Jenni Rivera Linked to Drug Cartel, Witness Claims in New Report

Jenni Rivera, Life and Death of a Mexican American Superstar

Mexico's music world mourned Jenni Rivera, the U.S.-born singer presumed killed in a plane crash whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles had made her a Mexican-American superstar. 

On the one month anniversary of Jenni Rivera’s death, new details are emerging about the alleged involvement that “La Diva de la Banda” had with a drug cartel in Mexico.

Various sources such as Univision, La Opinión and the Mexican daily Reforma are reporting that a new witness has come forth exposing Rivera’s working relationship with the criminal organization.

An attorney for the Beltrán Leyva cartel, of which kingpin “La Barbie” once belonged to, says he used to contract various artists to perform at parties and events for the cartel.

Supposedly, Rivera was one of the artists who participated, the attorney told Reforma.

The witness says that the deals and contracts with Rivera and other artists where done via a liaison named José Carlos Salinas Rodríguez, also known as “El Charly,” who allegedly shared a close bond with kingpin “La Barbie” before he was detained by authorities back in 2010.

The lawyer also claims that the late singer did cocaine in multiple occasions and that once “La Barbie” humiliated Rivera publicly after kicking her as a prank.

According to Reforma, the witness statements were reported to Mexican officials back in 2009, the same year that Rivera was detained at Mexico’s International Airport for coming into the country with $50,000 in cash from Los Angeles, Calif.

Rivera blatantly denied allegations of any ties with drug traffickers during an interview with ¡Hola! magazine months later.

“Yes, it is true that at times you are not aware of who contracts you [for a show,]” Rivera told ¡Hola! in Spanish during her interview.

“They tell you that you will sing at a certain place and that they will pay you a certain amount of money.”

The singer added that she “didn’t want any problems” and that she would not “risk it” whether it was in the United States or in Mexico.

Television network Univision reports that Rivera was not the only artist the witness would help contract. These include Tejano/Norteño musical group Intocable, and Mexican artist Ramón Ayala---better known as the “King of the Accordion.”

Speculation of Rivera’s ties with drug traffickers predate her musical success when she was still married to her second husband, Juan López, who in 2007 was sentenced for his involvement in the drug trade.

“La gran señora,” as Rivera was called, died last month along with a few members of her team when the jet carrying them crashed into the mountains in Monterrey, Mexico. She had performed a show that evening and was heading to Mexico D.F. for another gig the following day.

Special agent and DEA spokesperson Lisa Webb Johnson, who confirmed that the DEA seized the plane Rivera was killed in back in December, told Fox News Latino that she had “never heard” of Rivera’s crash being linked to a possible terrorist attacked engineered by a drug cartel.

“The only info I can confirm is what we released last month that we seized the two planes,” Johnson said.

Rivera’s death is still under investigation.

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