Chicago kingpins get break for flipping on 'El Chapo'
CHICAGO — Drug-dealing twin brothers who prosecutors say turned into perhaps the most significant informants in the history of the U.S. war on drugs were sentenced on Tuesday to 14 years in federal prison.
Brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores helped federal agents bring down former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera and his top deputy, Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as "Mayo."
The Flores brothers, who relied on Guzman for a steady supply, funneled $1.8 billion in drugs in the U.S. and Canada, and certainly would have faced tougher sentences if they hadn't flipped.
But the brothers, who were born and raised in Chicago and distributed some 64,000 kilograms of cocaine and heroin into the United States, were given a huge break for secretly recording Guzman and providing testimony that helped federal authorities charge more than 50 others.
"But for your cooperation, you'd be leaving this courtroom with a life sentence," said U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo, who called the brothers the most significant drug dealers in Chicago history.
Federal authorities also announced new charges on Tuesday against nine Sinaloa defendants, including Guzman, Zambada, and Guzman's son, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, for their part in running a $2 billion drug conspiracy.
The sentencing marked the Flores brothers' first public court appearance since they entered protective federal custody in 2008. They entered guilty pleas to a narcotics distribution conspiracy in August 2012.
The brothers spoke briefly at Tuesday's sentencing hearing, expressing regret for their actions.
"I know my actions deserve the greatest punishment, but I'm grateful the government recognized my cooperation," said Pedro Flores.
Security was of such a high concern that the names of the brothers' lawyers have been kept secret and federal authorities deployed extra security measures around the federal courthouse in Chicago ahead of Tuesday's hearing. Prosecutors also asked media not to publish the attorneys' names.
There's reason for the caution. The brothers' father was killed in 2009 soon after word spread that they were working with federal agents.
Castillo warned that the sentence was lenient, but that they would be forced to look over their shoulders for the rest of their lives.
"Every time you start a car, you are going to wonder if its going to start or is going to blow up," Castillo said.
Prosecutors asked Castillo to sentence the 33-year-old Flores brothers to as few as 10 years in prison for what prosecutor Michael Ferrara called "unprecedented cooperation" in which the brothers met and recorded conversations with the notorious cartel leader Guzman.
The drug lord, who used a fleet of 747s and speed boats to transport his drugs, was arrested in dramatic fashion in a joint operation by Mexican marines and U.S. federal agents.
Guzman had cultivated a folklore image as a result of his ability to build an enormous drug empire that spread the reach of the Sinaloa cartel to dozens of countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe, as well as the United States. Before being jailed, Guzman secured spots on both the Forbes list of billionaires and the FBI's Most Wanted list.
The Flores brothers, whose main supplier was Guzman, told U.S. agents that Guzman would load his planes — in which all the seats were removed — with clothes and goods to suggest he was flying humanitarian missions to South America. On his return trips to Mexico, the planes were packed with as many as 14 tons of cocaine. The drugs would be loaded and driven out of the Mexico City airport with the assistance of corrupt officials.
In addition, Castillo ordered the brothers to forfeit $3.66 million that was seized from them and a Land Rover sport utility vehicle.
Between 2005 and 2008, the Flores brothers and their crew operated a Chicago-based wholesale distribution cell for the Sinaloa Cartel and a rival drug trafficking organization controlled by Arturo Beltran Leyva, receiving on average 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine per month.
About half of this cocaine was distributed to the Flores' customers in the Chicago area, while the rest was distributed to customers in Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Vancouver, among other cities.
The Flores brothers will get credit for time served for the more than six years they have been in federal custody, and must serve at least 85% of their sentence under federal guidelines.
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