The Chicago Sun Times
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.
The wives of Chicago’s most prolific cocaine dealers have pleaded guilty to stashing millions of dollars in drug proceeds after their husbands were arrested in 2008.
On Thursday, Vivianna Lopez, 42, pleaded guilty to participating in a money-laundering conspiracy. Her sister-in-law, Valerie Gaytan, 47, pleaded guilty to the same charge last week.
Lopez is the wife of Pedro Flores, and Gaytan is the wife of Margarito Flores.
The Flores twins, who grew up in Little Village, were convicted of importing tons of cocaine into Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, Detroit, Vancouver and other North American cities from 2005 to 2008.
Their cooperation with the government was key to the conviction of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, who ran the Sinaloa cartel.
Read more
