(NewsNation) — At his height, he was Mexico’s top cop — tasked with going after the cartel’s illegal drug trade.

But inside a New York courtroom, it was revealed Genaro García Luna took millions in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel — which was, at the time, run by the notorious El Chapo.

García Luna, a former top Mexican security official, was convicted Tuesday of taking massive bribes to protect the violent drug cartels he was tasked with combating. Garcia Luna served in different security posts under former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon between 2000 and 2012.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at his morning briefing Wednesday said he wants García Luna to cooperate with the U.S.

“As president of Mexico, for the good of the country, I hope that he will do it in exchange for a reduced sentence and say whether he received orders or gave information to the former Presidents Fox and Calderon,” López Obrador said.

The Mexican president called on Calderon himself to explain why he had kept García Luna in power for years to determine where the corruption trail ends.

In exchange for money, authorities said García Luna offered the cartels protection from arrests, safe passage for cocaine shipments and tip-offs for drug busts. He now faces a life sentence in prison.

“The cartels are operating with impunity, even today, because of the unbelievable systemic corruption in Mexico,” Derek Maltz, who served in the Drug Enforcement Administration for 28 years, said.

In 2020, General Salvador Cienfuegos, the former Mexican defense minister, was arrested in Los Angeles after being accused of taking bribes from cartel leaders as well.

The arrest was condemned by López Obrador, who was blindsided by the move. Amid mounting pressure from Mexico, the charges were ultimately dropped by then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr. Cienfuegos was ultimately exonerated in Mexico in 2021.

Melissa Ford, with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, says this shows there’s still a long way to go.

“It’s good to see the Mexican government officials being held accountable for working with them, but I think that criminals will be criminals, and I think that the cartels still have a huge incentive to keep doing what they’re doing at any means possible,” Ford said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.