Report: Jovita's Propietor at Center of Heroin Bust Dies

Amado “Mayo” Pardo, the 64-year old proprietor of Jovita’s swept up in a sprawling heroin bust last summer, has died, according to online reports.

Pardo’s attorney tells the Austin American-Statesman that Pardo died yesterday due to cancer and other health problems. He was due to stand trial in February.

Pardo was among 18 arrests made by a joint task force including Austin Police, the FBI and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Office of the Inspector General last summer.

The bust, “Operation Muerte Negra,” alleged that “large amounts of heroin were kept, sold, and distributed from several locations in and around Central Texas,” including Jovita’s, via a Texas Syndicate prison gang network helmed by Pardo.

Prior to the bust, Pardo was held named “Best Mayor of South Austin” by the Austin Chronicle, which wrote Pardo “devotes as much of his time to his family and community as he does to being an activist/restaurateur.”