Jorge Hank Rhon - Charges and Arrests

Charges and Arrests

Carlos Hank González and son Jorge Hank were linked by the media with various drug lords and money-laundering after the leak of National Drug Intelligence Center-drafted documents. However, the United States Attorney General at the time Janet Reno discredited such report and apologized to the Hank family. Hank has long been accused of working closely with the Tijuana drug cartel, though no formal charges have ever successfully been leveled against him. Hank Rhon's chief bodyguard, Antonio Vera Palestina, was convicted of the 1988 murder of Zeta journalist Héctor Félix Miranda, who had criticized Hank Rhon in his writing. Antonio Vera's son, Jorge Vera Ayala, became Hank's chief bodyguard. For the next eighteen years, Zeta ran a full-page ad in every issue asking Hank why Félix Miranda had been killed.

Hank was first arrested in 1995 at the Mexico City airport when he was caught carrying a suitcase full of articles made of ivory tusks, pearl vests and coats made from the skins of endangered ocelots, but Hank claimed that no law had been broken and the merchandise was legal. He was released on bail and was later acquitted.

Information released by Wikileaks, reveal that Mexican military forces were involved in a standoff with local security at Hank's racetrack in May 2009. Then on July 8, 2009, then Consul General Ronald Kramer wrote a confidential cable to the U.S. Secretary of State that said the grounds of the Agua Caliente racetrack, owned by Hank Rhon, were "still secure havens for organized crime." The cable cited no evidence.

U.S. officials have long been suspicious of Hank Rhon, as gambling can be a prime way to launder money, so Nevada's Gaming Control Board has twice warned companies operating there to avoid any contracts with Hank's 'Grupo Caliente', and his U.S. visa was apparently revoked in 2009. Mexican media reports that U.S. DEA agents monitor every arrival of Hank's private jet to the U.S. but have not seen him on board.

On the morning of June 4, 2011, about 100 Mexican soldiers raided Hank Rhon's property in search of drugs and weapons, seizing an arsenal of 40 rifles (weapons normally used exclusively by the Mexican military), 48 handguns and 9,000 rounds of ammunition, and Hank was taken into custody. While he denied knowledge of the weapons that were seized at his home, his wife María Elvia Amaya issued a contradictory statement saying the weapons were all authorized for use by security personnel on the compound. Hank's lawyer, Fernando Benítez Álvarez del Castillo, told the federal judge that the weapons were planted by the military.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General stated that ballistic evidence shows that two handguns of the 88 firearms seized have been linked to homicides in Baja California. A seized .40 caliber handgun was used in the killing of car dealer Martín Feliciano Camacho Ontiveros on 28 June 2010; and a .380 caliber handgun was used in the 16 December 2009 murder of security guard Olegario Figueroa Leandro. After 10 days in jail, a federal judge ruled that the raid was performed without a warrant, and therefore, all evidence against him is inadmissible. Then, a state judge refused to hold him on a murder investigation. All charges were dropped and he was released on 14 June 2011.

The attorney general of Baja California said Hank was also being investigated for the 2009 killing of 24-year old Angelica Muñoz, who was the girlfriend of Hank's son Sergio Hank.