Photo: Eastern District Court of NY / Courtesy
What was expected to be a complicated questioning for Israel Ávila by Genaro García Luna’s defense actually turned into a battleground between defense attorneys and prosecutors over what to ask and what not, prompting some decisions in private. with Judge Brian Cogan.
However, assistant prosecutor Erin Reid guided Ávila with her questions to reveal that in 2016 he had confessed to the United States authorities about the bribes that the Sinaloa Cartel paid to the former Secretary of Public Security of the government of Felipe Calderón.
Although the defense shouted: “Objection!”, Prosecutor Reid had achieved her objective and changed the subject, but in the records with which the jury will evaluate the evidence, it was established that it was not in 2020 when Ávila spoke for the first time about the payments millionaires to García Luna, as the defense tried to expose.
Previously, defense attorney Florian Miedel had difficulty getting straight answers from Ávila, who had to be told by Judge Cogan to abide by instructions to answer with a “yes” or “no” and, if necessary, point out when you couldn’t respond that way.
Ávila was on this occasion dressed in a full yellow prisoner suit for the defense interrogation. This protected witness was an accountant for the brothers Mario Pineda Villa, alias “El MP” or “El Gordo Malo”, and Alberto Pineda Villa, alias “El Equis” or “Borrado”, in addition to having worked for Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
The lawyer Miedel sought to discredit Ávila by exposing the murders and betrayals to people he had said he appreciated, including Mario Pineda Villa, whom he “put” to be tortured by Sergio Villarreal Barragán, “El Grande”, who finally asked Ávila to kill him.
“They gave him a gun,” the lawyer reminded him. “Yes,” Avila replied. Defender Miedel struck: “You shot him!”
Miedel asked Ávila to talk about the kidnapping or pick-up of García Luna, but the witness pointed out that his compadre Francisco Camacho, the person in charge of coordinating that kidnapping, told him that.
“I understood that they had raised their people, including him [a García Luna]”, he stated at the insistence of the defender.
The defense attorney also questioned Avila’s decision to stay in the US if he could accept a transfer to Mexico and get parole, but prosecutors demurred when Miedel pressed the issue.
“Why are you testifying here?” District Attorney Reid asked.
“I wanted to let you know about the help that Mr. [García Luna] It hit the cartel,” Avila said. “The cartel would not work without the help of the government.”