FBI Reds Dale Records, Former Label of Narco Singer Gerardo Ortiz – Various
3 min read
The FBI raided the offices of Dell Records on Friday, a label based on Bell Garden that is famous for producing narco music.
A SWAT team was brought in to execute the search warrant, which is being kept under seal. A video taken by a bystander shows agents forced to open the front door and use a flash-bang device to
No arrests were made, and the FBI declined to comment on the investigation.
Dale Records is in a high-profile legal dispute with Gerardo Ortiz, also known as the narrator for his narcissistic ballad. In 2012, Dell Records filed a lawsuit against the singer, alleging that he insisted on giving cash performances to avoid taxes. The lawsuit further states that Ortiz had long had problems with internal revenue services and that the label once lent him money to pay his back taxes.
The label further claimed that Ortiz had performed for an alleged trafficker in Mexico that attracted the attention of the United States.
The label said in a statement Friday that the investigation was related to Oritz.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation came to Dell Records’ office today and found that many of our artists had taken a lot of materials related to Gerard Ortiz’s FBI investigation,” the agency said. “To the best of our knowledge, Dell Records is not an issue, but a source of information for the FBI’s investigation of Mr. Ortiz. We have fully cooperated with the FBI and will continue to do so.”
Ortiz issued a statement through his company, Budsin Entertainment, claiming that agents also searched the home of the label’s CEO, Jose Angel del Villar.
“To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Ortiz, who was searched by the FBI at the Deal Records office and at Mr. Dale Wheeler’s home, was not involved,” Ortiz’s agency said.
Dale Records correspondent could not confirm or deny whether Dill Wheeler’s home was searched.
In 2014, Ortiz filed his own lawsuit against Dale Wheeler and Dale Records, alleging that he had been labeled a millionaire. The singer claimed that the label was involved in fraudulent accounting practices and failed to account for hundreds of shows.
Ortiz further complained that Dell Records played the role of both its director and its publisher, with clear conflicts of interest.
“Wheeler and Dale are wearing a lot of hats, such that the behavior in the entertainment industry is unprecedented,” Ortiz complained in a Labor Commissioner complaint filed last August. “The basic duty of an agent is to uphold the interests of the client / principal / artist before the interests of the agent, not to gain confidentiality and to ensure full disclosure. Nothing happened. Villa is confidential, sensitive, offensive and deceptive. “
Dell Records signed Ortiz to a deal in 2009. The label says it became one of the top Mexican-American music artists by introducing the singer.
In 2016, Ortiz was arrested by Mexican authorities at Guadalajara airport and charged with inciting violence for the song “Fuste Moa” in the video. In the video, Ortiz depicts a drug addict who loads his girlfriend into a car trunk and sets the car on fire.
