Former cartel bosses, drug dealers and police officers entered the trial this week Genaro García LunaMexico’s former federal security minister and architect of the country’s drug war, which he waged while openly working with the DEA and secretly with the world’s most powerful drug cartel capo, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

No, this isn’t a screenplay for the fourth season of the Netflix series El Chapo, although it would make an intriguing Mexican telenovela, as America’s most trusted ally in more than a decade is now on trial in the same Brooklyn courtroom as El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment four years ago. In fact, allegations against García Luna were raised during El Chapo’s trial.

García Luna, the highest-ranking Mexican official ever tried in the US for drug corruption, will be charged Taking multi-million dollar bribes from El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel to help the cartel evade capture, among other things. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

García Luna’s defense team, led by César de Castro, says the government does not have enough evidence to convict his client arrested in 2019.

There is “no money, no photos, no video, no texts, no emails, no records, no documents — no credible, credible evidence that Genaro García Luna helped the cartel,” the defense said during the opening statement.

De Castro said convicted cartel members are taking positions on the prosecution’s witness list for trading deals to reduce their own sentences and get revenge on his client for García Luna helping to put them in jail.

“Don’t let the cartels play you off,” de Castro told the jury.

The public prosecutor sees it differently. Prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney’s Saritha Komatireddy, say the protection García Luna gave to the Sinaloa cartel made this possible Dealing in huge amounts of drugs to the US At the time of El…