Former Chicago Resident Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Participating in $100 Million Money

Former Chicago Resident Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Participating in $100 Million Money Laundering Conspiracy Involving Mexican Drug Cartels


CHICAGO — A former Chicago resident who laundered illegal drug proceeds on behalf of two cartels in Mexico has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

MARIO HERRERA was a member of a Mexico-based conspiracy that laundered more than $100 million in narcotics proceeds on behalf of the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels. Herrera was personally responsible for laundering or attempting to launder at least $1.07 million in proceeds from the sale of cartel narcotics. Herrera was among 30 defendants charged as part of the Chicago-based federal investigation dubbed “Operation King’s Gold.”

Herrera, 55, of Michoacán, Mexico, and formerly of Chicago, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood imposed the five-year sentence Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; James M. Gibbons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; Tara Sullivan, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division; and Timothy Jones, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. Substantial assistance was provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, DuPage County Sheriff’s Office, Chicago Police Department, Buffalo Grove Police Department, Joliet Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-chicago-resident-sentenced-5-years-prison-participating-100-million-money