Chicago brothers detail how Mexican cartel moved cocaine by jets
The twin brothers from Chicago have been in witness protection for more than five years, providing federal authorities with details of how Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's notorious Sinaloa cartel network allegedly supplied them with thousands of pounds of narcotics to distribute on city streets.
Their cooperation led to what has been called the most significant drug case in Chicago history. Now, for the first time, the statements Pedro and Margarito Flores gave to a federal grand jury have been made public in advance of sentencing for accused Sinaloa lieutenant Alfredo Vasquez-Hernandez, a boyhood friend of Guzman's who allegedly was the key contact for the brothers in Mexico.
In the statements, filed in U.S. District Court on Saturday, the Flores twins admitted they ran a drug distribution ring out of Chicago that also shipped truckloads of narcotics to wholesale customers in New York, Washington, Cincinnati and other cities.
Their main supplier was Guzman, whose vast operations included a fleet of model 747 jets that had all the seats removed, the brothers said. According to their statements, Guzman would load the planes with clothes and other goods and fly "humanitarian" missions to South America. On the return trip to Mexico City, the brothers said, the planes would be packed with as many as 12,000 kilograms — about 14 tons — of cocaine that was then unloaded and driven out of the airport with the help of corrupt authorities.
The brothers said Vasquez-Hernandez helped Guzman coordinate shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico using submarines, speedboats and amphibious vessels to avoid law enforcement at sea. In 2007, the brothers agreed to invest $600,000 with Vasquez-Hernandez to open a furniture exporting company that would act as a front to ship cocaine by rail, according to the statements.
The brothers also talked in the statements — which were signed in June 2009 — of the danger of their cooperation and their hopes it would eventually lead to reduced sentences.
"I knew that once the people I have talked about today found out I was cooperating, they would try to kill me and my family," Pedro Flores said in his statement. "As far as I know, nobody knows where my family is living and I am being kept in protective custody."
Prosecutors filed the statements to rebut claims by Vasquez-Hernandez that he had nothing to do with Guzman's organization. Vasquez-Hernandez entered a "blind" plea of guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics. He has no deal with prosecutors and faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced later this month.
In asking U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo to impose the minimum of 10 years in prison, Vasquez-Hernandez's lawyers said in a court filing last month that the former auto mechanic admitted only to arranging one narcotics deal with the Flores twins in 2008.
Prosecutors have alleged in court documents that the Flores brothers secretly recorded a key 2008 meeting in Mexico that captured Vasquez-Hernandez detailing the inner workings of Guzman's vast operation.
Feds: El Chapo relative in Mexico-Chicago drug case is ruled dead
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According to Vasquez-Hernandez's lawyers, however, the audio from the meeting — recorded on a device hidden in Pedro Flores' pocket — was so garbled that it was impossible to tell who was speaking.
"Mr. Vasquez-Hernandez denies he ever spoke to the Flores brothers about airplanes or transporting anything by air that day, let alone transporting thousands of kilograms of drugs from one country to another," the filing said.
In a letter addressed to Castillo, Vasquez-Hernandez, 59, said he was "ashamed" for his actions and asked for leniency so he can spend at least some of his remaining years with his family. He said his children, ages 12 and 15, are "the joy of my life and my motivation for getting through this ordeal."
"My greatest fear is that I will die in prison before I am able to be reunited with them and my wife," Vasquez-Hernandez wrote.
Earlier this year, prosecutors revealed that Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the highest-ranking Sinaloa cartel member arrested on U.S. charges, secretly pleaded guilty in Chicago last year and has been cooperating with authorities.
Guzman, meanwhile, remains in custody in Mexico after his sensational arrest, and it's unclear whether he'll ever be extradited to face charges in the U.S.
read pedro flores statement here:
http://media.trb.com/media/acrobat/2014-11/23945116775420-10165409.pdf
