Photo: Eastern District Court of NY / Courtesy
NEW YORK.- The relationship between the former Mexican Secretary of Public Security, Genaro Garcia Lunaand Arturo Beltrán Leyva, whose group was a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, who on one occasion sent him a special gift.
According to Sergio Villarreal Barragán, alias “El Grande”, Arturo Beltrán Leyva felt that the protection of García Luna, first as director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI), had made the Sinaloa Cartel’s drug businesses flourish.
“I was very happy,” said “El Grande” in the Eastern District Court in New York about Arturo Beltrán Leyva, leader of the Beltrán Leyva Organization, which made a collection with other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel to pay him between $1 and $1.5 million dollars a month to García Luna.
“He sent a gift to García Luna”exposed before the questions of the assistant prosecutor Erin Reid.
I affirm that it was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He did not give details of the year, but it was before 2006, when García Luna was still running the AFI.
The former official of the then government of vincent fox He would have received a call from Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who communicated through radios and placed the loudspeaker, even with his family, “El Grande” affirmed.
“How did you know that it was the defendant?” prosecutor Reid asked. “El Grande” said that among the members of the cartel they commented on the “problem” of speech that García Luna had.
“He was stuck for words,” added Villarreal Barragán.
During the call with Arturo Beltrán Leyva after receiving the Harley-Davidson, García Luna thanked the extra gesture to the money received monthly.
“He said it was very pretty,” said Villarreal Barragán. “Thanks for the detail [de Arturo Beltrán Leyva]”.
“El Grande” also did not give details of the motorcycle, a matter that prosecutor Reid did not delve into.
The first aid worker to testify against the former official of Felipe Calderon He said that the calls between Beltrán Leyva and García Luna were very “familiar.”
“As friends,” he said.
During his testimony before Judge Brian Cogan and the jury, Villarreal Barragán established how the Sinaloa Cartel grew in Mexico under the protection of García Luna.
The prosecutor showed a map of the progress of this criminal group between 2001 and 2010, when “El Grande” was arrested.
The relationship between Beltrán Leyva and García Luna began to get complicated when the latter became more attached to the group led by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. García Luna was already Secretary of Public Security.
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