NY.- Sergio Villarreal “El Grande” was the first witness in the trial against former Secretary of Public Safety Genaro García Luna that began today in a court in Brooklyn, New York.
After the initial allegations by US Attorney Philip Pilmar and defense attorney Cesar de Castro, “El Grande” was questioned by the prosecution.
Villarreal, one of the operators of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, affirmed that García Luna was crucial for the growth of the Sinaloa Cartel and assured that he witnessed how he received bribes of millions of dollars from it.
Arturo Beltrán Leyva, he said, was the main person in charge of paying the bribes to the then police command. This operation, he added, would have taken place from 2001 to 2008.
García Luna was director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) between 2001 and 2005 and Secretary of Public Security from 2006-2012.
“El Grande” added that the cartel also bribed the military and authorities at different levels.
According to Villarreal’s testimony, García Luna provided important information to the Cartel about the operations and investigations of the security forces, while the criminal group provided him with information on its rivals.
From 2001 to 2010, he assured, the Sinaloa Cartel went from controlling territories in four states to 19.
“With the help of the Government, the (Sinaloa) Cartel grew in territory, in the amount of drugs that we moved and in eliminating our enemies,” he said.
García Luna is charged with five charges, including several for drug trafficking. The trial he started today could stretch for eight weeks.
Present in the room are the wife and daughter of the former Secretary of García Luna.
During opening arguments, the defense presented images of Garcia Luna with former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former US Attorney General Eric Holder.
“This is the official they now want to criminalize with testimonies from the worst possible people and without a single piece of evidence,” De Castro said.
According to the defense, the US government witnesses are “kidnappers, murderers, traffickers” and victims of former President Felipe Calderón’s war against drug trafficking.
“They intend to kill two birds with one stone: reduce his sentence and take revenge on the person that drug traffickers hate the most,” he accused.
The name of García Luna arose in the trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in which one of the witnesses said that he had given him suitcases with millions of dollars in bribes between 2005 and 2007.
In the initial allegations, the Prosecutor’s Office accused the former Mexican command of having “betrayed” his country and the United States for trafficking cocaine, a crime for which he faces life imprisonment.
