Pedro And Margarito Flores : Brothers get 14 years on drug charges

FBI informant drug dealers Pedro and Margarito Flores have received reduced sentences for running a sprawling $2bn drugs empire because the pair helped American prosecutors catch notorious drugs baron Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The twin brothers, aged 33, were handed 14 years each for their operation, which Chief US District Judge Ruben Castillo said had “devastated” the whole country.

The government on Tuesday also unsealed expanded and new indictments against alleged money launderers and cartel members, based on evidence provided by the brothers, who were debriefed for months after surrendering to drug agents in 2008.

But Castillo said he imposed a higher sentence “in light of the devastation you caused this city and your country.”

Castillo told the Flores brothers – who briefly apologized for their crimes – that they were under a life sentence no matter what the justice system does because they will live in fear of retaliation from the cartel after they are released from prison.

“Every time you start a car you will be wondering if the car will start or explode,” the judge said.

Security was beefed up at Castillo’s courtroom, with double screening for all who entered.

For several years beginning in 2005, the Flores brothers handled major shipments of cocaine and other drugs for the Sinaloa and Beltran Leyva cartels, which they received in Chicago and redistributed to dealers in Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and other cities.

Their operation moved 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine into Chicago every month and sent about $1.8 billion dollars in proceeds back to Mexico. As part of their plea agreement they forfeited more than $3.6 million.

Castillo said the twins were the biggest drug dealers he had seen in 20 years on the bench. Their operations “became a highway of drugs coming into this city,” Castillo said.

In 2008 the Flores brothers voluntarily approached the U.S. government. After a year of undercover collaboration they turned themselves in and reached a plea agreement in which they admitted they were guilty of drug trafficking.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara told Castillo the brothers’ collaboration was unprecedented and led to the dismantling of the largest known drug trafficking enterprise ever in Chicago.

Ferrara said the brothers penetrated layers of security around Guzman, flying in a private cartel plane to a remote landing strip on a mountain side and then tape-recording the drug lord.

Their father was kidnapped in Mexico and presumed killed by drug gangs after the cartels learned the brothers had turned against them, Ferrara said.

Agencies/Canadajournal