Ain't that rich.
A Texas politician who crusaded against drugs has been charged by federal authorities with trafficking the wacky weed.
The DEA arrested El Paso County Commissioner Guillermo "Willie" Gandara Jr. on Wednesday as reported by Daniel Borunda for the El Paso Times: "the federal indictment alleges that Gandara was nicknamed the 'Godfather' and conspired to distribute more than 110 pounds of marijuana and that the drugs would be stored for distribution at a property the commissioner owned on Coker Road in his hometown of Socorro."
Last year Gandara's father, former Socorro Mayor Willie Gandara Sr., was indicted on federal corruption charges on which he is awaiting trial. Willie Sr. was among 11 individuals in El Paso County variously charged for their alleged roles in a kickback and bribery scheme by which a local health-care provider obtained lucrative public contracts as previously reported by the El Paso Times.
In January Willie Sr.'s brother, Jesus Gandara Sr., "was accused of public corruption in California" as reported by Ric Dupont for KFOX: "a former superintendent in the Sweetwater School District, Jesus Gandara Sr. became part of what the San Diego District Attorney's Office is calling the largest public corruption case in its history."
The politically influential Gandaras have been dubbed the "Kennedys of Lower Valley" in Texas as reported by Maria Garcia for KVIA.
What the heck is going on in El Paso County?
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