Flores brothers get 14 years on drug charges

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Surrounded by several perimeters of special security, identical twins Pedro and Margarito Flores had come to federal court in Chicago to find out the value of their cooperation against the feared Sinaloa drug cartel.

Chief Judge Ruben Castillo called the brothers, who hail from Pilsen, "the most significant drug dealers that I have ever had to sentence in 20 years on the bench."

What makes them such big deals in the drug world is this: they were the go-to American vendors for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, patriarch of the Sinaloa cartel and Chicago's "Public Enemy Number One" before his capture a year ago.

The Flores' trafficked 64,000 kilos of cocaine and heroin into the United States according to investigators, who estimate that their cartel handled 80-percent of the illicit drugs on Chicago streets. The amount of drugs they dealt was unprecedented, devastating and horrific, according to Judge Castillo.

It was at the height of their work in the Sinaloa empire that the brothers decided to cooperate with federal authorities in Chicago, secretly recording conversations even with El Chapo himself.

That kind of aid to the government means you "get a discount for bad behavior," said the judge, who told the Flores' brothers, 33, that they would be handed life sentences had they not cooperated.

Their plea agreements called for sentences of between 10 and 16 years. The government, in an unusual request for leniency, was asking for sentences on the low side of that range.

Judge Castillo however found reason to give them closer to the top of the range: 14 years. Castillo said he was prepared to sentence them to 12 years had it not been for 276 kilos of cocaine they allowed into the U.S. during their cooperation, without telling authorities. Because of that misstep, the judge said he was sentencing each of them to the additional two years.

Even after the Flores brothers get out of prison, at relatively young ages, they won't live normal lives. According to the judge they would be "wondering every time they get in a car whether that car would start or explode."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara acknowledged the Flores brothers were "the most valuable cooperators this district has ever seen." Ferrara said their cooperation was unprecedented and that they put themselves in extreme danger. If the cartel found out they were cooperating "they certainly would have been killed." In what was considered a message from the cartel, the Flores' father was murdered by cartel hit men in Mexico after their cooperation was revealed.

Both ex-drug operatives spoke at the super-secure sentencing hearing and apologized for their decisions.

Margarito Flores got choked up several times when speaking to the judge. He said he wants to take responsibility for his actions. "I am ashamed, I am embarrassed, I am regretful," Margarito said in court, and described how he put his family in harm's way and he will never forgive himself for that.

Twin brother Pedro Flores was very difficult to hear and his voice cracked several times while speaking. He apologized to his family and thanked the government for giving him the opportunity to cooperate. He said he is ready to take full responsibility for his life.