Thread by @penileyramirez

Here is a thread with all the episodes of our investigative podcast #USAvGarciaLuna, so you can binge them if you haven't done it yet.

Enjoy...

I have a journalistic obsession: Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s top security official from 2006 to 2012. For years, I broke the news of his corruption in Mexico and the U.S. Yet, García Luna seemed untouchable...

That is, until his name was brought up by a former cartel leader during Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s U.S. trial. Then, he faced his own trial. In episode 1, I dive into the latest with my new friend @maria_hinojosa...

Over a bottle of tequila, we raise questions about what García Luna's trial says about the role of the U.S. in the “war on drugs.”

This is episode 1. Untouchable
futuroinvestigates.org/investigative-…

From CSI to Donna Summer, García Luna was fascinated by anything American. Several U.S. officials said that García Luna was the person they trusted the most in the Mexican government. They called him "The Mexican Hoover," after John Edgar Hoover, the FBI’s first director.

But soon, García Luna was facing accusations of corruption. In episode 2, @maria_hinojosa and I tell you exactly how far back those suspicions go as well as his obsessions, his childhood dreams...

...and how it all led to him heading the Mexican equivalents of the DEA, FBI, NSA, and prison systems put together.

Episode 2, The Mexican Hoover.
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In episode 3, I take a roadtrip with @maria_hinojosa to an unassuming warehouse in Queens. The location was once a front company for El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel. García Luna was accused of facilitating drugs to New York as part of El Chapo’s business chain.

I learn with Maria that accusations of collaboration between El Chapo and García Luna date back to as early as 2001 – way before he was appointed as Secretary of Public Security...

In this episode, we reveal how García Luna climbed the highest ranks of Mexican politics and how he managed to stay there without any accountability for so long.

This is episode 3. By the train tracks in Queens
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September 19, 2017 changed my life. That morning, I found these pictures connecting García Luna and two Mexican businessmen I had already been investigating: Samuel and Alexis Weinberg. They had multimillion-dollar contracts with the Mexican government...

I emailed García Luna for a comment. Two minutes later, Mexico was hit with one of the worst earthquakes in its history, and I lost my house.

In this episode, we break down the scheme García Luna and his co-conspirators allegedly used to make themselves rich, and we explore the trauma journalists often experience while investigating a story for so long.

This is episode 4. Operation Miami
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In episode 5, @Maria_Hinojosa and I pose one question: Was García Luna a mastermind triple agent, or is there a systemic issue fostering corruption in the DEA? To find out, we zoom into the DEA’s role in the drug war and talk to an ex-DEA special agent and whistleblower.

We also take a moment to remember the victims of the failed “war on drugs” and highlight their mothers’ efforts toward accountability and healing.

Finally, we take one more trip – this time to the place where García Luna spent his days awaiting his day in court.

This is episode 5. Dirty DEA
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After more than 10 years of investigating García Luna, in episode 6 I went on the ground in Brooklyn with @Maria_Hinojosa, reporting on his trial. He was accused of working a second, dirty job for the Sinaloa Cartel, besides his role as a top officer for the Mexican government.

Each morning, @fuhinvestigates went to the courthouse to see the once “untouchable” cop face the 12 jurors who will decide his fate.

In this episode, we met the jury members, the cartel witnesses, the protestors, and the prosecutors arguing the former Mexican hero was starring in a story of betrayal.

This is episode 6. A story of betrayal
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Tirso ‘El Futbolista’ Martinez, was the second witness to testify against García Luna. El Futbolista was a major cocaine distributor for El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel in the U.S...

While listening to his testimony, I learned the address of the warehouse in Brooklyn that used to serve as the cartel’s front. I went there with our producer @sofiahanalei.

In this episode, we connect García Luna’s and El Chapo’s trials. We learn why a witness said García Luna was the Sinaloa cartel’s “best investment.”

This is episode 7. Party's Canceled
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In 2007, more than 23 tons of cocaine from the Sinaloa cartel were found in the Mexican port of Manzanillo. Mexico and the U.S. celebrated it as the biggest drug bust in Mexican history to date.

Fifteen years later, Genaro García Luna was accused of helping the cartel avoid a $50 million “fine” in connection to that bust. In this episode, @Maria_Hinojosa and I break down how the U.S. and García Luna worked together to make it happen.

And they couldn’t have done it without Harold ‘El Conejo’ Poveda, the man who cried on the witness stand and made the international drug trade go round.

This is episode 8. One Bad Bunny
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In episode 9, the trial against García Luna was reaching its end— I was exhausted, and @Maria_Hinojosa had to pull me out of bed just to make it to court!

That week, Jesus ‘El Rey’ Zambada, the Sinaloa cartel’s former top boss, testified that he personally delivered bribes to García Luna. In defense of her husband, García Luna’s wife took the stand.

Then, I did some more digging and got a source, a former senior security official, who spoke for the first time on the record about alleged secret tapes he heard at a DEA facility of Garcia Luna.

This is episode 9. The DEA tapes
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After six weeks of attending the trial and more than 10 years investigating García Luna, I sat arm-in-arm in court with @Maria_Hinojosa and other reporters to listen to the verdict.

And, just as my reporting found —the highest former Mexican government official to ever face trial in the U.S.— was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine to the U.S., among other charges.

In this episode, we share the key moments from Garcia Luna’s wife’s testimony and the closing arguments that led to the jury’s decision.

We also interview Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez, who was forced to leave Mexico after reporting on García Luna while he was still in power.

This is episode 10. Guilty
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In episode 11, García Luna’s trial is over, but not our investigative work. In this episode, we learn that a U.S. senator has requested the DEA and the FBI information on García Luna, including the names of the U.S. officials who vetted him...

We listen to some of our series' protagonists react to the guilty verdict, and I dig into what’s next for García Luna.

Finally, we reflect on why the war on drugs was always unwinnable, and they get into some chisme, going behind the scenes of this series.

Episode 11. An unwinnable war
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After 11 episodes, our team needs a break!
Let's see what happens with the Senate investigation and with the sentence, in June. I hope you enjoy the podcast. We know is a complex story, so we have been doing our best to make it easy to be understood.
Loving your comments so far!

This series is edited by @lopezcruzado, and produced by @roxy_aguirre @sofiahanalei @obd_oscar & @juandr47. Fact-checking by @AmyTardif @arturoangel20. Music and scoring by @JacobRosati. Our engineers are @LeahShawMusic @Gaby345678910 @StefLebaux @julzeats.
Thank you all!