Live By The Sword, Die By The Clown; But Clowns Say 'We Didn't Kill Cartel Boss'
Imagine the scene. It was Oct 18, a languid Friday night on Mexico's Pacific coast.
A former leader of the hyper-violent Tijuana Cartel was attending a children's party at a swanky beachfront hotel in Cabo San Lucas, playground of the rich and occasionally infamous in Baja California.
What took place next sounds like it might have been taken from the pages of a movie script.
A man dressed as a clown, in full regalia complete with a red nose painted red and a stringy wig, walked into the house possibly with two accomplices also dressed as clowns.
As chidren looked on, presumably in horror, a former Mexican drug cartel leader was shot to death by at least one gunman dressed as a clown.
The victim was Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, the 63-year-old former leader of the Tijuana Cartel.
The Arellano Felix brothers once dominated drug trafficking between Mexico and California through their brutal Tijuana cartel, inspiring characters in the Steven Soderbergh movie "Traffic."
Most brothers have been either killed or arrested leaving the cartel's power in shreds.
Mexican authorities say they're investigating the killing of and whether or not it was related to organize crime.
"A person dressed as a clown took his life," a spokesperson for state prosecutors told Reuters.
Arellano Felix was arrested in 1980 in California or selling drugs and he fled to Mexico upon his release on bail. He was then arrested in Mexico in 1993 in connection with the murder of Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesus Ocampo and served a decade for weapons possession.
He was extradited to the United States in 2006 and was sentenced to six years in jail after admitting he had sold drugs to an undercover agent.
He was released in 2008.
When he was set free, U.S. authorities said his sentence had been reduced for good behavior and he returned immediately to Mexico.
Another brother, Ramon, a sadistic killer, was killed in a police shootout in 2002. Three other brothers are in U.S. prisons, including Eduardo, who was sentenced to 15 years by a California court in August for money laundering.
Coincidentally — or not — a convention of clowns was taking place in Mexico City. A group of clowns met the media to say, "we had nothing to do with this murder."
One said clowns in Mexico know each other, and their costumes are individualized and easily recognizable.
Another clown said, "I swear on my mother's grave" that legitimate clowns were not involved.
