Chicago judge gives cartel-aiding Mexican lawman 3-year prison term

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Chicago handed a more than three-year prison sentence Thursday to a former Mexican intelligence-unit commander on charges he divulged American investigative secrets to cartel bosses in Mexico — a betrayal one DEA agent told the court collapsed drug-trafficking investigations and cost lives.

Ivan Reyes Arzate, 46, was a main point of contact for intelligence sharing between U.S. agencies and Mexican Federal Police. He drew on access to U.S. intelligence to help unmask a cartel informant, who was later tortured and killed, according to a filing by prosecutors.

Arzate turned himself over to American officials in 2017 and changed his plea in May from innocent to no contest on charges of obstruction and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Sergio “El Grande” Villarreal Barragan, a longtime confidant to the head of the Beltran Leyva cartel, testified at Thursday’s hearing. He described to U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber how Mexican syndicates rely heavily on corrupt police, like Arzate, to expand their illegal operations and vanquish rivals.

In a statement to the judge, Arzate gave a forthright defense of his police work. Leinenweber interrupted Arzate at one point, asking: “Is it your position you did absolutely nothing wrong?” While Arzate said that wasn’t his position, he then went on to concede no wrongdoing. He also offered no apologies during his 10-minute statement.

The judge said he found parts of Arzate’s statement “troubling.”

But he also said the government’s recommended sentence of 10 years behind bars was “too high.” With time served since his arrest, Arzate could be eligible for release in just over a year.

Leaks to cartel kingpins by Arzate forced Americans to freeze their cooperation with Mexicans in some cases and to cut off relationships with some Mexican police officials as a precaution, as they scrambled to find the mole who turned out to be Arzate. DEA agent Matthew Sandberg, who had worked with Arzate in Mexico, said about the ripple effects: “It was a real tragedy.”

Barragan, who is serving a federal trafficking sentence, testified that it was common for cartels to have Mexican federal police on their illegal payrolls, often bribing to steer police operations against competing cartels. Defense attorney Joseph Lopez asked him at one point if such payments went “all the way up the chain almost to the [Mexican] president.”

“Yes, sir,” Barragan answered. “That is how they do it.”