Music Executive Sentenced For Doing Business With Mexican Criminal Cartel

April 13, 2026 ·

Photo courtesy of Ian Harber.

WEST HOLLYWOOD—On Tuesday, April 7, Luca Scalisi, 59, the chief financial officer of Del Records, was sentenced by a Downtown Los Angeles federal judge for his role in Del Records’ business dealings with a Mexican Criminal Cartel. Scalisi was sentenced to spend eight months in federal prison.

According to the reporting done by WeHo Times, Scalisi is required to pay a $15,000 fine.  Mexican concert promoter Jesús Pérez Alvear, who headed a company named Gallistica Diamante Perez, along with his company, was identified as being involved in drug trafficking by the United States Treasury Department.

This involvement took the form of a musician, contracted to Del Entertainment, performing at concerts promoted by Jesús Pérez Alvear.

Per a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, on August 15, 2025, José Ángel Del Villar, the head of both Del Records and Del Entertainment Inc., Alvear laundered money for both the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación.

Del Villar and Del Entertainment Inc were found guilty on 10 counts of violating the Kingpin Act, which allows the Department of the Treasury to place sanctions on narcotics traffickers and cartels, and also prevents U.S. companies from doing business with them. Del Villar and his entertainment company was also found guilty of committing one count of violating the Kingpin Act. It took the form of conspiring to engage in transaction with a specially designated narcotics traffickers in violation of 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.

On May 23, 2025, Scalisi pled guilty to committing one count of conspiracy to do a transaction with a specially designated narcotics trafficker. The prosecution was part of Operation Take Back America.

Canyon News reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, for comment on the sentencing of Scalisi and the prosecution that lead to the sentencing, who indicated they had no comment.

 

By Daniel Diquinzio

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