Revealed: George Santos got shady campaign cash from Italian busted for smuggling undocumented migrants

Rep. George Santos could face new legal peril over donations from a confessed immigrant smuggler from Italy who has close ties to his campaign. The New York Republican accepted campaign contributions from Rocco Oppedisano, who was expelled from the U.S. in January 2019 and then arrested for piloting a yacht loaded with undocumented migrants and $200,000 in cash toward Florida, and the donations are almost certainly illegal, reported The Daily Beast. Santos appointed Oppedisano's brother Joseph and niece Tina, who operate the upscale Queens restaurant Il Bacco, to his “Small Businesses for Santos Coalition,” and his two campaigns spent $25,443.64 at the eatery since first running for Congress in 2020, and his most recent campaign reported owing Il Bacco $18,773.54 for its 2022 Election Night party. “If someone was trying to structure and kind of lazy about it… this is kind of what it would look like.” Oppedisano himself gave $500 to the Santos campaign on Sept. 22, 2022, despite having his permanent resident status taken away after a 2009 bust for firearms, pills and cocaine at homes belonging to Joseph Oppedisano, who told The Daily Beast he had introduced his brother to the congressman but insisted he could not recall whether he encouraged the donation.