NEW YORK.- The former Mexican Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, received between $1 and $1.5 million dollars a month from the Sinaloa Cartel, at least from 2004 to 2006.
This was declared by Sergio Villarreal Barragán, “El Grande”, the first aid worker to testify against the former official of former President Felipe Calderón.
He said that he came to see the money that was delivered in “chorizo” type suitcases, in bundles of $100 dollar bills, in exchange for protection, strategic information and placing commanders in strategic places controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel and its factions, such as the Beltrán Leyva Organization.
Questioned by prosecutor Erin Reid about how she knew about the payments, “El Grande” assured that she heard Arturo Beltrán Leyva speak several times with García Luna about the payments, through loudspeaker radios.
Such was the close relationship between the alleged criminal group of García Luna –then director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI)– and the Sinaloa Cartel that they had an agreement that, in the event of the enemy’s drug seizure, they would divide 50- 50 loot.
On one occasion, after the seizure of drugs on a route between Morelos and Mexico City, García Luna would have received between $14 and $16 million dollars from Arturo Beltrán Leyva, Villarreal Barragán affirmed.
Two tons of cocaine from the Gulf Cartel had been seized, which was transferred to a warehouse, where there was a meeting with García Luna, Luis Cárdenas Palomino –another former AFI official detained in Mexico– and Beltrán Leyva.
The money was delivered in stationery boxes, but it was such an amount that the trucks that García Luna was carrying were insufficient to put the money in, so they had to take a Beltrán Leyva vehicle.
The first testimony of the García Luna trial establishes the route that the prosecutors will follow to establish the modus operandi of the formerly called “super police”, who had monthly meetings with Arturo Beltrán Leyva near Perisur, a shopping center south of Mexico City, in a safe house in Jardines de la Montaña, an exclusive neighborhood where García Luna later lived.
The former Calderonista and Vicente Fox government official is accused of leading a criminal organization for a long period, and three counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, in addition to lying to the authorities.
Several names have emerged at the first hearing, including Ramón Pequeño and Iván Reyes Arzate, alias “La Reina,” who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in the same court.
The testimony of “El Grande” will continue this Tuesday and Judge Brian Cogan ordered the jury to avoid reviewing any information on the internet about the case.
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