Mexico’s former top cop and one of the main law enforcement officials in Mexico City were named during a trial for accepting millions of dollars from the Sinaloa Cartel. One of the lawmen worked for a former Mexican president while the other served the incoming one.
The former top officials were mentioned as part of the ongoing testimony by the jailed top Sinaloa Cartel lieutenant and financial operator Jesus Reynaldo “Rey” Zambada in the high-profile drug trafficking trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in New York.
Zambada, who is the brother of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “Mayo” Zambada, testified about bribing former Mexican Public Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna and the former Sub-Secretary for Public Safety in Mexico City Gabriel Regino, the New York Times reported.
The first bribe for Garcia Luna reportedly came in 2005 when he was the head of Mexico’s Federal Investigation Agency. The payoff was allegedly done at a restaurant with suitcases containing more than $3 million. The president at the time was Vicente Fox. Garcia Luna allegedly received the second bribe in 2006, by then he was the Public Security Secretary for Mexico under President Felipe Calderon.
The testimony by Zambada also outed Gabriel Regino, who was the Mexico City Public Safety Sub-Secretary in 2005 when he allegedly received suitcases full of money. At the time, Regino worked under Mexico City’s former mayor and incoming President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). Following the allegations, Regino took to social media to deny taking any money and claimed El Chapo’s legal team was strategically deflecting.
4. Es falso que durante mi ejercicio del servicio público, haya recibido soborno alguno por parte del testificante Jesús Zambada.
— gabrielregino (@gabrielregino) November 20, 2018
5. Sus declaraciones tienen una intencionalidad procesal, de la cual he dado testimonio en diversas entrevistas.
— gabrielregino (@gabrielregino) November 20, 2018
In a similar fashion, El Universal published a response by Garcia Luna who claimed the allegations were false, defamatory and rose to the level of perjury. He claimed no contact with Zambada.
At the start of the trial, various allegations suggested the Sinaloa Cartel allegedly paid off current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and former Mexican President Felipe Calderon in exchange for official protection.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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