NEW YORK.- Prosecutors from the Eastern District Court of New York confirmed that they have investigations into Mexican officials with possible connections to drug trafficking.
“We have other objectives […] other officers in Mexico”said prosecutor Philip Pilmar in a hearing for the new sentence of the former Nayarit prosecutor, Édgar Veytia, who has collaborated in these investigations.
This revelation adds to that made by the Homeland Security Investigations area of the Department of Homeland Security (HSI) based in New York, which revealed the Operation “Decadence” investigation.
“Operation ‘Decadence’ [se realiza] through the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), which investigates the political corruption within the Government of Mexico (GoM), as an essential function of large-scale drug trafficking and the money laundering activity of the Mexican drug cartels,” indicates a court document to which this newspaper had access.
One of the prosecutors’ key collaborators is former prosecutor Veytia, also known as “The Devil,” who faced 20 years in prison, but on April 3 Judge Carol Bagley Amon reduced it to 10 years.
Seven years that Veytia has already spent in prison will be reduced to this new sentence period, in addition to some other benefit that allows him to leave confinement in a maximum of three years, after facing punishment for drug trafficking.
Prosecutor Pilmar did not delve into the other cases that are being investigated, but The team of prosecutors to which he belongs led the process against Genaro García Lunawho was Secretary of Public Security during the government of Felipe Calderón.
It was also the team that detained General Salvador Cienfuegos, whom they had to release after a diplomatic agreement between Mexico and the United States in 2020.
The HSI does not offer details about its investigation either, but clarifies that it is reviewing “decades” of corruption in Mexico and the link between officials and members of drug cartels.
Prosecutor Pilmar highlighted the level of investigations by comparing García Luna with the director of the FBI and Cienfuegos with the Secretary of Defense.
The Department of Justice and the DEA investigated the campaign team of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, but this newspaper confirmed that there is currently no investigation against the president.
García Luna’s sentencing is scheduled for June 24, after a jury found him guilty of drug trafficking.
Keep reading:
• Genaro García Luna offered $2 million to invent a plot; Prosecutors ask judge to deny mistrial
• The United States reveals investigation into “decades” of governments in Mexico and links to drug trafficking, as part of the trial of Genaro García Luna
• Judge reduces Édgar Veytia’s sentence to 10 years for cooperating against Genaro García Luna and Salvador Cienfuegos