Marco Rubio Used Influence to Help Ex-Con Bro-in-Law

Orlando Cicilia, the brother-in-law of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, served 12 years in prison for being the frontman for an international cocaine-smuggling ring in West Miami, according to the 12/25/2015 issue of The Week.

This international cocaine-smuggling ring, investigated by the feds in Operation Cobra, a federal crackdown on a Florida drug smuggling ring, killed a federal informer, Larry Nash, and chopped up his body, according to a NYT story published at the time. They bribed top law enforcement officers until the feds stepped in.

I’m wondering, why hasn’t this information popped up in the Des Moines Register or the Gazette? Rubio’s long and ethically challenged relationship with his sister Barbara’s husband appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and in many other newspapers and magazines. Apparently, Rubio used his political influence to get Cicilia a Florida real estate license without revealing to the licensing board that Cicilia is an ex-con.

Cicilia currently lives with Rubio’s mother in a house co-owned by Cicilia.