El Chapo Case: Wives of Chicago Drug Lords Tied to Sinaloa Cartel Boss Lose Bid to Dismiss Money-Laundering Charges

The wives of Chicago drug lords - the Flores twins - who cooperated against Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera did not have immunity from prosecution that will spare them from criminal charges, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Vivianna Lopez and Valerie Gaytan, the wives of drug traffickers Pedro and Margarito Flores, are accused of laundering millions of their husbands' drug proceeds.

According to Chicago Tribune, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly denied the request of Lopez and Gaytan to dismiss the money laundering charges against them.

The wives of the Flores twins argued that the prosecutors had assured them that their husbands' cooperation in apprehending El Chapo meant that they will not face any charges for their own actions.

But in his ruling during a telephonic hearing, Kennelly said there was no evidence that there was ever an immunity agreement in writing for the Flores twin's wives.

The judge noted that there was also no indication of any "meeting of the minds" about a formal agreement, and clearly, nothing was obtained in writing. Kennelly added that the Flores twins' plea agreement did not mention any immunity, and it was clear that no other promises were made.

The judge noted that the jail calls made by prosecutors at the hearing were a "pretty strong indication" that "immunity had not been obtained." Kennelly then set their trial for June 20 next year, but a status hearing will be held on December 21.

Chicago's Flores Twins' Wives on El Chapo's Case

The Flores brothers' wives are both daughters of Chicago police officers and grew up in the city.

They wrote a tell-all book entitled "Cartel Wives," which detailed the highs and lows of being married to drug kingpins, who later became informants.

Both wives are now living under assumed names due to threats they received after their husbands' cooperation against El Chapo was made public.

Lopez's lawyer earlier said that although no immunity documents exist, oral deals have been upheld in the past, and prosecutors did not make an attempt to correct Pedro Flores' testimony in 2018.

In a December 2021 court filing, Lopez asked the court to order prosecutors to turn over any documents related to any immunity or "non-prosecution" agreements with her.

Her lawyers maintained that prosecutors either gave her immunity or "knowingly elicited her husband's perjured testimony" at the trial of the Sinaloa Cartel boss. Lopez and Gaytan allegedly helped to hide millions of drug money over a dozen years, which started in 2008.

Prosecutors alleged that the wives of the Flores twins used the drug money for lavish trips and to pay for schools for their children. The wives allegedly spent the money after their husbands were arrested in 2008 and became key informants in the case against El Chapo.

Last July, Pedro Flores testified that he was promised that no one in his family would be prosecuted for any drug-related activities. His testimony via a video link turned up in the money laundering case against his wife, Lopez, and his sister-in-law, Gaytan.

Pedro said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Shakeshaft, the lead prosecutor handling his case, had promised him during their first in-person meeting in Monterrey, Mexico in 2008 that no one in his family would be charged. When asked if Shakeshaft's promise was ever repeated, Pedro told Kennelly: "Yes, multiple times throughout my cooperation."

However, the Chicago drug kingpin admitted that the promise of immunity was never put in writing as he thought it was already being taken care of. He also acknowledged that it was not mentioned in the plea agreement he and his twin brother signed in secret in 2012.

Shakeshaft was supposed to testify about the negotiations. However, he died earlier this year after years of health issues. Federal agents testified that they had never heard Shakeshaft make the immunity promise. Chicago prosecutors also maintained that no promise of immunity was ever extended to the Chicago's Flores twins' wives.

Chicago's Flores Twins Became Informants in Sinaloa Cartel Boss El Chapo Case

The Flores brothers were sentenced in 2015 to 14 years in prison and were released in 2020 into witness protection. The twin brothers were given relatively lenient sentences in exchange for cooperating in the case against El Chapo.

They became key informants in the case after they surrendered to authorities. The Flores twins admitted smuggling at least 1,500 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. every month between 2005 and 2008. Their plea agreements further noted that they sent more than $930 million in "bulk cash" back to the Sinaloa Cartel.

During their 2015 sentencing, a federal judge told the twins that they would always have to worry about being hunted down by Sinaloa Cartel hitmen after their decisions to cooperate with prosecutors to apprehend El Chapo.

At the time, the judge said the Flores brothers and their families would always have to look over their shoulders. But the Flores twins still agreed to cooperate, and the prosecutors, in return, asked for an even lighter sentence for them.

The Sinaloa Cartel is considered one of the world's most powerful drug trafficking syndicates. The Mexican drug cartel has been known to carry out assassinations, murders, and torture to protect its turf.

The group was founded in the late 1980s and headed by El Chapo. Under El Chapo's leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel earned its reputation through violence and outfought several rival groups.

El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado, after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Pedro Flores, the Flores Twins Testify Against El Chapo (Full) - From Crowned TV Courts