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RARE PHOTOS: Pedro flores - The Real Truth

El Chapo pal accused of running logistics for Sinaloa kingpin asks for break in 22-year sentence

Alfredo Vasquez-Hernandez, 68, was one of the top Sinaloa members to be sentenced in Chicago.

Chicago Sun-Times

Suspected Mexican cartel leader facing drug charges in Chicago sees Treasury Department freeze his assets

Authorities say Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe, as head of the Beltran Leyva Organization, conspired to import tons of heroin and cocaine.

Chicago Sun-Times

In El Chapo fallout, older brother of twin Chicago drug traffickers sentenced for helping launder their money

Armando Flores, the brother of Margarito and Pedro Flores, admitted to hiding $2.3 million of the twins’ drug proceeds under his back porch in Texas. He got “time served” for the 19 months he spent in jail.

Chicago Sun-Times

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Wife of cartel boss who snitched on El Chapo is jailed for hiding $2.3m of drug money

Prosecutors say money was used for luxury vacations, shopping sprees, private schools fees and to attend a J-Lo concert

The Independent UK

‘Cartel wife’ Valerie Gaytan, whose husband helped bring down El Chapo, warns of ‘fast life’

On her husband Margarito Flores Jr.’s “Surviving El Chapo” podcast, she says she was relieved she got three and a half years in prison for money-laundering, not the five years prosecutors wanted. Still, “it is scary.”

Chicago Sun-Times

Another ‘cartel wife’ gets 3.5 years for hiding millions in drug money tied to El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel

The feds pointed out the $2.3 million Valerie Gaytan stashed was generated “through the sale of thousands of kilograms of drugs in the United States ... that harmed individuals and communities in countless ways.”

Chicago Sun-Times

In El Chapo fallout, one of Chicago ‘cartel wives’ should get stiffer sentence than accomplices, feds say

They say Valerie Gaytan should get five years for laundering drug money from her husband Margarito Flores and his twin brother Pedro Flores, Chicago cocaine kingpins who helped convict the Sinaloa cartel boss. Her sister-in-law got 3½ years.

Chicago Sun-Times

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‘Don’t screw up,’ judge warns sister-in-law of Flores twins who turned on El Chapo, giving her probation

“Here’s the deal, this is like you just won the World Series,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly warned Bianca Finnigan, 34. “You won’t get a second break.”

Chicago Sun-Times

Margarito Flores, Chicago cocaine kingpin who helped bring down El Chapo, will teach cops how to catch drug traffickers

One of the notorious Flores twins is to lead a seminar at the Kane County sheriff’s office — “a rare chance for us to get into the mind of the people we are trying to find,” an official says.

Chicago Sun-Times

‘Cartel wife’ of Chicago cocaine kingpin gets 3 1/2 years for hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars from feds

Vivianna Lopez made an emotional plea for mercy, telling the judge she feared for the lives of her children after Pedro Flores and his brother, Margarito, famously turned against the Sinaloa cartel and helped bring down Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera.

Chicago Sun-Times

‘Cartel wives’ of Chicago’s twin cocaine kingpins plead guilty to stashing drug cash

Vivianna Lopez and Valerie Gaytan, wives of Pedro and Margarito Flores, admitted to involvement in a conspiracy to launder millions from their husbands’ drug trafficking business after the men were taken into federal custody.

Chicago Sun-Times

Wives of Flores twins, who helped put drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ behind bars, to plea guilty to money laundering

The wives allegedly collected drug debts owed to their husbands and spent lavishly.

Chicago Sun-Times

Judge rules wives of Chicago twins who cooperated against ‘El Chapo’ did not have immunity

CHICAGO — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the wives of twin Chicago drug traffickers who cooperated against Sinaloa boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman did not have immunity from prosecution, a considerable setback for the women who are accused of laundering millions of their husbands’ drug proceeds over a 12-year…

Chicago Tribune

‘Cartel wives’ married to Pedro Flores, Margarito Flores lose bid to dismiss money-laundering charges

Married to the convicted Chicago cocaine traffickers who helped bring down Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera, Vivianna Lopez and Valerie Gaytan are accused of spending millions of drug proceeds on everything from vacations to tuition.

Chicago Sun-Times

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Chicago Sun-Times

Ex-dealers say McDonald’s was the business model, students sue Loyola for ‘mishandled’ sex misconduct claims and more in your Chicago news roundup

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Chicago Sun-Times

From flipping Big Macs to importing tons of cocaine: Chicago twins who helped bring down El Chapo say McDonald’s was their business model

In a new podcast, Margarito Flores and Pedro Flores say they got jobs at a Little Village McDonald’s when they were teenagers and honed management skills they used in their drug business.

Chicago Tribune

‘What do we have to protect us? Nothing’: Jail calls of Flores twins, wives discussing immunity played in court

CHICAGO — Chicago twins Pedro and Margarito Flores were in the middle of their cooperation against Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in 2010 when authorities intercepted a series of jail calls showing the brothers and their wives had growing concerns over the lack of an immunity deal from…

Chicago Tribune

Chicago twin Pedro Flores testifies feds promised wife would get a pass in exchange for his cooperation against ‘El Chapo’

CHICAGO — Pedro Flores, a Chicago drug trafficker who along with his twin brother helped federal authorities build a case against Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, testified Monday that he was promised his wife and other family members would not be prosecuted for any drug-related activities.

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Chicago Sun-Times

Former local hoops standout killed in Maywood, CHA fires 16 over PPP loan fraud, and more in your Chicago news roundup

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Chicago Sun-Times

Pedro Flores, star witness against El Chapo, tells judge feds gave his wife immunity against prosecution

The onetime Chicago cocaine kingpin’s wife Vivianna Lopez and his brother’s wife Valerie Gaytan are fighting money-laundering charges. Flores says immunity for them was part of the deal he and his twin brother Margarito Flores, who both grew up in Little Village, were given.

Chicago Tribune

Wives of twins who helped bring down ‘El Chapo’ find themselves in spotlight, claiming they have immunity from federal hammer

CHICAGO — On a winter evening a little over a decade ago, as their husbands were busy cooperating against the most wanted cartel boss in the world, Valerie Gaytan and Vivianna Lopez were driving around Chicago’s North Side with more than $4 million in cash in their SUV.

Chicago Sun-Times

Cocaine seizures soar in Chicago, surrounding states, as DEA ‘snow’ forecast comes true

Heroin and marijuana have long been Mexican cartels’ big moneymakers in Chicago. But DEA cocaine seizures rose 50% in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana in the year ending Sept. 30 and keep rising in the Chicago area.

Chicago Sun-Times

Sister-in-law of twins who turned against ‘El Chapo’ pleads guilty for helping spend drug money

An indictment filed in June 2021 alleged the wives of Pedro and Margarito Flores helped stash away hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money over a dozen years, starting with their husbands’ surrender in December 2008.

Chicago Tribune

Brother of Chicago twins who helped take down 'El Chapo' admits to burying millions in drug proceeds under porch

CHICAGO — Chicago twins Pedro and Margarito Flores were just 16 when their older brother Armando was arrested in the late 1990s for selling narcotics out of a Cicero auto dealership.

Chicago Sun-Times

Brother of Chicago’s Flores twins who helped bring down El Chapo admits hiding millions for them

Armando Flores, whose brothers Pedro Flores and Margarito Flores once were Chicago’s drug kingpins, stashed it under his porch in Texas for them after they surrendered in 2008.

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