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Who is who in the trial of Genaro García Luna: a guide in real time

2023-01-27T10:59:07.523Z


The process against the former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico advances with the testimonies of criminal bosses, drug traffickers and US police


Genaro García Luna, Secretary of Security of the Government of Felipe Calderón, sits in the dock of the accused in New York.

It is the highest profile trial against a former Mexican official in the United States.

Authorities accuse the former head of the Federal Police of three counts of cocaine trafficking, one for organized crime and another for making false statements.

All are felonies and the defendant faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison, unless a plea agreement is reached.

The Prosecutor's Office has a list of more than 70 witnesses ready to testify in a process that is expected to last around two months.

This is an up-to-date guide to who the main players in the case are and who have already testified in Brooklyn court,

The defendant: Genaro García Luna

García Luna, 54, was arrested in Dallas (Texas) on December 9, 2019, just five months after Joaquín

El Chapo was sentenced.

Guzman.

The former official was director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI), an organization that investigated federal crimes during the Government of Vicente Fox (2000-2006).

In the Calderón Administration (2006-2012) he was Secretary of Public Security, a portfolio created by the former president and which was crucial in launching the war against drug trafficking in Mexico.

After leaving public service, he moved to the United States and became a government contractor in the Presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).

The Prosecutor's Office affirms that he has collaborated for more than 20 years with the Sinaloa Cartel and that he used his power to facilitate the criminal organization's drug trafficking to the United States.

He also points him out of receiving million-dollar bribes, threatening journalists and intimidating potential witnesses from jail.

His lawyers deny all the accusations and say it is political vendetta.

Calderón maintains that he was never aware of any links between members of his Cabinet and drug trafficking.

The prosecution

Assistant Prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy

He leads the team that intends to verify the accusations.

She is in charge of directing the strategy.

Erin Reid, Philip Pilmar and Marithe Diouf are other lawyers representing the United States Government and who have been in charge of questioning witnesses.

The Prosecutor's Office waited three years before bringing García Luna to trial.

An illustration of the prosecutor Philip Pilmar. JANE ROSENBERG (REUTERS)

The defense

César de Castro is the main lawyer for García Luna.

At first he assumed the defense of the client by himself, but little by little he has formed a team of litigators who help him assume an immense workload.

There is talk of more than a million documents in the judicial file.

Valerie Gotlib sits between De Castro and Garcia Luna at the hearings, and she has more than a decade of experience in criminal cases.

At the back table are Shannon McManus, the youngest of the legal representatives, and Florian Miedel, the team's oldest, with a career spanning more than 20 years.

César de Castro, García Luna's defense attorney, at the entrance to the court. John Minchillo (AP)

Judge

Brian Cogan is in charge of conducting the trial.

He was the same judge who sentenced Joaquín

El Chapo

Guzmán in 2019. Cogan is a strict man with extensive experience in cases involving organized crime.

A graduate of Cornell and the University of Illinois, he was appointed to the position in June 2006, nominated by former President George W. Bush.

In the United States, the judge is not the one who decides if the defendant is guilty or innocent, that is a task of the jury.

After a verdict is reached, it is his duty to establish the sentence based on the legal guidelines that exist in the American system.

An illustration of the judge in the case, Brian Cogan. JANE ROSENBERG (REUTERS)

The witnesses

Sergio Villarreal Barragan,

The Great

El Grande was the first witness to testify against García Luna.

He was a corrupt police officer in state and federal corporations, before joining criminal groups such as the Beltrán Leyva Cartel.

Villarreal Barragán, who is over two meters tall, was an important capo when the Beltrán Leyva brothers were allies of the Sinaloa Cartel and one of the high command after the break between the two organizations.

His testimony was very explosive: he said that García Luna collaborated with the Sinaloa cartel since he was director of the AFI and that he received monthly bribes of more than one million dollars.

El Grande talked about how the

narco

It had purchased from the authorities in Mexico: police, military, prosecutors, agents, federal, state and municipal public officials.

He was arrested in 2010 and extradited in 2012, during Calderón's six-year term.

The capo has already served his sentence in the United States and was released more than a year ago.

“With the help of the Government, the cartel grew in terms of territory, in the amount of drugs that we moved, and it eliminated its enemies,” he said.

Sergio Villareal Barragán when he was arrested in Puebla, in 2010. Cuartoscuro

Tirso Martínez, The Soccer Player or The Mechanic

Between 2002 and 2003, El Futbolista was the main man in charge of the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic drugs by train from Mexico to the United States.

He had multiple aliases, but was called that because he owned four professional soccer teams.

Martínez never met or spoke with García Luna.

The Prosecutor's Office called him to explain to the jury how cocaine trafficking to New York occurs, the corrupt practices and the violence with which criminal groups operate.

He had already testified in the trial against El Chapo and was specific about the protection agreements between the

drug trafficker

and the authorities.

“Compadre, El Corajudo [referring to Ismael

El Mayo

Zambada] has arrangements with everyone: the federals, the military, the State judicial, the transits...”, recounted El Mecánico.

He was extradited in 2015 and after reaching an agreement with the authorities, sentenced to seven years in prison by Judge Cogan.

He is free since December 2021.

US Agents

In the first week of interrogation, the Prosecutor's Office called five US agents to confirm some details of Tirso Martínez's testimony.

The first was Ernest Cain, a retired Chicago police officer.

The next two were Jamal Hormedo and Matthew Coleman, two DEA special agents.

Noel Malony, a customs agent, and Steven Tamayo, a border control officer, also took the podium.

They talked about seizures and operations that were carried out against the Sinaloa Cartel in the United States more than 20 years ago.

They were not directly related to the case against García Luna, but prosecutors called them to explain to jurors why a former Mexican official was being tried in New York.

Hector Tolentino

Tolentino was in and out of jail several times in the United States for drug trafficking.

He was the head of Los Trinitarios, a gang with members of Dominican origin, and sold drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel for several months in 2019, until he was arrested at the end of the year.

He trafficked cocaine, marijuana, and fentanyl.

The North American country suffers a public health epidemic due to overdoses of fentanyl and other opioids, which has caused the death of tens of thousands of people each year.

His testimony is also not directly related to the case against the former secretary.

As in the case of Tirso Martínez and the US agents, the prosecutors called him to testify to face the charges against García Luna for buying, selling and distributing cocaine in the United States.

This list will be updated after each hearing.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-01-27

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