Mayor's brother may be linked to bombing

MONTERREY, Mexico -- A probe into the deadly firebombing of a casino took a dramatic twist yesterday with evidence the brother of the mayor may be entangled in shakedowns at gambling parlors suspected of being at the root of the attack that claimed 52 lives.

The newspaper El Norte posted videos of Mayor Fernando Larrazabal's brother, Jonas, entering local casinos, sitting down at tables, meeting employees and receiving wads of cash. In the most recent video, which El Norte said was taken Aug. 19, the brother received what the newspaper estimated was the equivalent of $33,000 in cash.

The release of the videos jolted this industrial hub, coming just six days after gunmen stormed the Casino Royale, poured gasoline inside and set the crowded facility ablaze. Most of the people who died were middle-aged women whiling away the afternoon.

In a hastily called news conference, Larrazabal said he had no knowledge of the payoffs, even as he conceded that his brother was the man shown in the videos. "My brother will have to clear up questions that have arisen about this," the mayor said. "None of my brother's activities have, or have had, anything to do with this city administration."

The videos immediately raised questions whether gangsters from a transnational crime syndicate accused of shaking down casinos are in collusion with politicians.

Gov. Rodrigo Medina of Nuevo Léon, the state that surrounds Monterrey, immediately called for an investigation, saying prosecutors should arrest those behind the casino payoffs. "Let fall who may," he said.

Medina reiterated, however, that gangsters from Los Zetas, involved in narcotics smuggling, extortion and a gamut of other criminal activity in Mexico and abroad, were behind the Aug. 25 attack. Five of the alleged assailants were arrested over the weekend.

One local activist predicted that Larrazabal, a member of President Felipe Calderón's National Action Party, would be forced to step down.