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Friday, November 4, 2022

From Flipping Big Macs To Importing Tons Of Cocaine: Chicago Twins Who Helped Bring Down El Chapo Say McDonald’s Was Their Business Model

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat


In a new podcast, Margarito Flores and Pedro Flores say they got jobs at a Little Village McDonald’s when they were teenagers and honed management skills they used in their drug business.

The twin brothers who authorities say were the most prolific drug dealers in Chicago history — and, after being caught, helped bring down Sinaloa cartel drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera — say they learned some of their management skills while cooking french fries and working the drive-thru at a McDonald’s.

In new interviews, Pedro Flores and Margarito Flores say they were 17 when they decided to work at the burger chain’s restaurant at 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue in Little Village.

The Golden Arches gave the brothers a basic education in running a business, everything from having a consistent product to being prepared to absorb a financial loss, they say in the new podcast “Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord,” offering a rare inside look at the drug trade.

The twins say they got their first lessons about running a drug business from their father in the late 1980s after he finished serving prison time for arranging a heroin deal at the same McDonald’s in Little Village.

The brothers say they were just 7 when they accompanied him on road trips to buy marijuana in Mexico. They learned to compress the marijuana to transport it to Chicago, spraying Coca-Cola on the leaves to make them stick together, according to the podcast, and learned about crossing the border, which routes to take and how to avoid the attention of customs agents.

The McDonald’s at 2609 S. Kedzie Ave. in July 2007

Their father moved to Mexico, and their older brother Armando Flores, a drug dealer, became their father figure, making them help around the house, attend a Catholic school and come home before the city’s evening curfew. But Armando Flores went to prison on a 1998 drug charge, and the twins were on their own.

The brothers made their first drug deal at the McDonald’s at 26th and Kedzie, not far from their home, according to the podcast. By 17, they say, they were selling a lot of cocaine, sitting on $1 million in profits and needed to create a system “where you can’t mess it up.”

For them, McDonald’s was the model.

Pedro Flores (left) and his brother Margarito Flores, who once were the biggest drug traffickers in Chicago, smuggling a ton of cocaine a month into the United States.U.S. Marshals Service

The podcast doesn’t always identify which brother is speaking, but one is heard saying, “I was learning the business part at McDonald’s. I’m learning to do fries. I’m learning to grill. I washed the dishes. I did the drive-thru. I did the front.

“It was a great experience for the both of us, I think.”

That brother also talks about how they were impressed with the restaurant’s consistency: “McDonald’s went the extra mile to make the ketchup pump and the mustard pump to release the exact amount of mustard and the exact amount of ketchup needed to taste the same every time. You know what you’re gonna get.”

McDonald’s didn’t respond to questions.

Later, the brothers say they applied that lesson to the cocaine they sold to drug dealers in Chicago and other cities. Every time, they say, it had to be the same quality product: uncut and pure.

The twins say they liked McDonald’s “team environment” and how managers made employees feel safe.

They also say working there helped them master how to accept a business loss. One of the brothers talks about a time when they were working at the restaurant when an employee dropped a block of cheese on the dirty floor. 

The employee picked it up and was going to keep using it. The brother recalls saying to the employee, “There’s a thousand blocks of cheese in the freezer. Believe me, McDonald’s is not going to care. They’re going to care more that you gave somebody cheese with hair on it.”

Years later, Margarito Flores, who goes by Jay, was kidnapped and held for ransom. Pedro Flores, who goes by Pete, paid for his freedom with cocaine.

Drawing on what they learned from their McDonald’s experience about taking a loss, they say that not only did they absorb the cost of the cocaine as a business expense, but they decided not to seek revenge even though they knew who was behind the kidnapping — because that would have been bad for business.

At McDonald’s, the brothers say they realized they needed to prepare for surges in customer demand at breakfast and lunch time.

As they built their drug business, they say they applied that knowledge, making sure their trucks were fully stockpiled with cocaine on the first and 15th of every month because that’s when people were getting their “government checks” and likeliest to buy drugs.

Later, the twins set up warehouses in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities to distribute their cocaine all over the country, with as many as 30 people working directly for them.

“I would have been a beast at Amazon,” one of them jokes in the podcast about the logistics savvy they developed.

A courtroom sketch showing Pedro Flores (left) and his twin brother and former partner in crime Margarito Flores appearing before then-U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo in Chicago in 2015

In 2008, after a decade at the top of the cocaine trade, the Flores twins were approached by federal law enforcement officials in Monterrey, Mexico, and, knowing they were caught and could face long prison terms, agreed to cooperate against their cartel drug supplier, El Chapo.

In return, the brothers, who admitted importing more than a ton of cocaine into the United States every month, in 2015 got relatively light sentences of 14 years in prison.

In 2018, Pedro Flores testified against Guzman in New York at the trial that ended with the kingpin being sentenced to life in prison.

Today, the twins are out of prison and on supervised release, presumably heeding the advice of the federal judge who told them they would have to keep an eye out for the rest of their lives for Guzman’s assassins.

Their wives, their older brother and other relatives all are facing federal charges in Chicago, accused of helping launder millions of dollars in drug money after the twins were arrested.

46 comments:

  1. It pays to be a Snitchero.

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    Replies
    1. Just ask mayo and chapo, actually most of cds🤣🤣

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  2. They have active warrants in the DEA website. I’m sure Chapo got screwed.

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  3. Yes a billion served

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  4. It seems that Sinaloa has a lot of snitches. El Mayo has sold drugs for over 50 years and never been to prison. Does anybody else know anybody in the game that long and never been locked up?

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    1. Khun Sa had a bigger drug empire than any Colombian or Mexican as was in the game just as long as Mayo and was never arrested. Juan Nepumeceno was only ever arrested for a few hours and was in the game longer than Mayo.

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    2. *Correction, Sa was arrested once and did time but once out was at it again.

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    3. Bill Clinton comes to mind.

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    4. Mother Teresa was in the game longer.

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    5. 2:18 Donald trump

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    6. Cepillin and Brozo were selling fent before anybody.

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    7. 4:47 Donald Trump

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    8. 2:33 & 5:01 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂

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    9. Mexican government protection and spooky spy agencies have always been involved with Mayo. Juan Nepomuceno Guerra was Salinas de Gortari's friend. The worst of the shit of one world with the worst shit of another world. That fat fuck killed his wife and Pancho Villa's son. He was stingy with the poor the tales say. A real piece of shit representation of old school Mexican greedy men

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    10. 11:10 Mexican government protection?, not anymore, dont mix facts.

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    11. 2:18 bill did not inhale, and Monica carried her own kneepads into the Whites' House, she did swallow almost it all, saved some for evidence.

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    12. 12:08 te la pasas de pilmama en cada artículo buey

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  5. "A light sentence of 14 years" im pretty sure if the one sentencing was sentenced to 14 yrs it wouldn't be light lol

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    1. it could have been life imprisonment with the charges they were facing. if it weren't for their collaboration they would have gotten the life hammer.

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    2. The guidelines for that amount of Drugs is typically at least 30 years to possible life. So 14 years is more than half the normal sentence for that amount. They would have gotten 10 but they got caught making a few side deals without telling the Government.

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    3. Article said they got 14 years in 2015, but they're out now (after 7 years) on supervised release.
      Light.

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    4. I bet if someone was sentenced to life and on the 14th year they were told they were going home,i bet they would say the 14 went fast.lol

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  6. Sounds like the have no loyalties to anyone but themselves. Rating out family, friends and business associates. Let's hope carma returns the favor swiftly!!!

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    Replies
    1. 2:42 it happened to chapo, snitched on all closed friends and family, this guys will slip fo show, ypu get sonuse to that life that you think i can ovoid those mistakes that i made in the pass and get back at it, but you make other mistakes that will get you back in prison, chapo made those mistakes 3 times and he never learned

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  7. Say what you will be the podcast is pretty good. It gives you a different insight into the game. I don’t condone what they did but it’s still an interesting story.

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  8. I bet they end up getting caught lacking at the gas station. Every one knows they are in cali. A million street gangs out there that are looking for a come up and to make a name.

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  9. They arrested Ricardo Chapa aka Ricky. They guy BB said is leading convoys into CDG territory in Miguel Aleman.

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    Replies
    1. Just saw the post, he looks like the canaca guy🤣🤣 cant believe that crack head has Nuevo Leon on fire

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  10. I still remember how stupid these guys wives were for writing books and giving interviews and then they got indicted. The brothers should have faded in the background it makes no sense why they want to constantly expose themselves. Bet feds are watching brothers waiting for them to go looking for the $ like their wives that got caught up

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    Replies
    1. Fuck stupid how blind that they even married those none beautiful ladies

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  11. Oh c'mon, ain't no flipping burgers at Mickie D's. Only microonda time cook.

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  12. Can you do a story on Kato and his cartel ties. I listened to the twins podcast and the wife of one of the twins was with Kato before. Crazy story.

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    Replies
    1. Every body knows that story and its not worth it

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    2. 5:56 the twin that made up the robbery story against Kato will never be done paying for his trickery, some nalgas become real expensive after a while...

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    3. 11:39 pinche SIR that happens all the time, por eso esa historia esta mas que quemada, nobody cares

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    4. 12:47 and yet, here we are burning the leaves to the twins and all the shit.

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  13. Yea I’m sure these dopes were flippin burgers and dipping fries while thinking “we gotta apply this to the coke game…” fuckkk outta here. They trying to reel America in w the McDonald’s story. Everybody eats mcds. Smh. 50 pushin something everybody eat 😂

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    Replies
    1. McDs is gross but good if your onstipated and want hemorrhoids. In n Out is the way to go, just tell the waitress to hold the mayo.

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    2. 12:42 hold the mayo? In N Out uses spread/mystery sauce aka thousand island dressing, acual pinche mayo😆

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    3. No propaganda, but I would buy the Burger King Double Whopper, no cheese and go buy my fries at McDonalds', the. They started downsizing to recover the money they spent on ninja turtles and batman and other shit and nobody likes their shit anymore.

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  14. Wow two dope boys raised by McDonald's corporation become the USA's "biggest" suppliers 😂 snitch and get rich 🤑

    Hahaha 😂 they moved "1 TON /. Month" Jaja 😃🤣 now be a good dealer and.domt step on it

    At the party... Snnn snnnnmn snniifffff ooweeeee is that Flores cocaine you are snooting.... "Oh why yes of course I only snort the good brand" 😂😂😂😂

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  15. This are the best drug dealers in the USA who manage to sell billions of dollars and got away thanks to the USA government.

    ReplyDelete

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