0:13

Hey, it's the dec and I'm Charlie Webster.

0:16

This is Surviving L Chapo The Twins

0:18

Who Brought Down a Drug Lord Season

0:20

two. Hi,

0:30

it's Charlie Webster here, host

0:32

of Surviving L Chapo The Twins Who

0:34

Brought Down a Drug Lord. I know

0:37

you guys have been waiting for season two,

0:39

and I've got some really good news.

0:41

It's coming out next week.

0:44

But as we've been putting the finishing touches

0:46

together on the new season, a

0:49

huge development just happened and

0:51

I wanted to bring you up to date. If

0:54

you remember, whilst I was recording with the

0:57

Florest family in the safe house, they

0:59

found out that Jay and Pete's older brother,

1:02

Armando, had cooperated with

1:04

the Feds to provide evidence

1:06

that implicated their wives, Valenviv

1:09

in a money laundering conspiracy. There

1:13

was a lot of upset in the house and

1:15

the realization that the wives.

1:17

Might end up serving prison time.

1:20

The information Armando gave was

1:22

related to the twins drug debts that

1:24

were collected when Jay and Pete went to prison

1:26

back in two thousand and eight. The

1:29

debts were outstanding money that was

1:31

owed to the brothers for drugs.

1:33

It was collected by val Viv and

1:36

Armando.

1:37

Some of the money was handed over to the

1:39

government, but there was more that

1:41

the government claimed they didn't know about

1:44

that Valenviv used to live off. The

1:48

government inded of Valenviv in

1:50

twenty twenty one. Last

1:52

year, the wives filed a motion

1:55

to dismiss the money laundering charges,

1:57

arguing that they were promised

2:00

community as part of the Twins

2:02

cooperation deal. A

2:04

hearing was held and Judge

2:06

Matthew Kennelly spent two days

2:09

listening to evidence from both sides.

2:11

He denied the motion to dismiss

2:14

the charges.

2:15

The wives were left with the choice to

2:18

either go to trial or plead

2:20

guilty, partly

2:22

due to a concern around negative public

2:24

perception. The wives decided

2:27

not to go to trial and pleaded

2:29

guilty.

2:31

On July seventeenth.

2:33

Viv was sentenced to three and a half years

2:35

in prison and required to pay

2:37

a five hundred and four thousand, eight

2:40

hundred and fifty eight dollars forfeiture.

2:44

On Monday, the twenty fifth of September,

2:46

Val headed to the courthouse in Chicago

2:49

for her sentencing. The government

2:51

had requested a five year sentence

2:54

instead. After hearing VAL's testimony,

2:57

Judge Connelly gave her the same sentence

2:59

as vs. Three and a half years

3:01

in prison and a five hundred and four

3:04

thousand, eight hundred and fifty eight

3:06

dollars forfeituat. I

3:09

jumped on the phone with Val on Monday afternoon,

3:12

straight after her sentencing.

3:15

How are you feeling.

3:17

I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm

3:19

just I feel like I'm just that it's over with.

3:23

I needed it to be done, and

3:25

I just, yeah, I'm

3:27

so happy. I just I got it over with. But I

3:29

feel like, I, I don't

3:31

know, it's bittersweet, right,

3:35

and I'm

3:37

just happy that, you know, I got it over

3:39

with. You

3:42

know, in court, I apologize to

3:44

my children, you know, for the pain and cause, and

3:46

I just regret

3:49

putting them through this again. I've

3:52

been through so much ready, especially with

3:55

their dad being away for

3:58

all the years and how to

4:00

go through that. So you

4:02

know, now it's like I

4:04

feel like it's different when it comes to mom,

4:06

you know, especially since they've

4:09

had me for so many years and I

4:11

kind of had to be mom and dad when Jay

4:14

was away, and so

4:16

now it's like I won't be there, and I

4:18

just feel like it's going to be really hard for them,

4:21

But I feel really blessed

4:23

with the time that I did get because I got three

4:26

and a half years, and I feel like that was a blessing

4:28

for me. I'm

4:30

really just trying to be positive

4:33

and I just want to

4:35

I really want to put this behind me, and

4:37

I know we're going to get through this. I know that,

4:40

you know, our family is very strong, and

4:43

I feel like our bond is unbreakable, and I

4:46

think that you know, it's only going to make

4:48

us stronger. And I

4:50

know one day they can definitely

4:52

put this behind us and finally just start

4:55

over. And you know, with our

4:58

new lives, it's

5:02

just a lot, it's definitely a lot, but

5:07

at the end of the day, I just feel like it

5:09

makes us stronger. I feel

5:11

like we've grow, We've grown so much

5:14

from everything that we've been through, and

5:16

I feel like I just wouldn't

5:20

be the person I am today if I hadn't

5:22

gone through all the ups

5:24

and downs and all struggles. And I feel

5:26

like I do realize, I do realize

5:29

the mistakes that I've made, and I do honestly

5:33

understand why I

5:36

got the three and a half years. And I

5:39

feel that when

5:42

I was in court just listening to the

5:45

prosecutors and listening to the judge,

5:48

I do understand, and I do take accountability

5:51

for my mistakes for sure, and

5:54

I did take accountability for money

5:57

laundering, and

6:00

I did say that this is what I did. And

6:02

I think that was very

6:04

honorable for me to get up there and gracefully

6:06

say that, you know, everything that

6:08

I'm being charged with, I did do that. However,

6:12

I did believe that I had immunity, and

6:14

so I think that

6:16

that made the difference whether

6:19

the government agrees with that

6:21

or not or just going to

6:23

agree to disagree. But at the end of the day,

6:26

as far as the crime I committed, I did definitely

6:28

money launder, and I did say

6:30

that I'm a different understanding

6:33

of what I was doing. And

6:36

to be honest, Charlie, I just hope that, like,

6:39

by sharing my story, you know, I just want to bring awareness

6:42

to like other women that have like walked

6:44

in my shoes and have that

6:47

are going through this and sometimes

6:50

you're living that life and it's like a really

6:52

fast lifestyle, right and

6:54

you don't realize you

6:57

don't realize the consequences that comes with this life.

7:00

And I think that, you know, I'm

7:02

hoping that they you know other

7:04

women can make better choices than I did, because I

7:06

felt like I did make a huge

7:08

mistake, and I just

7:11

feel bad that, you know, my kids are going to suffer

7:14

because of it, and I feel regretful

7:17

that, you know, they're going to have to go

7:19

to this all over again because they've been

7:21

through so much already.

7:24

What do you think now about

7:26

the fact that the government pursued you like

7:28

this.

7:32

To be honest, Charlie, I feel

7:34

like I was really upset. I

7:36

felt like I was being targeted. I

7:39

felt like I

7:47

felt like they wanted to make an example to me,

7:51

which is hurtful. The

7:54

prosecutors that are in charge

7:57

today of the case, you

7:59

know, I just like they're doing their job, and

8:02

I know that if they were, you

8:06

know, the prosecutors back then when

8:08

my husband was was

8:11

cooperating, I feel like things would have been a lot

8:13

different, and I

8:16

feel like everything

8:19

would have been a lot more clearer, to the

8:21

point where I wouldn't have made certain

8:23

decisions and I wouldn't have made these bad choices.

8:27

And so I'm not upset

8:29

and I'm not mad, I'm not angry. I honestly

8:31

do understand that this was not okay

8:34

with them.

8:36

But I feel like it's different

8:38

today and what it was. I wish

8:41

that the prosecutors today were there

8:44

back in two thousand and eight because everything

8:48

was like everything was smoking mirrors,

8:50

you.

8:50

Know, I mean

8:53

in a word speaking just

8:55

after your sentences, So I can imagine it's

8:57

not really I

8:59

don't know how much it sank in. But

9:02

how do you feel about and

9:04

how you're going to cope with prison? Is there anything

9:06

you've thought about and has

9:08

it come up in your head about your

9:10

own safety?

9:13

And definitely, Charlie, like when

9:16

I was in court today, it's

9:18

like we had to put on the headset and

9:22

they had to basically,

9:25

you know, blur the channels so no

9:27

one can hear what the judges talk, what

9:29

the judge is saying to us. And

9:32

there was things that need to be taken out

9:34

of my report that have had

9:37

to be redacted. Of course, where

9:42

I would be serving my time was

9:44

definitely one of those issues. But

9:49

I must say that it is scary

9:51

more so of just the fact of being

9:54

alone. And I think that's what scares

9:56

me, you know, just.

10:02

You know, it's it's really

10:04

hard to just you know,

10:07

your time alone, and I think that's

10:11

part that

10:13

scares me the most, even

10:17

working with you and like just having these

10:19

hard conversations. I

10:21

was never used to that, Charlie, And I think that by

10:24

doing so, I was able to really

10:26

open up and tell my story,

10:28

and I think it really made a difference. So and

10:33

I think that in season two of our

10:35

podcasts, I think that you

10:37

know, the listeners are going to hear a lot more of

10:39

our stories and depth, and hopefully

10:42

they too can understand, you

10:44

know, what we've been going through. They

10:47

might not agree, but at least they'll understand our journey

10:50

for sure.

10:55

There's so much more to the Flori's family

10:58

story.

10:59

Join us the Sea season two as we take

11:01

you on the fifteen year journey from

11:03

the day the Twins handed themselves in right

11:06

through to now and find

11:08

out how.

11:09

They got to this point. Fifty

11:12

and I are really excited to share the new

11:14

season with you.

11:15

Make sure you hit follow to be notified

11:18

as soon as it drops on October the fourth.

11:21

In the meantime, we've just dropped

11:23

a little episode in your feed so you

11:25

can catch up on everything that happened last

11:27

season and check out the trailer

11:30

for a sneak peek at the new season.

11:33

Can't wait to see you on October the fourth.

11:41

Surviving El Chapo The Twins Who Brought

11:43

Down a Drug Lord. Season two is

11:45

hosted by Curtis fifty cent Jackson

11:48

and me Charlie Webster, produced

11:50

by myself and Jackson mcclennan, assistant

11:53

producer and research support by Katie

11:55

Hurtz, Edit and sound design

11:57

by Nico Prolella, an

12:00

original score by Ryan Sorenson.

12:03

It's executive produced by Curtis fifty

12:06

cent Jackson and Me Charlie Webster.

12:09

Curtis fifty cent Jackson presents a Lionsgate

12:12

Sound and G unit audio production exclusively

12:15

for iHeart Podcasts