Remember the good ole’ days when Fast and Furious was one of the only major, breaking scandals you needed to keep track of? Ah, good times, my friends. But even though the press has largely moved on to fresher fare, the gunwalker scandal is still with us, and apparently still claiming victims.

A high-powered rifle lost in the ATF’s Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records, suggesting that weapons from the failed gun-tracking operation have now made it into the hands of violent drug cartels deep inside Mexico.

Luis Lucio Rosales Astorga, the police chief in the city of Hostotipaquillo, was shot to death Jan. 29 when gunmen intercepted his patrol car and opened fire. Also killed was one of his bodyguards. His wife and a second bodyguard were wounded.

Local authorities said eight suspects in their 20s and 30s were arrested after police seized them nearby with a cache of weapons — rifles, grenades, handguns, helmets, bulletproof vests, uniforms and special communications equipment. The area is a hot zone for rival drug gangs, with members of three cartels fighting over turf in the region.

This story was brought to my attention by our old friend Jeff Dunetz, who has been tracking this disaster pretty much from the beginning. He provides a timely reminder of how one individual from the Obama administration remains at the center of this debacle.

It was a Fast and Furious weapon that was used to Kill U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry n 2010. We are still waiting for the full story. However Atty. Gen. Holder has refused to share. He is being held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over a number of Fast and Furious records sought by the House Oversight Committee.

How Eric Holder maintains his job until this day in the face of all the disastrous failures coming out of the Justice department has become something of a stunning saga. But apparently the President has determined that the political cost of admitting an error in initially appointing him is higher than the damage Holder continues to do with each new revelation. At this point, it’s beginning to look rather unlikely that Holder will voluntarily exit (or be pushed out the door by his boss) until the end of the term.