Witness: Ex-Mexico security chief bribed

NEW YORK — Mexico’s former top security chief and another law enforcement official who once worked under the country’s new president-elect took millions of dollars in bribes from the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel in the mid2000s, a witness testified Tuesday at the U.S. trial of kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Former cartel member Jesus Zambada made the allegations Tuesday while testifying about what he described as widespread corruption among authorities who were paid to keep their hands off the lucrative and violent drug operation. During cross-examination, Zambada claimed he personally made at least $6 million in hidden payments to the former federal security chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, on behalf of his older brother, cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. The witness also said a separate bribe of “a few million dollars” was made in 2005 to Gabriel Regino, who worked in the administration of current President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador when he was mayor of Mexico City. Garcia Luna responded, “I repeat that it is false, defamatory and perjury to say that I have ever received any material goods from any person, police officer or criminal group.” Regino, now a private lawyer and law professor, wrote on Twitter, “I categorically deny these accusations.” Guzman, perhaps best known for escaping from Mexican prisons, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges. If convicted, he faces life in prison.