Wives of convicted Sinaloa drug traffickers admit to money laundering conspiracy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The wives of two convicted drug traffickers have each pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's office announced Thursday.
Mob wives Vivianna Lopez, 42, also known as "Mia Flores," and Valerie Gaytan, 47, also known as "Olivia Flores," admitted in a plea deal that they accessed and spent cash by their husbands – twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, respectively – as part of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Specifically, prosecutors said both women spent $165,000 on private school tuition for their children, as well as nearly $100,000 on travel expenses.
Margarito and Pedro Flores operated a Chicago-based distribution cell for Sinaloa – which involved the distribution of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, and kilogram quantities of heroin per month to customers in Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C., prosecutors said.
In November 2008, the brothers began cooperating with the feds in the case against Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera. It was after that when the brothers' wives began storing cash drug proceeds from their husbands, prosecutors said.
They went on spending the drug money 2020, prosecutors said.
Gaytan pleaded guilty on Friday of last week, while Lopez pleaded guilty Thursday. A third defendant, Laura Lopez, pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on Thursday.
Each count carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.