World Net Daily ... It remains to be seen if the deadly ambush recently of an American family in Mexico will trigger an “awakening” for us as it once did for Sicilians almost three decades ago after a similar brutal act.

 

Outside Sicily's island capital of Palermo, on the roadway leading to its airport, stands a red obelisk commemorating a May 23, 1992, event. The obelisk bears the names of five people killed that day by a remote-controlled bomb, containing more than half a ton of explosives. In one of the most devastating attacks the mafia had ever conducted against the Italian government, the bomb claimed the lives of prominent anti-mob prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three bodyguards.

The location of the hit was symbolic, occurring near the city of Capaci – a region where the mafia was attempting to impose its authority over that of the state.

 

This was not the first time the mafia resorted to violence in an effort to instill fear into those government officials opposing their illegal activities, nor would it be the last. Local government officials normally claimed after such an attack that "no mafia problem" existed. But that attitude changed with the Falcone assassination. 

While those directly involved in the attack were soon identified and prosecuted, an investigation into the masterminds failed to bring them to justice.

 

Contrary to mafia intentions, however, this act of violence served as an awakening for many Italians. That awakening was the realization that a deadly cancer, in the form of the mafia, existed. It included the realization the cancer was infecting society and had to be removed. It caused law enforcement to launch an effective anti-mafia campaign that turned things around. As one official attested in 2017, while a murder in Palermo was a daily occurrence in the late 20th century, it is a rare occurrence today.

 

On Nov. 4, the nine murders on a Mexican highway in the border state of Sanora, only 75 miles from Arizona, of an American Mormon family, hopefully, will similarly serve as an awakening for our lawmakers. We face a cancer there as Mexico—a failed state—is unable to contain its drug cartels and the threat they represent to us, let alone to its own citizens. 

Yet, like local government officials in Italy during the late 20th century who blindly claimed no mafia influence existed, Democrats similarly view what is happening on our southern border with an absence of concern.

 

As three vehicles traveled down the highway filled with members of the LeBaron family, they entered the "kill zone" of an ambush set up by a drug cartel. It is unknown whether the family was specifically targeted. One of its members, Benjamin LeBaron, had been killed in 2009 for his anti-crime activism in organizing neighborhood patrols against the cartels. Or, the ambush could have been for a cartel competing for control in the area as the Sinaloa cartel has been fighting a turf war there.

 

The family was on its way to visit other family members when the daylight ambush was triggered. Despite an ambush designed to kill all its victims, it claimed the lives of three mothers and six children as seven other children survived--one without a single wound and another who temporarily went missing.

 There was gunfire and an explosion, during which one of the mothers emerged from her vehicle with her hands raised, in a futile effort to show the family presented no threat. Her attempt was met with more gunfire. One of the children, despite being recognizable as such, was gunned down while trying to escape. 

Those victims not immediately killed by gunfire, burned to death. Several bodies simply were left unrecognizable in the smoldering ruins of the vehicles. Two of the children caught in a burning vehicle were eight-month old twins.

 

Almost as if seeking to excuse the killers, the New York Times and other news sources inexcusably have suggested the ambush victims may have brought the violence upon themselves as fundamentalist Mormons representative of a cult. These are the same news sources, when reporting acts of violence by Muslim terrorists, never cite religion as a factor.

 

This senseless act of violence understandably raised the ire of President Donald Trump who immediately encouraged Mexican President Lopez Obrador to "wage war" against his country's murderous drug cartel "monsters," even offering to send US troops to help out. Citing the policy of his country's previous administration, Obrador responded, "We declared war and it didn't work. That is not an option."

 

Obrador knows he has a major problem as a recent confrontation between the Mexican army and a drug cartel ended with the army putting down its weapons and surrendering a prisoner the cartel wanted released.

 

Mexico has reportedly made an unspecified number of arrests in connection with the massacre but has not yet released any details about the suspects. At the request of the Mexican government, the FBI is participating in the investigation to identify all responsible for the ambush.

 

There undoubtedly will be those Trump critics taking the position what happens in Mexico should stay in Mexico, free from U.S. interference. But the threat to us thrives within Mexico's borders. It is not limited to the violent acts of drug cartels against Americans in Mexico but to violent acts that have happened against us here as well.

 

Furthermore, while the main incentive of these cartels is financial, they have allied themselves with Muslim terrorists incentivized to kill Americans. These cartels have already helped ferry many such terrorists into the US. There are innumerable sleeper cells awaiting activation should we go to war with a country like Iran. 

A joint US/Mexico war against the drug cartels would not only destroy the networks of the cartels but those of the terrorist groups with which they are allied as well.

 

Sicily is much safer today thanks to the courage of Italian law enforcement, supported by the people, to act against a criminal element threatening the country's stability. While today the presidents of Mexico and the US disagree on how to confront a similar element, both recognize it exists, threatening destabilization of their countries--a threat obviously spilling over at our southern border. 

Such recognition is a lot more than leaders of the Democratic Party are willing to acknowledge as they continue welcoming the threat with open arms and open borders.

 

Who knows, one day, perhaps, we will see an obelisk erected at our border by the drug cartels and terrorists honoring the Democratic leaders who were so affected by Trump Derangement Syndrome, they turned a blind eye to the illegal activities going on under their very noses.