(Image Credit: IMAGN)
Los Angeles, California – José Ángel Del Villar, the influential CEO of Latin music powerhouse Del Records, will spend the next four years in federal prison after being convicted of doing business with a sanctioned Mexican concert promoter tied to two of the country’s most notorious drug cartels.
Del Villar, 45, of Huntington Beach, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, who also ordered him to pay a $2 million fine. His company, Del Entertainment Inc., will serve three years of probation and pay an additional $1.8 million.
The sentencing follows a March conviction on one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act — a federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens from engaging in transactions with individuals or entities labeled as significant drug traffickers by the Treasury Department. Prosecutors argued that Del Villar knowingly flouted the law, keeping business ties with Guadalajara-based promoter Jesús “Chucho” Pérez Alvear after the U.S. formally sanctioned him in 2018.
Pérez, who ran Gallistica Diamante — better known as Ticket Premier — was accused by the U.S. Treasury of laundering money for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis organization. The Kingpin Act designation, announced on April 6, 2018, effectively banned U.S. individuals and companies from working with him.
But within weeks, federal agents said, Del Villar and Del Entertainment continued to arrange performances in Mexico where Pérez stood to profit. One high-profile example came just 22 days after the sanction, when a Del Entertainment artist performed at a Pérez-promoted concert in Aguascalientes. Court records show Del Villar’s own credit card was used to pay for a private jet to ferry the musician from Van Nuys to the show — despite FBI agents warning the performer directly about the ban.
The pattern continued throughout 2018 and 2019, with concerts in Mexicali, San José Iturbide, and elsewhere. Prosecutors called the arrangement “a sophisticated criminal scheme” that was “sustained over a lengthy period of time.”
Two others were charged in the case. Co-defendant Luca Scalisi, 59, of West Hollywood, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to violate the Kingpin Act and is scheduled for sentencing in October. Pérez himself pleaded guilty to the same charge but was murdered in Mexico in December 2024.
The case has continued to ripple through the Latin music industry. Just last week, the Treasury Department added another artist tied to Del Villar’s business ventures — Ricardo Hernández Medrano, known as “El Makabelico” or “Comando Exclusivo” — to the Kingpin list. Officials said Hernández laundered drug money for the Cartel del Noreste through concerts and music royalties.
The investigation was led by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation, with help from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. It was prosecuted as part of Operation Take Back America, a Justice Department initiative targeting cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and their financial networks.
With Del Villar’s conviction, federal authorities are signaling that entertainment companies — not just drug traffickers — will face serious consequences for working in the cartels’ orbit.
