Sorry, in some of the comments, or in one of the Reddit threads, a couple of people that knew him mention that he was pissed that he didn't get a bunch of family money. When he popped up on the radar doing this stuff, like 5 or 6 years ago, I ran into an old mutual friend that was closer to him than I ever was. He told me that Bonner had being going through some rough times and couldn't deal drugs, as if he were caught it was gonna be some serious hard time. Apparently something in the family happened and his brother ended up getting a decent amount of family money and he didn't and it royally PO'd him. I liked Bonner a lot more than his brother, FWIW.baseballaficionado said:RGV AG said:
I tend to not believe all, or most, journalistic stuff. In that TM article, or in something else written about him, it states that a motivation for his fleeing to the Donbass area was being side stepped in the inheritance of the family fortune. Bonners dad is still living, last I heard. They had some money, but nothing generational.
The TM article said he was inspired by some video of a Russian lady who was killed. It even said his Dad didn't agree with him going to Russia, but drove him to the airport. I didn't see/read the article as implying his family had any connection to his radical beliefs.
Obviously the family, as those with any sense that knew him, understood that giving funds to Bonner would have a bad ending. His sister, that is mentioned in the article, married very, very well into what became a big money family business. If he had been a somewhat functional adult he could have easily had a big time job, especially in the late 80's and early 90's. Instead he was chasing spring breakers on SPI, how he met his first wife, and partying hard, very hard. The drug scene on and around SPI in the late 80's and into the 90's was something to behold, astounding quantity and quality, and very low price relative to things. He is another victim, and there were many.
The TM article has some bad and or wrong info in it, that is why I take it with a grain of salt. His dad never had a Maquiladora company, he was involved in selling oil field stuff, and had an in with PEMEX, when oil cratered so did that business. At one point they lived in Scotland. His parents opened what was probably, and still to this day, the best restaurant on South Padre Island. They did very, very well there. His parents were gracious, nice, honest, hard working, and very decent people. Bonner could have taken over that place and made big, big money.
Bonner was born into the "have it easy" tree and fell out and hit every "dumbass" branch on the way down. But, back in the day he was a nice guy and fun to be with, that is how I will always remember him.
