Narco pop-star breaks into state's high court
This is the moment the pop star daughter of a Mexican drugs lord broke into court in the middle of the night with gun-toting bodyguards – to shoot a music video. Singer Melissa Plancarte, whose stage name is Melissa: Cartel Princess, was filmed doing her midnight flit in the Mexico's Michoacan state courthouse for her pop video 'Since You Left'.
Seen by half a million fans, the clip shows glamorous pop star - one of Mexico's most beautiful women, dancing the tango at the bottom of the courthouse staircase.
And Melissa would have got away with it - had it not been for eagle eyed fans who spotted unmistakeable murals at the state capital Morelia building.
Furious officials say the star didn't have permission to film at the courthouse. Supreme Court President Juan Antonio Magaña blasted: ‘It’s not possible to hire out these buildings for any price. At least not legally.'
Speculating how the pop star got in, state governor Fausto Vallejo said he suspected the guards may have received bribes.
Melissa's father, Enrique Plancarte, headed one of Mexico's biggest drugs cartels which was infamous for hanging its victims by the neck from motorway bridges.
Plancarte made millions before he died in a shoot out with the Mexican Navy last year. He owned Melissa's record label, PlanRecords - which has just two other acts on its books - Melissa's brother and sister Kike and Jazet.
The stunning singer, who owns three pet tigers and boasts about her lavish lifestyle on Instagram, only recently admitted who her father was.
She was outed in a social media campaign by Michoacan self-defence groups, who are waging a war to rid the state of drugs families.
Mobster Plancarte was responsible for numerous deaths across Mexico. He headed the Knights Templar cartel, which smuggled crystal meth into the US. The mob boss was killed after a bounty of £435,000 was placed on his head by the government.
His shooting sent shockwaves through the Knights Templar.
‘We knew this was going to happen but nothing can prepare you for it,' Melissa revealed after attending her father’s funeral.
But her mob connections do not end with her father; last year her nephew Mario Contreras and cousin Nazaro Moreno were arrested for their involvement with organised crime.
She bosted of her mob roots when she posed in an outfit bearing the insignia of her father’s gang - a red cross on a white background - on Instagram.
And last April, the Cartel Princess posted photos on social media from inside a property that had been seized by the Knights Templar through an illegal extortion racket.
To hit back, she published a music video called ‘Me Vale’ ('I Don’t Care’) filmed in the house with her crime family.
Melissa owns a large mansion in the town of Nueva Italia – the centre of Knights Templar heartland - and shares them with her three big cats, which is a status symbol in Mexico. ‘I like them because they’re exotic and unique’, she told Mexican showbiz magazine TvNotas.
Her mother Neria Bustos Valencia still lives in the town centre mansion her dead husband built in the centre of Nueva Italia, next door to Melissa.