Singer Gerardo Ortiz avoided being sent to prison. A judge in California, United States, sentenced him to three years of probation and fined him between 250,000 and 1.5 million dollars for carrying out financial transactions with a company linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The well-known composer of Mexican regional music receives the sanction after testifying against his former record label, DEL Records, linked to the criminal organization led by Nemesio Oseguera, alias El Mencho.
The indictment accused Ortiz of attending a concert in Mexico in 2018 where, according to the investigation, CJNG laundered money through his performances. The artist, famous for his narcocorridos, was a witness in the trial against his former music producer and owner of DEL Records, Ángel del Villar. Ortiz had previously pleaded guilty and admitted in court to holding at least six concerts for CJNG. The artist cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a witness in the case against his former representative.
The singer’s confession was kept secret until March 18, when federal prosecutor Alex Schwab spoke in court about Ortiz’s participation in the conspiracy to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, or Kingping Lawwhich imposes sanctions on foreigners who participate in international drug trafficking.
“I have nothing else to say. Were there any lies? A lot of things were said, but this is the truth. We were there singing in this concert (in Aguascalientes), we were there, sharing some of our music with the audience,” he said as he left the audience and made it clear that his priority continues to be his music and his relationship with his followers.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, Del Villar, through his concert promotion company, DEL Entertainment, was found guilty of doing business with Jesús Mutt Pérez Alvear, a promoter who worked directly with the CJNG and Los Cuinis, the financial and operational arm of the organization led by El Mencho. In 2018, the federal law enforcement agency designated Pérez Alvear a “drug trafficker” after finding he was helping cartels launder money. Pérez Alvear was shot dead in a restaurant in Mexico City’s Polanco neighborhood, one of the capital’s most luxurious neighborhoods, in December 2024.
According to the investigations, the record label would have mixed the proceeds from ticket sales and other activities related to presentations in Aguascalientes and the State of Mexico, with the proceeds of the Jalisco cartel’s drug trafficking. FBI agents located Ortiz at the Phoenix airport and gave him a letter in April 2018, informing him that he should stop performing at shows organized by Pérez Alvear. The prosecution announced that the singer initially intended to suspend his performances for Chucho, but Del Villar convinced him to remain present.
Ortiz parted ways with DEL Records in 2019 due to a dispute over his contract. In a statement after the trial began, one of the singer’s lawyers told the magazine Rolling Stone that his client’s guilty plea was very specific and referred only to his transactions with Pérez Alvear in the context of concerts.
The regional Mexican singer and corridos tumbados was born in Pasadena, California. He burst onto the music scene at the age of eight with his album love meetingreleased in 1997. In 2016, Ortiz was arrested by federal police at Guadalajara airport accused of apologizing for the crime for the music video of his song you were mine. The Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant, a month after the release of the single, believing that it publicized violent actions against women and motivated the exercise of such actions.
