How Indiana beauty queen Glenis Zapata found herself swept up in cartel raid after ‘using her flight attendant job’ to smuggle drug money from US to Mexico

A former Indiana beauty queen has been accused of using her job as a flight attendant to move drug money from the US to Mexico for a cartel.

Glenis Zapata, 34, is charged with two counts of money laundering for allegedly transporting a total of $310,000 in cocaine profits from Chicago in 2019, according to a federal indictment that reads like Jackie Brown’s plot.

Zapata, Miss Indiana Latina 2011, was one of 18 suspects arrested during the operation, including alleged ring leader Oswaldo Espinosa, one of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s most wanted fugitives.

Zapata’s lawyer Michael John Petro said The Chicago Sun Times that she was left ‘devastated’ by the charges.

“She dropped her son off at school and they caught her,” he said. “Whatever message they’re trying to send her, it’s a very strong message.”

Also among those arrested was Zapata’s sister Ilenis Zapata, 33, a bank teller in Lafayette, who was accused of helping the cartel launder $400,000 in drug money by exchanging lower denominations of cash for larger ones.

Bank teller Georgina Banuelos, 39, was also charged in the DEA operation.

Espinosa, the alleged leader of the small-scale cartel known as the Espinosa DTO, allegedly recruited ordinary citizens like the Zapatas between 2018 and 2013 to help him move thousands of kilos of cocaine and the profits.

Zapata’s attorney Michael John Petro told the Chicago Sun-Times that she is “devastated” by the charges

Zapata, Miss Indiana Latina 2011, was among 18 suspects arrested in the raid, including alleged ring leader Oswaldo Espinosa

The cartel leader allegedly used semi-trailer trucks and both private and commercial aircraft to transport money from warehouses in Chicago to the southern states and Mexico.

They allegedly transported the cocaine to the US in legitimate packaged goods transported on semi-trailers.

According to prosecutors, “Glenis Zapata possessed a ‘Known Crew Member’ badge and used her authority to help the traffickers move cash drug proceeds from the Midwest to the Southern U.S. and into Mexico, the indictment said.”

The Zapata sisters were released Tuesday on $20,000 bail.

The investigation that led to their arrest began when federal officials seized a private charter plane at the Gary-Chicago International Airport in Gary, Indiana in 2021.

According to prosecutors, Glenis Zapata “possessed a ‘Known Crew Member’ badge and used her authority to help the traffickers move the cash drug proceeds.”

Pictured: Jackie Brown, played by Pam Grier, was a female antagonist who smuggled money for her arms dealer boss while working as a flight attendant – a fictional story eerily similar to Zapata’s

The indictment mentions eight drug trafficking operations from 2021 to 2023 and 15 cash transports from November 2019 and March 2022.

In 2011, Zapata gave an interview to the Journal and Courier after winning the Miss Indiana Latina title.

She told the outlet she was honored to win the crown and highlight the “culture and values ​​of the Latino community.”

Zapata said, “This, along with the organization’s motto: ‘More than a model, a role model,’ is what sets us apart for great success.”