Mexico City.- The drug trafficker Tirso Martínez Sánchez, nicknamed “El Futbolista” because he bought several soccer teams in Mexico, and agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA, for its acronym in English) testified in the trial that follows in New York to the former Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna.
The statements of the witnesses were focused on demonstrating how the cocaine from the Sinaloa Cartel arrived in the United States and proving different seizures made in that country in the years in which the former police command is attributed to having acted in complicity with the criminal organization.
Martínez Sánchez, who was arrested in León, Guanajuato, in February 2014 and later extradited to the United States, said that between 2001 and 2003 he was responsible for sending several tons of cocaine that were hidden on the train.
In addition to an ingenious method to camouflage it, covering it with plastic steel, the drug passed through Mexico due to the protection of Ismael El Mayo Zambada and Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán.
To demonstrate the confidence with which the criminal organization acted, “El Futbolista” said that on one occasion Vicente Carrillo, with whom he reported, told him not to worry because Mayo was the one with the best contacts and had purchased authorities at all levels of government.
The witness told the Jury of the Eastern District Court that in those years three shipments were seized by US authorities, which worried him, as he feared the anger of the bosses, however, in the end it had no consequence.
Martínez Sánchez began to give his testimony last Tuesday and because he referred to drug trafficking in general and his involvement in the late 1990s and early 2000s, without referring to García Luna, Judge Brian Cogan made a I urge the Prosecutor’s Office to assess the relevance of their participation.
The prosecution insisted that “El Futbolista” continue his participation this Wednesday and also presented the testimonies of four agents and a drug dealer, who spoke about seizures and the distribution of drugs in US cities.
The nickname “El Futbolista” was earned by the drug trafficker because, in order to launder his money, in Mexico he owned professional soccer teams in the cities of Querétaro, Celaya, Irapuato, La Piedad and Mérida.
García Luna faces different charges for conspiring to traffic drugs from Mexico to the United States for having provided protection to the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for million-dollar bribes.
The first testimony with which the trial was opened was given by Sergio Villarreal Barragán, El Grande, who assured that Arturo Beltrán Leyva, El Barbas, paid García Luna from 1 to 1.5 million per month when he served as director from 2000 to 2006 from the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI).
The trial will continue for the next few days and the prosecution is expected to present more testimonies to demonstrate the complicity of the former police chief accused.
