Photo: BOP – Eastern District Court of NY / Getty Images
Arturo Beltrán Leyva ordered the kidnapping of Genaro García Luna, when he was already Secretary of Public Security in the government of Felipe Calderón, to pressure him to continue supporting his faction in the Sinaloa Cartel.
This was revealed by Sergio Villarreal Barragán, “El Grande”, who pointed out that García Luna was “picked up” on a highway on the way to Coyococ, Morelos, where the bodyguards could not avoid him after being disarmed.
“They took him to an office (sic),” said “El Grande” in reference to a safe house.
Arturo Beltrán Leyva was upset that the federal authorities had arrested Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, “El Mochomo”, for which they demanded an account from García Luna, who continued to receive monthly payments through Luis Cárdenas Palomino, a former federal official.
The arrest of “El Mochomo” occurred in 2008, but “El Grande” did not give a date on the kidnapping, which Alfredo Beltrán Leyva himself and “El Borrado”, a cartel operator, told him about.
Villarregal Barragán said that he went to the same safe house where García Luna was held and saw dozens of gun magazines in a corner.
“They were from García Luna’s bodyguards… they took them off before leaving,” he said.