Hialeah Hoodlums recruit from the Carlos Gimenez gang

It looks like the Hialeah Hoodlums — otherwise known as Mayor Carlos Hernandez and his Seguro Que Yes crew of crooked council members –– were recruiting for their criminal enterprise last week.

And they peeled a few members off of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s old G-Men gang.

Campaign Finance Chair and graft master Ralph Garcia-Toledo, shake-down artist Brian Goldmeier and campaign strategist Jesse Manzano-Plaza were all at an event last week for Hernandez’s re-election campaign. Who is that guy to the right? He looks familiar. And just look at how giddy they are to be back in business — stealing ballots, taking money from developers for promised payola later, coming up with narratives to distract from Hernandez’s abysmal record and the chaos the last couple of years at the new fancy smancy water plant.

Just look at those smiles in this photo posted on Goldmeier’s Instagram. They look like a gang of cats that swallowed unos pajaritos zunzún.

Manzano-Plaza must have been the happiest as the event was at Hialeah Park and he is likely back representing casino giant Genting now that the Gimenez campaign is over. He only resigned temporarily (read: not at all) and after he was caught representing both Genting and Gimenez. He is certainly back at work now.

They don’t care that Hernandez is an admitted loan shark and proven liar who abuses his power. This is simply payback for Hernandez’s help getting Gimenez the ballots from residents in Hialeah Housing. Or is it just another public trough for these little piglets (possible gang name: Three Little Pigs). Ladra is going to have to start looking more closely at the water and sewer contracts and public works projects in the City of Progress.

Why isn’t tricky pollster Dario Moreno and Absentee Ballot Fraud King Al Lorenzo there? Did they not pass the gang initiation test?

Read related story: Liquor store owner gets it: Carlos Hernandez is a criminal

Hernandez is running for his third term. The former cop was the council president when former Mayor Julio Robaina left the office to run for county mayor against Gimenez in the recall result race of 2011. He served as acting mayor and then was elected in November 2011 against former Mayor Raul Martinez and former Sen. Rudy Garcia to serve the remaining two years of the term. In 2013, he was re-elected against former Mayor Julio Martinez and an active resident named Juan Santana, who he had harassed outside his home (and that is the kind of behavior that Goldmeier and Manzano are condoning).

Hopefully, this will Hernandez’s his last campaign. Maybe it takes a woman.

2011 at IHOP: Gavelgirl and The Rock were pals

Ladra hears that Gavelgirl herself, Councilwoman Isis Garcia-Martinez — a former Hernandez ally who, las malas lenguas say, has quit the Hoodlums — is going to challenge Hernandez. Ladra never thought she would say this, but You go, Gavelgirl! It ain’t easy to leave the thug life!

Yeah, sure, we’ve had our issues. Garcia-Martinez defended Hernandez all the time. She even went to his famous pancake breafast at IHOP, which was a campaign event paid for by city dollars and exposed by Ladra in 2011.

Read related story: Gavelgirl files false police report

She also had police eject me from a council meeting, had me illegally trespassed from both City Hall, which is a public building, and the campaign headquarters and tried to get a restraining order against me so that I wouldn’t attend any more meetings — or catch her at campaign breakfasts that were paid for by public money. She couldn’t because she had no legal justification.

But the past is the past. Ladra believes she has seen the error of her ways. She’s broken up with the bully, hasn’t she? She is willing to take him on publicly. Last year, she broke with the rest of the hoodlums to support former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado against Gimenez. She certainly isn’t all lockstep, Seguro Que Yes anymore.

So, until anybody else with a better shot challenges The Rock — an admitted loan shark and liar who had the audacity to pay an ethics fine with thousands of pennies — Ladra will be giving Gavelgirl the benefit of the doubt. And our support. What do they say about the enemy of my enemy?

Hashtag I’m with her. We’ll start a rival gang.