A Spanish-language music executive was sentenced to four years behind bars and ordered to pay a $2 million fine in downtown Los Angeles Friday for doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels.
Angel Del Villar, 45, of Huntington Beach, the chief executive of Del Records and its subsidiary talent agency Del Entertainment, was found guilty in March of conspiracy to do business with sanctioned people connected to drug trafficking, in violation of the Kingpin Act, and 10 other counts of violating the act.
Del Villar's Bell Gardens-based company was found guilty of all 11 counts of which Del Villar was convicted. The company was fined $1.8 million Friday and given three years' probation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The Kingpin Act prevents people in the United States from doing business with sanctioned persons and entities.
According to evidence presented at a nine-day trial in L.A. federal court, the defendants did business with Jesús Pérez "Chuco" Alvear, of Guadalajara, Mexico, a music promoter who controlled Gallistica Diamante, known as Ticket Premier. Pérez promoted concerts for Del Entertainment in Mexico until March 2019.
The U.S. Treasury Department listed Pérez and his company as "specially designated narcotics traffickers" under the Kingpin Act in April 2018, after concluding he facilitated money laundering for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación and the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization.
Letters of support for Del Villar from state Assemblymember José Luis Solache (D-Lynwood) and Lynwood Mayor Rita Soto were received by the court.
Co-defendant Luca Scalisi, 59, of West Hollywood, Del Records' chief financial officer, pleaded guilty in May to violating the Kingpin Act and is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Pérez, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to do business with sanctioned people connected to drug trafficking, was murdered in Mexico in December 2024, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Founded by Del Villar in 2009, Del Records specializes in regional Mexican music genres such as corrido and norteño.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department listed a recording artist affiliated with Del Villar's music businesses as a "specially designated narcotics trafficker" under the Kingpin Act. "Narco-rapper" Ricardo Hernández Medrano, known by his stage names "El Makabelico" or "Comando Exclusivo," was added to the sanctions list based on the government's determination that he used concerts and royalties to launder funds for the Cartel del Noreste, formerly known as Los Zetas.