Latin Music Conglomerate CEO Sentenced to 4 Years in Federal Prison for Doing Business with Drug Cartel-Linked Concert Promoter
LOS ANGELES / Friday, August 15, 2025 – The CEO of a Latin music conglomerate was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by conducting business with a Guadalajara-based concert promoter with ties to Mexican drug cartels.
José Ángel Del Villar, 45, of Huntington Beach, the CEO of Del Records and its related talent agency Del Entertainment Inc., was sentenced by United States District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, who also fined Del Villar $2 million.
Judge Frimpong today also sentenced co-defendant Del Entertainment to three years of probation and fined the company $1.8 million.
At the conclusion of a nine-day trial, a federal jury on March 27 found Del Villar and Del Entertainment guilty of one count of conspiracy to transact in property of specially designated narcotics traffickers in violation of the Kingpin Act and 10 counts of violating the Kingpin Act.
In April 2018, the defendants did business with Jesús Pérez Alvear, a.k.a. “Chucho,” of Guadalajara, Mexico, a music promoter who controlled Gallistica Diamante, a.k.a. 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 on April 6, 2018, after concluding he facilitated money laundering for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization. The Kingpin Act prevents people in the United States from conducting business with sanctioned persons and entities.
Even though Del Villar and Del Entertainment were aware that it was illegal to engage in transactions or dealings with Pérez, they willfully did business with him by continuing to have a Del Entertainment musical artist perform at concerts in which Pérez and Del Entertainment had a financial interest.
For example, on April 19, 2018, FBI agents approached a well-known musician and explicitly told him about Pérez’s designation under the Kingpin Act and how that prohibited him from conducting business with Pérez and performing concerts that Pérez promoted.
On April 28, 2018, the musician performed at a concert that Pérez organized. Del Villar’s credit card was used to pay for a private jet that brought the musician from Van Nuys Airport to the performance in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
On multiple other occasions in 2018 and 2019, Pérez and Del Villar continued to do business by arranging for the musician to perform at concerts throughout Mexico – including Mexicali and San José Iturbide, Guanajuato.
“Far from being an unwitting participant in a ‘gotcha’ crime, [Del Villar] orchestrated a sophisticated criminal scheme sustained over a lengthy period of time and involving myriad unlawful transactions,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.
Co-defendant Luca Scalisi, 59, of West Hollywood, pleaded guilty on May 23 to one count of conspiracy to transact in property of specially designated narcotics traffickers in violation of the Kingpin Act. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 22.
Co-defendant Pérez, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transact in property of specially designated narcotics traffickers, was murdered in Mexico in December 2024.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department listed another 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 Treasury Department’s determination that he used concerts and royalties to launder funds for the Cartel del Noreste, formerly known as Los Zetas.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control provided significant assistance in this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Benedetto L. Balding of the Transnational Organized Crime Section and Alexander B. Schwab, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, are prosecuting this case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
This case is part of an OCDETF operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Contact
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California
