Drug-Dealing Chicago Twins Key to Busting Cartels

Brothers who ran Chicago hub caught between warring factions

Twins not only look alike, but they often think alike, talk alike, operate a profitable drug distribution network alike ...

At least, that was the case a set of Chicago twins, Pedro and Margarito Flores.

Thursday, 36 individuals, including three cartel leaders, were charged in eight indictments unsealed in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune, and the case was built on information provided by this pair.  

In early 2008, the Sinaloa cartel, a Mexican organization headed by Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada-Garcia, divided, causing a violent "civil war" in Mexico among the former allies. According to indictments, both warring organizations threatened their drug distributors to avoid the other side --- or else.

Pedro and Margarito Flores, who had been living a high-income life as top-level drug traffickers, found themselves caught in the middle. Each battling side tested their loyalty, forcing them to decide whom they would work with.

With their lives at risk, the brothers, 28, chose to work with the law.  They cozied up with investigators to provide crucial evidence that led to the "most significant drug importation conspiracies ever charged in Chicago," according to Chicago's U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

The twin brothers have been indicted and are in federal custody, but officials declined to specify if they were arrested or are in protective custody.

As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water ... especially when someone's threatening to spill that blood all over the ground.

Matt Bartosik, a "between blogs" blogger, is not his brother's keeper.

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