Genaro Garcia Luna: Jury weighs fate of Mexico ex-minister in El Chapo bribes case

Genaro García Luna is accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa drug cartel of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman

A New York jury is deliberating the fate of Mexico's former security chief accused of taking bribes in return for allowing safe passage for drugs.

The jury has heard that Genaro García Luna, once the face of Mexico's war on drugs, was secretly taking millions from the country's biggest crime group, Sinaloa drug cartel.

The former security chief, arrested in 2019 in the US, has pleaded not guilty.

He faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

The case against Mr Garcia Luna was concluded faster than many observers - both in court in Manhattan and watching from Mexico - had expected. Closing arguments were delivered on Wednesday and the jury began its deliberations on Thursday.

Prosecutors allege the former head of the Mexican equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigations accepted millions of dollars stuffed in briefcases and delivered by cartel members.

They say Mr García Luna was involved in "the importation and the distribution of massive quantities of dangerous drugs" into the US.

The case is built on the testimony of nine cooperating witnesses, mostly convicted cartel members, including one of the founding leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Jesus 'El Rey' Zambada.

Mr Zambada testified to having personally delivered bribes to Mr García Luna and that his cartel paid the former Mexican security chief millions of dollars during their alleged association.

In her closing argument, US prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy said the Sinaloa Cartel simply could not have built a "global cocaine empire" without Mr García Luna's complicity.

She described the cartel as the "FedEx of cocaine."

"They paid the defendant bribes for protection", she said. "And they got what they paid for".

Earlier in the week, the defence put Mr García Luna's wife, Linda Cristina Pereyra, on the stand who insisted her family's huge wealth was purely the result of their work and not from illegal drug-related bribes. Mr García Luna himself opted not to testify.

The defence has centred its case on casting doubt on the testimony of the cooperating witnesses arguing their accounts of having contact with Mr García Luna cannot be trusted.

Mr Garcia Luna's lawyers said the witnesses were people responsible for "horrific crimes" such as murder and torture, who were now "testifying to save themselves".

The ex-minister - who is considered the architect of Mexico's war on drugs - is also accused of sharing information with the Sinaloa drug cartel about its rivals and warning it about law enforcement operations.

Mr García Luna, 54, served as public security chief during the administration of President Felipe Calderon between 2006 and 2012. Before that, he led the Federal Investigation Agency from 2001 to 2006.

He was not just an important figure in Mr Calderon's administration - he was Mexico's secretary of public security, the face of the country's federal police force.

Mr Calderon, with US backing, deployed troops against the cartels for the first time. Tens of thousands died in Mexico in drug-related violence during his "war on drugs".

Allegations about Mr García Luna's involvement with the Sinaloa cartel came to light during the trial for Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years in 2019.

He is not the only high-profile Mexican official to be arrested for ties to drug trafficking. General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was a top anti-narcotics officer in 1996 before he was arrested for aiding a powerful drug cartel.