"A superseding indictment was returned... charging Genaro Garcia Luna, the former Secretary of Public Security in Mexico from 2006 to 2012, with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise," the release said on Thursday.
"Luis Cardenas Palomino and Ramon Pequeno Garcia, former high-ranking Mexican law enforcement officials who worked under Garcia Luna, are each charged with three counts of cocaine trafficking conspiracy. In exchange for multimillion-dollar bribes, the defendants allegedly permitted the Sinaloa Cartel to operate with impunity in Mexico."
From 2001 to 2005, Garcia Luna led Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency, and as secretary of public security, he controlled Mexico’s Federal Police Force.
Cardenas Palomino and Pequeno Garcia also were high-level Mexican law enforcement officials who worked under Garcia Luna during this time. They each received millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel.
If convicted of the continuing criminal enterprise charge in Thursday’s superseding indictment, Garcia Luna faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment, while Cardenas Palomino and Pequeno Garcia each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment.
He was arrested on 9 December, 2019 by federal agents in Dallas, Texas, and currently faces trial in the Eastern District of New York to face these charges. Cardenas Palomino and Pequeno Garcia are presently fugitives.
