Austin, Texas’ Mexican restaurant community is in shock right now. Jovita’s Cantina, after a 2 decade run, is at the center of a firestorm of media as their patriarch; Amado “Mayo” Pardo, was arrested along with 17 others on heroin distribution charges this morning.
As a food community we can now all pine for the good old days of kids stealing briskets and selling them out of their pants to local barbecue houses. Was that really a year ago? {Sam’s the iconic east Austin bbq house has reopened{http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/2/8/Austin-Daily-Photo-Brian-Mays-Of-Sams-Barbecue-East-Austin-Smokehouse-Has-Weathered-The-Storm }
I ran down to Jovita’s Cantina this afternoon to take some pictures and see if any employees or family members of Pardo were on the premises and willing to talk. The place was a ghost town, save a girl in the back parking lot wrestling a ten speed into the trunk of a car.
As I took photos of the exterior of the building, a local reporter from YNN happened along and gave me a couple juicy tidbits from the press conference held at police headquarters downtown earlier.
Pardo, the “mayor” of south Austin, is a twice convicted murderer who served time in the state penitentiary for his second killing. The first killing took place in 1972, no word on what the punishment was for that act. Further, Pardo was apparently a member of the Texas Syndicate and had been with the group for 3 decades. This affiliation is what drew the attention of the authorities and launched the investigation dubbed Operation Muerte Negra.
As the story broke earlier today I put up this piece on the scrumptious chef site http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/6/21/Takedown-The-Feds-Stun-South-Austin-With-Four-Sonic-BoomsRaid-Jovitas-Cantina-And-Arrest-15
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Update Friday June 22nd
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