The Flores twins built a drug empire with ‘El Chapo’ — then betrayed him
To build their billion-dollar drug empire, the Flores brothers worked together as a perfect machine. Identical twins born in Chicago to Mexican immigrant parents, they could communicate without speaking — just a raised eyebrow or grunt would do. Pedro, who went by Pete, had the smarts and discipline to manage a sprawling binational business. Margarito, known as Jay, brought the charm and deal-making savvy. By their early 20s, they were doing business with the world’s most powerful drug lords, including Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The twins were born into the drug trade and had grown up on gangster flicks such as “Scarface,” but several brushes with death convinced them they didn’t want to end up like the film’s protagonist, Tony Montana, a cocaine smuggler killed in a hail of gunfire. So they made a dramatic choice that put a target on their backs forever: They snitched. Their spying helped bring down El Chapo and marked the starting point of a trend of high-profile drug lords cooperating with federal authorities that continues to …
