December 13, 2011 |  6:19 pm

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/12/hezbollah-cartels-cocaine/

According to federal prosecutors, Hezbollah has started to learn the lesson that took funk legend Rick James a lifetime to absorb: cocaine is a hell of a drug.

The Lebanese terrorist group isn’t selling blow itself. It’s doing something more lucrative: getting a percentage of the drug trade, through money laundering. ProPublica’s Sebastian Rotella reports that U.S. federal prosecutors are putting together a case linking Hezbollah to a massive, multi-continent cocaine smuggling operation, one that worked with the bloody Zetas cartel to launder drug money.

Ayman Joumaa, an accused Hezbollah financier, “allegedly coordinated the smuggling of at least 85 tons of Colombian cocaine through Central America and Mexico in partnership with the Zetas,” Rotella reports, citing an indictment released on Tuesday. About $85 million in cash got laundered through “money exchange houses, used car businesses and other companies” on four continents. Joumaa’s operation dates back to 1997.

The cocaine ended up on American streets, by way of Mexico.

It’s hard not to think of the bizarre story, also told by federal prosecutors recently, that Iranian operatives tried to work with the cartels to assassinate a Saudi ambassador in Washington. The Drug Enforcement Agency has long suspected that Mideastern terrorists were starting to collaborate with drug gangs, but the evidence thus far has been scant.

It’s also unclear what the indictment really means for Hezbollah. The terrorist group and Iranian proxy is now ensconced in the Lebanese government. It recently rolled up several CIA informants trying to infiltrate the organization, thanks to the spies’ faulty codewords.

Then again, if the Mexican-Hezbollah drug connection all seems a bit paranoid, well, you know, paranoia is a side effect of cocaine. Rick James could certainly tell you that.