Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord (iHeartPodcasts)

The Flores twins arrive in the US after turning themselves in to authorities and end up in the Special Housing Unit - the SHU. They are faced with a choice: continue cooperating against all of their customers in America or spend the rest of their lives in prison. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At a strip club in the island getaway of Punta Mita, the Flores family find themselves in an impossible situation. With the prospect of life in prison, or a life taken away by other means hanging over their heads, Jay is tasked with making a huge decision.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pete takes to the witness stand to lay out the case against El Chapo. He explains to the jury the details of the recorded call and his relationship with El Chapo before being turned over to the Drug Lord’s defense team for questioning.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After nine months of recording calls and feeding information to the DEA, Jay and Pete are given two hours to get their lives in order before being taken by US agents. As they make their way to the US, their families are left behind, scrambling in a desperate flee to get out of Mexico.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With El Chapo finally captured, the Flores twins can now be sentenced. They are brought together for the first time in five years to discover their fate. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charlie finds out what information the feds used to indict Val and Viv, how they tried to fight their charges and their reaction to being sentenced to prison. Former DEA agent Michael Ferrara who worked the El Chapo case gives his take on the wives’ prosecution and the broader impact the twins’ cooperation had on the war on drugs. 

With his wife now going to prison, Charlie poses the question to Jay: Has it all been worth it?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jay must find a way to save his twin, Pete. Despite all the chaos, Jay and Val marry and head to Mexico for their honeymoon. An indictment out of Milwaukee spells trouble for the twins, and Pete desperately races to the Mexican border to avoid getting caught. The twins are forced to go on the run.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pete and Vivianna meet Jay and Val in their bathroom in an attempt to figure out a plan to turn their lives around. Before they can get any taste of freedom, they must convince their attorney and the US government to work with them.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pete and Jay continue cooperating from prison. With a few special privileges they are allowed to see their families. Pete takes advantage of some downtime in the bathroom. This is the start of the infamous three B’s: The Baby, the Bentley and the Billboards.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After billions of dollars and thousands of decisions made over decades as powerful drug traffickers, Jay and Pete Flores are now free and living a new life. But their incredible story is not over. Every time the twin brothers seem to turn a corner, the consequences of their decision to cooperate with law enforcement come back to haunt them.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three months into their drug trafficking career, the twins have a million dollars stashed under their bed. They are just seventeen years old. Pete and Jay are enjoying a meteoric rise to the top: building a complex logistical chain in Chicago from scratch, shipping their ‘product’ all over America. And as it turns out, they learn how to build a successful empire in the same place many kids get their first job: McDonald’s.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The twins ramp up their cooperation with the US government and start recording incriminating calls. But there’s one piece of evidence that the twins need to be able secure their deal: to get El Chapo on tape.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jay’s meeting with Chapo sparks a new business relationship. The twins find themselves at the table with the world’s biggest drug lords. El Chapo, El Mayo and Arturo Beltran welcome the Flores brothers into the cartel family with open arms.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On September 25, 2023, Jay’s wife Val was sentenced to prison for her role in a money laundering conspiracy. Two months earlier, Pete’s wife Viv was sentenced for the same crime. In an exclusive interview, Charlie jumps on the phone with Val to find out how she’s feeling about the fact she will have to spend three and a half years in prison. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

COVID hits the prisons so the twins can’t see their families for months. Jay spends 56 days in hospital. Finally, after 12 years in prison, the twins are released on the November 5th, 2020.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inside prison, the twins are separated for the first time in their lives. On the outside, their wives are forced to adjust to a life living under the radar. Jay is taken to MCC New York, known as the ‘Guantanamo Bay’ of New York. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Creating a billion-dollar business comes with a lot of debt. The twins had to pony up their own money in order to secure supply. Pete discovers that in this industry, people will do anything to make sure their debts are repaid. Jay takes a desperate flight to Culiacan to try and smooth things over.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Mexican federales and the cartel face off in an attempt to save the twins from being turned over to US Marshals. The brewing cartel war forces the twins to make some hard decisions. After watching a John Gotti documentary, Jay has an epiphany about how the twins could change their lives for the better. But first he has to convince his brother.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charlie sits down with the children to get their perspective. Jay discusses adjusting to life on the outside. Within months of the twins being released, their wives, Val and Viv, are arrested on money laundering charges. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Identical twins Pete & Jay Flores built America’s biggest drug trafficking empire and made international news because they are the reason El Chapo is now in jail. But this isn’t just another narco story. 50 Cent and Charlie take you to the beginning - the streets of Little Village, Chicago, where Pete and Jay, at the age of seven, begin learning the family trade, taking their first steps on the journey they were born to be a part of.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before you get started on Season 2, catch up on the story so far.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After an intense manhunt, Mexican authorities recapture El Chapo and extradite him to the US. Pete holds the key piece of evidence and spends 18 months prepping with prosecutors to go face-to-face against El Chapo in the courtroom. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaking publicly for the first time ever, Chicago-born identical twins Jay and Peter Flores share the incredible story of how they went from dealing $2 billion worth of drugs across the country as North America’s most successful cocaine traffickers, to government informants who brought down the infamous drug lord, “El Chapo.”

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jay comes face to face with the world’s most notorious drug lord. To negotiate his brother’s release, he must find a way to convince El Chapo that he’s being lied to by one of his close business associates.

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s two more people who are key to this story. Jay and Pete fall in love with the daughters of cops, Val and Viv. But it’s not their proximity to the law that brings trouble to the boys’ door. With Val’s ex-husband, ‘Kato’ being the boss of feared gang The Latin Kings, and the twins moving two and a half million dollars worth of cocaine a month, the streets of Chicago start talking about the Flores brothers. Pete finds himself in a life threatening situation. 

All episodes are available now.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jay and Pete adjust to their separate realities in prison. Jay ends up in a prison with better conditions, while the opposite happens for Pete. Jay puts on a spectacle for Val in the visiting room. Pete’s family visit gets canceled, and the prison is put on lockdown when El Chapo is arrested.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.