When Republican lawyer Monique Pardo Pope announced her candidacy for the Miami Beach Commission in May[1], she described herself as coming from a working-class “Cuban family that believed in deep sacrifice, service of others, and standing up for what’s right.”
She omitted a rather important detail: her father was Manuel Pardo, a former police officer who murdered nine people in the 1980s, idolized Adolf Hitler and left behind newspaper clippings detailing his crimes, Nazi memorabilia and a swastika-tattooed dog.
Documentarian Billy Corben was the first to make the connection Thursday in a three-minute video[2] that’s well worth a watch. The Miami New Times posted a report[3] soon after.
In a statement shared with Florida Politics, Pardo Pope — one of seven candidates[4] running for the City Commission’s Group 1 seat — said she prays for the families of her father’s victims “every day.”
She said it took years for her to make sense of how “the man I loved could commit such a crime,” but that she has since forgiven him so she could “move forward, build my family, and dedicate myself to a life of service and purpose.”
Pardo, a Marine Corps veteran, was executed at age 56 in December 2012, decades after he was sentenced to death on nine separate first-degree murder counts.
His death warrant was signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott. Pardo Pope posed with Scott for a photo this year[5] then uploaded it to an Instagram account[6] littered with saccharine posts about her late father.
In one post, she called Pope her “guiding light[7],” “eternal best friend” and “a little girl’s first true love.” In others, she called him her “hero[8],” referenced the song “Midnight Train to Georgia” and wrote, “Airborne forever, love your Michi girl” — his nickname for her.
In his last written statement[9], Pardo admitted to killing six who he said were narcotics traffickers, but denied murdering the three women he was convicted of killing. He closed out the statement with, “I am now ready to ride the midnight train to Georgia.”
His final words before dying by lethal injection were, “Airborne forever. I love you, Michi baby.”
Before his killing spree, Manuel Pardo worked as an officer for the Florida Highway Patrol and Sweetwater Police Department. Misconduct and false testimony led to his termination from both agencies and ended his law enforcement career.
In 1986, over just three months, he fatally shot nine people — some drug dealers, some bystanders — later claiming he was on a vigilante mission. In the Pardo family’s Hialeah apartment, police found meticulous diaries Pardo kept of his crimes, Polaroid photos of his victims, hundreds of books about the Nazis and Hitler, rifles engraved with swastikas and a Doberman pincher tattooed with the same symbol.
During his trial, Pardo was unrepentant and testified in his defense against the advice of his attorneys.
“I was not wrong to kill these people. Somebody had to do this, kill these people,” he said. “The only regret that I have is that instead of nine, I wish that I could have been up here for 99.”
Pardo’s notoriety has since bled into pop culture. Some have[10] speculated[11] that he was the inspiration for the lead character in novelist Jeff Lindsay’s “Dexter[12]” series, which was later adapted into a TV series[13] starring actor Michael C. Hall. And in the 2015 video game “Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number[14],” one of the playable characters is a deranged police detective named Manny Pardo who goes on a killing spree.
Pardo Pope, 44, noted that she was just 4 years old when her father “became the center of a story that would forever change my family and affect countless others.”
“Every day, the families of victims weigh on me,” she said. “Those experiences instilled in me a deep sense of empathy and a determination to make a positive impact.”
Pardo Pope said her unique family history informed her perspective on public safety and community service. She said she is a proponent of sufficient support and mental health resources for law enforcement professionals.
Her legal work focuses on family law and guardian ad litem matters. She has served as a Nicklaus Children’s Young Ambassador, Women’s Cancer Association of the University of Miami and is a current member of the Miami Beach Commission for Women[15].
As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, more than a day after Corben posted his video, Pardo Pope remained in the City Commission race.
She did not say why she neglected to inform voters that her father was a serial killer. In a separate statement[16] posted to social media, she denied any obfuscation.
“I have not hidden who I am … From the beginning, I have referenced myself as Monique Pardo Pope,” she said, adding that “bullies” and “smears won’t stop” her — a reference to Corben, who she described to the Miami New Times as someone who “has made a career of slinging mud, which has even resulted in losing a defamation case.”
State records show she is registered to vote as Monique Kristine Pope, meaning she voluntarily included her former surname, Pardo, on her candidate form.
Corben, who invited Pardo Pope onto his #BecauseMiami show to discuss her “compelling story,” fired back in another video[17] Friday, blasting her for “spreading misinformation about her father and attacking the messenger (but not the substance of my 100% factual reporting).”
He pointed to her claim that “courts found (her) father to be mentally ill due to health problems,” which is false, and noted that the only time he was party to a defamation case, his side won.
“She seems to be doubling down on dishonesty,” he said. “The truth is not a smear or an attack. Facts don’t bully.”
Others running for the Group 1 seat include consultant and former Miami Design Preservation League Executive Director Daniel Ciraldo, developer Brian Ehrlich, Realtor Ava Frankel, transportation improvement advocate and Miami Design Preservation League Project and Grants Manager Matthew Gultanoff, Park View Island Sustainable Association founder Omar Jimenez and Miami Beach legislative aide Monica Matteo-Salinas.
Ciraldo, Ehrlich and Matteo-Salinas are Democrats, according to state records. Frankel, Gultanoff and Jimenez have no party affiliation.
Pardo Pope is the lone Republican in the race. She has run a mostly self-funded campaign.
The Miami Beach Commission is a technically nonpartisan body, as are its elections.
The Miami Beach General Election is Nov. 5.
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References
- ^ in May (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ three-minute video (x.com)
- ^ report (www.miaminewtimes.com)
- ^ seven candidates (www.voterfocus.com)
- ^ photo this year (www.instagram.com)
- ^ Instagram account (www.instagram.com)
- ^ guiding light (www.instagram.com)
- ^ hero (www.instagram.com)
- ^ last written statement (www.gainesville.com)
- ^ Some have (www.huffpost.com)
- ^ speculated (www.askmen.com)
- ^ Dexter (www.goodreads.com)
- ^ TV series (www.imdb.com)
- ^ Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (hotlinemiami.fandom.com)
- ^ Miami Beach Commission for Women (www.miamibeachfl.gov)
- ^ separate statement (www.instagram.com)
- ^ another video (www.instagram.com)