- Eduardo Verdugo / AP Photo
- It wasn’t proven that Alfredo Vazquez-Hernandez was a top aide to Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán (above), but he was still sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Federal judge Ruben Castillo said Monday that he didn’t see solid evidence showing that Alfredo Vazquez-Hernandez met with Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, let alone that he was a logistical coordinator for the drug organization.
“I will tell you on behalf of all Chicagoans and all the citizens of this country that we are tired of drug trafficking,” said the judge.
But Paul Brayman, an attorney for Vazquez-Hernandez, argued that the recording was too muffled, and the language was too coded, to make out what exactly was being discussed or by whom. It’s not even clear which one of the Flores twins was in on the conversation—at different points, each of them has been identified.
After the hearing, Gabriel Vazquez, 44, who said he’s the oldest of Vazquez-Hernandez’s ten children, called the sentence “harsh.” “My father, he’s not the monster everyone says he is. He worked, worked, worked all his life. He’s a good person.”
NOTE: Federal officials spell the defendant’s name as “Vasquez-Hernandez,” but his son says it’s actually Vazquez-Hernandez.
