Ooops. It's Ramon Ayala

In what hearkens back to parties given decades ago by Colombian cocaine traffickers, the New York Times reports that Ramon Ayala was at a party of alleged narcotraffickers when, ut oh, the policia arrived:

When soldiers raided a drug cartel's Christmas party south of Mexico City, they found 16 automatic rifles, $280,000 in cash -- and a Latin Grammy winner.

The presence of the Texas-based norteno singer Ramon Ayala at the gathering in a wealthy, gated-community and the lavish festivities showed the audacity of Mexico's drug cartels amid a government crackdown that has sent thousands of soldiers and police to track them down.

A spokesman for the federal Attorney General's Office said Monday that Ayala was released after being questioned because authorities found no grounds for charging him with a crime.

Mexican norteno bands often sing about drug trafficking and violence and many have been rumored to perform at drug traffickers' weddings and other parties, but few have been caught.

Ayala and his norteno band, Los Bravos del Norte, were performing in a gated community of mansions outside the mountain town of Tepoztlan when sailors raided the house and a shootout ensued before dawn Friday, said the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

If I had the kind of money and power the traffickers had, I'd have Ramon at my Christmas Party, too. That would be really cool. And that's an idea that obviously didn't escape the alleged syndicate members at this gathering.