"It's good for the entire Texas music industry," said Monahan from his office in Austin. "It's one thing to be from Texas and be nominated and another to live in here and be nominated. But the best of all possible worlds is to born here, record here and be nominated. La Mafia is definitely 'made in Texas.'"

"We're all very excited," said La Mafia lead vocalist Oscar De la Rosa. "Over the holidays, we learned that we'd be returning to the Astrodome as part of the 1998 Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, one of the biggest annual Latino music concerts held nationwide. Then we accepted an invitation to headline an AIDS education and awareness benefit being held in New York a day after the Grammy Awards. And today, we hear that we're among the top five Grammy finalists. I'm extremely proud. I never dreamed we'd come this far."

La Mafia, winners of a 1997 Grammy Award in the "Best Mexican-American/Tejano Performance" category for their album Un Million de Rosas, will travel to New York on February 25th to participate in the 40th Annual Grammy Awards presentation. A 1997 CD, titled En Tus Manos, is up for award in the same category this year. Produced by La Mafia founding member and accordion/keyboard player Mando Lichtenberger, Jr., the album was released on Sony Discos.

On February 26th, La Mafia will share Manhattan's famed Beacon Theatre stage with John Secada, Barrio Boys and DLG (Dark Latin Groove), among others, at LATIN AID, a major benefit concert. LATIN AID Executive Committe members include producer Jellybean Benitez, actor Michael DeLorenzo and music empresario Ralph Mercado. The following day, La Mafia makes an appearance at Madison Square Garden as part of a concert/showcase being held by SUAVE, one of New York's largest Latino radio stations.