Nicaragua: Gang implicated in killing of folk singer laundered $1 billion

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaraguan prosecutors say a gang accused in the killing of Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral laundered $1 billion in drug money in Nicaragua in recent years.

The main suspect in the drug-trafficking and organized-crime trial is businessman Henry Farinas, who was driving with Cabral in Guatemala last year.

Prosecutors say Farinas was an associate in the gang with Costa Rican Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, who allegedly ordered the attack on Farinas in retaliation for a purported betrayal. The killers' bullets hit Cabral instead. Jimenez is jailed in Guatemala, and is being tried in absentia.

Prosecutors said in trial proceedings against a total of 24 defendants on Monday that the gang laundered more than $1 billion through Nicaraguan financial institutions.