Thread by @keegan_hamilton

#BREAKING: US prosecutors link Genaro Garcia Luna to Ivan Reyes Arzate, a member of an elite Mexican police unit specially vetted by the DEA.

Reyes Arzate is accused of leaking secrets to Beltran-Leyva Organization "for at least hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes"

Reyes Arzate led the DEA's "Sensitive Investigative Unit" in Mexico from 2008-2016.

Prosecutors: "He routinely had contact with and worked collaboratively with DEA agents in Mexico City," and was "the principal point of contact for information sharing."

Prosecutors say Genaro Garcia Luna took bribes from the Beltrán Leyva Organization, which was once closely allied w/ the Sinaloa cartel.

Despite intense vetting by the DEA, including bringing officers to the US for special training, the SIU unit in Mexico has been plagued by leaks. It was the outfit linked to the Allende massacre, which @gingerthomp1 wrote about here: propublica.org/article/allend…

@gingerthomp1 My own reporting @VICENews previously revealed how the DEA apparently failed to address known issues w/ the SIU in Mexico for at least a decade, dating back to 2007, which coincides w/ Reyes Arzate's era of leadership

vice.com/en_us/article/…

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews UPDATE @VICENews: Ivan Reyes Arzate was re-arrested this morning (he was already in US custody and serving a 40-month sentence for a federal conviction in Illinois) and will be arraigned at 11am this morning in Brooklyn on a 3-count indictment for cocaine smuggling.

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews Here's the unsealed indictment for Ivan Reyes Arzate. He's charged with:

-international cocaine distribution conspiracy

-conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine

-conspiracy to import cocaine.

documentcloud.org/documents/6670…

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews #BREAKING: Ivan Reyes Arzate allegedly leaked info about DEA investigations in Mexico to El Seguimiento 39, an alliance of cartels with "a sophisticated drug trafficking organization with a vast cocaine distribution network"

documentcloud.org/documents/6670…

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews More from US prosecutors:

"El Seguimiento 39 built cooperative alliances with other drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, the BLO, the Cartel del Jalisco Nueva Generacion, the Cartel del Golfo and Los Zetas.…"

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews Reyes Arzate "personally met" with El Seguimiento 39 cartel leaders to share info about a DEA investigation in exchange for a $290,000 bribe. He also personally met with Artruo Beltran Leyva to leak info.

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews Reyes Arzate scheduled to be released from US custody on January 27 and deported to Mexico. Prosecutors now ask to keep him locked up: "There is therefore a significant risk that the defendant’s flight to Mexico would ensure he does not face justice in an American courtroom."

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews Reyes Arzate "…took advantage of his position of power and abused the vast resources of the Mexican Federal Police and the DEA to obtain sensitive information, which he in turn provided to drug traffickers, facilitating crimes by some of the world’s most violent criminal orgs."

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews Background on Ivan Reyes Arzate from his Nov. 2018 sentencing in Chicago. He passed along info that led to a DEA informant being kidnapped and murdered. He got “La Barbie” arrested at the behest of the Beltran Leyvas.

chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/…

@gingerthomp1 @VICENews Just reached a @DEAHQ spokesperson to ask about the new charges against Ivan Reyes Arzate and the allegations that he repeatedly leaked sensitive DEA intel to Mexican cartels. The agency's official response: No comment.