In the New York Times, that arm of the vast right-wing conspiracy,
Obama to Return Major Donations Tied to Fugitive
Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign.
The casino owner, Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, known as Pepe, jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and disappeared, and has since been linked to violence and corruption in Mexico. A State Department cable in 2009 said he was suspected of orchestrating the assassination of a business rival and making illegal campaign donations to Mexican officials.
First, the Obama campaign denied knowing about Pepe,
When The New York Times asked the Obama campaign early Monday about the Cardonas, officials said they were unaware of the brother in Mexico.
Later, they came to their senses, sort of,
Later in the day, the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000.
Because,
Pepe Cardona is one of the largest players in Mexico’s violent and tumultuous casino trade. In 2007, he survived an assassination attempt that was attributed to members of organized crime. The State Department cable, which was part of the cache made public by WikiLeaks, said he was suspected of illegally funneling $5 million into Mexican political campaigns in 2006.
As Jazz Shaw puts it,
Cardona appears to be tied up not only in drug smuggling allegations, but bribing public officials in Mexico and the untimely inhuming of one of his “colleagues” in the trade.
Jazz continues,
Jim Geraghty connects the dots and ties Cardona to the drug cartels in Mexico and all of the violence associated with them, bringing us full circle back to Fast and Furious.
At least these guys are courteous enough to tip the administration that supplies their friends with guns so well…
Too bad the Cardonas didn’t belong to the FALN.
UPDATE,
WyBlog calls Pepe “the new Marc Rich“.
UPDATE 2,
via Thomas, Fugitive Obama Fundraiser Linked to Fast and Furious and the Beltran Leyva cartel.
