Drug Ring Tied to El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel Bribes Ex-Mexico Top Cop in Exchange for Top-Secret Info and Cop Gets 10 Years for It

A former police chief in Mexico was sentenced to 10 years in U.S. prison for accepting payments from a drug cartel associated with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel.

Ivan Reyes Arzate, 49, former chief of Mexico's Federal Police's Sensitive Investigative Unit, personally met in November 2016 with El Seguimiento 39 drug cartel leaders who bribed him.

New York Daily reported that the drug cartel paid Reyes Arzate a $290,000 bribe in exchange for information that allowed it to traffic cocaine to the U.S.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the El Seguimiento 39 cartel is associated with El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltran Leyva Organization, and other Mexican drug cartels.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Reyes Arzate betrayed his oath and partners in law enforcement in exchange for cash bribes and became a willing participant in drug trafficking and in spreading massive and dangerous amounts of cocaine in communities.

"Corrupt police officers who use their government positions to further the interests of the drug cartels and harm our communities will be brought to justice and punished for their crimes. Their badges will not shield them from accountability," Peace noted.

During his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court, Reyes Arzate said he knows the "scourge of drugs" caused a lot of pain to many people, adding that he profoundly regrets whatever pain was caused by his actions.

Together with U.S. investigators, Reyes Arzate was investigating El Seguimiento 39 at the time of the meeting. He was fired the day after the bribe was discovered.

Known as "La Reina" or "The Queen," the former Mexican police chief pleaded guilty to accepting the bribe money from the drug cartel last October.

Since January 2020, Reyes Arzate has been in jail in Brooklyn in connection with the charges.

'La Reina' Ivan Reyes Arzate Aiding Mexican Drug Cartels in Mexico

Prosecutors alleged that Ivan Reyes Arzate also assisted the Beltran-Leyva organization in its drug trafficking operation.

According to Daily Mail, Reyes Arzate and two other cops had agreed to take $3 million from the Beltran-Leyva Organization in 2008 after they provided background information on a DEA informant, who had been arrested in Miami.

He also allegedly provided the organization with a photo of the informant, who was later kidnapped and killed. In addition, Reyes Arzate was paid by the Beltran-Leyva Organization $500,000 to apprehend U.S.-born drug lord and former associate Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villareal.

Valdez Villareal was caught at a rural home outside Mexico City in 2010. He is currently serving a 49-year sentence at a federal prison.

Reyes Arzate self-surrendered to law enforcement in Chicago in April 2017, shortly before the DEA intercepted a call between two drug traffickers who described his illegal activities.

According to reports, the time the former top cop has already spent behind bars will count toward his sentence, which means he will serve about eight more years in prison.

El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel

The Sinaloa Cartel is considered to be one of the most powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. The Mexican drug cartel has been known to carry out assassinations, murders, and torture to protect its turf.

The group was founded in the late 1980s and headed by El Chapo. Under El Chapo's leadership, the Sinaloa cartel earned its reputation through violence and outfought several rival groups.

Officials said the Sinaloa Cartel became the biggest supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S. during El Chapo's reign.

El Chapo was arrested in Guatemala and extradited to Mexico in 1993. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.

In 2001, El Chapo escaped from prison and was apprehended again in 2014 in Sinaloa, Mexico. He again escaped from prison through a tunnel the following year.

In January 2016, Mexican officials announced that El Chapo has been captured again. He was extradited to the U.S. the following year.

El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX Florence "supermax" prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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