part of an effort to stay abreast of emerging criminal threats and in keeping with current and future investigative priorities. The El Dorado Task Force’s mission is to disrupt, dismantle or render ineffective organizations involved in the laundering of proceeds of narcotics trafficking and other financial crimes. Since its inception in 1992, the task force has been responsible for the seizure of approximately $600 million and more than 2,100 arrests.