Podcast: USA v. Garcia Luna — “True Crime Meets Telenovela”

Are you looking for a crime podcast for that long walk with the family dog?  Here is an intriguing one released earlier this month:  

“A story where true crime meets telenovela. Futuro Investigates and Latino USA —in partnership with Lemonada Media— present USA v. García Luna, a new investigative series about the most powerful Mexican official to ever face trial in the U.S. for allegedly accepting million-dollar bribes from the Sinaloan drug cartel.”

A more detailed podcast description from the website:

“A Mexican-American journalist and a Cuban-Mexican investigative reporter walk into a recording studio with a bottle of tequila and reveal one of the most shocking true crime investigative stories you will ever hear.

USA v. García Luna tells the story of the most powerful Mexican government official ever to face trial in the United States for his alleged ties to the infamous drug lord Joaquín `El Chapo’ Guzmán.

His name is Genaro García Luna. Maybe you’ve never heard about him, but in five episodes, Pulitzer Prize winner Maria Hinojosa and Emmy Award winner Peniley Ramírez will tell you why he matters and how his story connects to the U.S. government, the war on drugs and millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers.

This is not your regular narco series. It’s the result of a 10-year investigation and a shared journalistic obsession. We tackle corruption in the DEA, question how U.S. money funds the war on drugs and how Washington picks its allies. It gets deep, personal and absurd. It’s really like true crime meets telenovela.”

 Here is the teaser for Episode 1 (Untouchable):

“Peniley Ramírez has one obsession: Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s top security official from 2006 to 2012. For years, Peniley broke news of his alleged 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. Now, he faces his own trial. In this episode, Peniley dives into the latest with her new friend Maria Hinojosa. Over a bottle of tequila, they raise questions about what García Luna’s upcoming trial says about the role of the U.S. in the `war on drugs.’”

The Garcia Luna trial is set to begin in January 2023.

I must say that the podcast sounds all to similar to the fictional television drama from a few years back, Queen of the South. Drug sales, violence, romance, and corruption prevail.

KJ