Waiting for the other shoes to drop from Frank Artiles arrest in sham senate race

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There could be money laundering involved here

The news that disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles was arrested last week on charges of campaign finance fraud has Miami’s political underbelly scurrying for cover. Because he was not alone, dear readers. There’s no way.

Artiles had bragged about being behind the sham candidate in the Senate district 37 race last year. Alex Rodriguez, who was Republican days before he qualified as an NPA, told prosecutors he was paid around $55,000 to run so he could syphon votes from former Democrat Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez and guarantee a win for newly-elected Ileana Garcia, who has been asked by Florida Democrats to resign (more on that later).

But there’s no way this is Artiles little project. He and Rodriguez are more like the sequel to Dumb and Dumber. And the State Attorney’s affidavit on their arrests for third degree felonies related to illegal campaign financing cites “multiple coconspirators.”

Let’s be honest: Artiles is not the sharpest tool in the shed. His nickname is Magilla Gorilla. He is a soldier, not a general. A Marine, to be exact. He takes orders. He is not a mastermind. Not by any means. So this wasn’t his idea.

And it wasn’t his cash. There is no way that Artiles had close to half a million lying around, more if he was also involved with two other state senate plantidates.

Read related: Frank Artiles arrested for sham state senate election — but was he alone?

Authorities need to follow the money. Not just the stacks of bills that Artiles had in a home safe.

They need to find out who opened the bank account for Proclivity, the non existing company in Atlanta that contributed $370,000 to the political action committee that paid for the Alex Rodriguez mailers. They need to subpoena those bank records. They need to grill the guy who owns the graphic printing place in Orlando (he also owns one in Miami) that printed the mailers. He should be easy to turn when they charge him with money laundering. Because there is no way that the mailers sent by Alex Rodriguez cost $370,000. They need to talk to the “third party” who gave the shill Rodriguez $9,000 for legal fees after he was caught living in Boca Raton.

All these people need to make sworn statements.

It seems that Rodriguez is cooperating for a lighter sentence. That is how they got to Artiles. But Artiles may not. Artiles could fall on his sword. Especially if the general tells him to. Especially if these fat cats throwing money around to control the Senate and/or launder money give him half a million to take care of his family while he does an easy peasy 36 months in prison. Especially if he’s promised some kind of pardon or stay from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Maybe that’s why investigators raided Frank’s Palmetto Bay house one early morning last week, to see what they could find about his handlers before anything was burned in the backyard fire pit. Because Artiles has handlers. Guaranteed. And if he won’t spill the beans, we have to put together a murder board of usual, or more obvious, suspects:

Alex Diaz de la Portilla was the first one who Ladra thought of. This is right up his dark ops alley. It’s something he did in 2010 when he was termed out and his brother Miguel Diaz de la Portilla ran for his Senate seat. ADLP ran his legislative aide in the Republican primary to syphon votes from the others. Putting a grateful Republican in the Senate helps move the agendas of his many GOP friends, like former Sen. Bill Galvano, who wants to force casinos down our throat.

Read related: Stolen election? Look no further than Senate District 37 in Coral Gables

Plus, nobody hates J-Rod like the DLPs. Not only did Alex lose to him in the State House race in 2012, but then brother Miguel lost his Senate seat to Rodriguez in 2016. Note: A shill candidate also ran in Senate Race 39, where Ana Maria Rodriguez, who once divorced baby brother Renier Diaz de la Portilla, eventually won.

There’s also some talk about this being orchestrated by former House Speaker Jose Oliva and his best buddy Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr., who wants so bad to be Senate President. Ladra doesn’t think Oliva cares that much. He’s done. He’s on the gravy train as the cigar czar with that company his Papi gave him. Unless he has more tobacco industry legislation he needs to pass (or block), he’s done.

But Diaz, Jr., has been trying to gain more power and involving himself, publicly and privately, in a number of partisan races to build an army of sorts, a cult of followers. And we already know that Garcia, who co-founded Latinas for Trump, is easily fooled into cult worship.

But we have to go beyond the political power structure. Because political power includes the power to move money around. So who stands to gain? These politicians are loathe to spend their own money.

Read related: Raid on Frank Artiles home could be justice, could be political preemption

Was it someone in the infrastructure business that needed an edge on a multi-million contract? As a lobbyist, Artiles has been involved with road paving and striping companies. There’s a ton of money in the infrastructure bill if it gets passed.

Was it someone in the charter school business? The charter school industry is picking up steam in the post-COVID lockdown world and former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and former State Rep. Ralph Arza are also good at this subterfuge stuff. Diaz, Jr., is also connected with charter schools.

Whoever is behind it for whatever the reason, this ultimately has to do with control of the Florida Senate obtained through committing a fraud on the electorate of District 37. And they deserve getting caught for letting the dumb dog off his leash.

Authorities need to follow the money wherever it leads them.

_{Please use the comment space below to add your own suspects. Let’s give law enforcement a comprehensive list of people to look into. Thank you.}

  Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Frank Artiles, Jose Javier Rodriguez, Manny Diaz Jr