For more than 10 years, Genaro García Luna was the top security official in Mexico, and the closest ally to the DEA in the country.

He worked closely with U.S. diplomats and intelligence agencies, and was considered the architect of the Mexican 'War on Drugs,' funded with more than $3 billion in U.S. taxpayer money. 

But in December, 2019, he was arrested in Texas in 2019. He’s accused of receiving more than $50 million in bribes from the Sinaloa drug cartel in exchange for protecting drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and helping smuggle more than 50 tons of cocaine from Mexico to the United States.

The accusation exhibits the high levels that corruption reached in Mexico and reveals a serious problem for the U.S. government, which it has not openly recognized — García Luna would have been simultaneously from 2001 to 2012 the trusted man of the DEA in Mexico and the key operator of the Sinaloa Cartel in the Mexican government.

In January 2023, García Luna will become the highest-ranking Mexican official ever to face trial in a federal court in the United States. 

USA v. García Luna

For a decade, Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez followed García Luna under tremendous personal risk. 

Now, alongside audio legend and Pulitzer and Peabody Award-winner Maria Hinojosa, Ramírez brings the saga of García Luna to a podcast — how he went from dreams of a career in professional soccer to becoming Mexico’s most feared police boss.

The series is called USA v. García Luna and will air five episodes.

The story, where true crime meets telenovela, tackles cases of corruption in the DEA and includes testimonies from former DEA agents who speak about witnessing corruption in the agency and lack of accountability from the U.S. government to investigate itself.

The investigative podcast by Futuro Investigates and Latino USA in partnership with Lemonada Media, is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on futuroinvestigates.org.