Pubdate: Sun, 24 Sep 2000
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2000 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265
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Author: Nancy San Martin

SUSPECTED DRUG LORD CHARGED WITH MURDER

U.S. Supports Re-Indictment Despite Concern Mexico Won't Hand Him Over

EL PASO -- When the good guys take on the bad guys, law enforcement 
officials are supposed to get on the bullhorn, yell 'Come out with your 
hands up,' and sooner or later, the accused does.

But even though U.S. authorities say they've got the goods on one of 
Mexico's most notorious reputed drug bosses, they may never put him behind 
bars.

U.S. authorities recently re-indicted Vicente Carrillo Fuentes on multiple 
counts of drug-trafficking. But the alleged drug lord is still at-large in 
Mexico, and it's likely that he'll never stand trial in the United States 
because federal prosecutors also charged him with 10 counts of murder.

Murder charges raise the threat of capital punishment in the United States, 
but Mexico doesn't have the death penalty and historically does not 
extradite felons facing such punishment. The charges could dim whatever 
hope U.S. authorities had of pressuring Mexico to hand over the man they 
say is responsible for a criminal enterprise that has generated more than 
$300 million in drug sales since the mid '90s and that has bloodied the 
streets of both El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, its counterpart in Mexico.

Even so, authorities from the FBI field office in El Paso up to the U.S. 
drug czar in Washington stand by the decision to file murder charges, 
saying they'll step up pressure for Mr. Carrillo Fuentes' downfall.

"It's always been our mission to take down the highest levels, the John 
Gottis of the drug world," said Edmundo Guevara, special agent in charge of 
the FBI in El Paso. "We can't do this ourselves. Cooperation has to exist 
between Mexico and the United States.

"The bad guys are using that border effectively."

Barry McCaffrey, the director of the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, called Mr. Carrillo Fuentes "a major violent criminal drug 
capo" and described the indictments as "valid," even if the potential 
results remain obscure.

"I don't know how it will come out but I am sure he is a significant threat 
to both Mexico and the United States," the nation's drug czar said during a 
visit to the border last week. "You can't defend America if you can't work 
with the Mexicans."

Revised case

The new 46-count indictment supercedes a 27-count indictment on drug 
trafficking and money-laundering charges issued three years ago against Mr. 
Carrillo Fuentes. That indictment did not include murder charges and has 
not led to any action by the Mexican government.

Federal officials say the inaction means they need the murder charges to 
not only apply pressure on Mexican authorities, but to let Mr. Carrillo 
Fuentes know he is a wanted man, said Mr. Guevara, who took over in May.

Mr. Guevara, a 24-year veteran, comes to the Southwest Border with a wealth 
of knowledge in how the drug-trafficking apparatus functions. He is sure 
that the federal government is on track with the Carrillo Fuentes charges.

ity, the agency's largest foreign post. Before that, he worked in Miami's 
FBI office, which has one of the largest organized drug programs in the nation.

Mr. Carrillo Fuentes runs what Mr. Guevara described as "one of the major 
drug organizations in the world." He controls virtually all 
drug-trafficking activities in Juarez and neighboring El Paso, officials said.

The alleged drug lord has been able to maintain control because of his 
ruthless tactics, officials said. The murder charges are the first filed 
against the 37-year-old by federal authorities in the Western District of 
Texas.

Seven of the 10 deaths Mr. Carrillo Fuentes is charged with stem from the 
identification of remains found in graves at ranches in Juarez last year 
during a joint operation by the FBI and Mexican federal authorities. The 
other three slain victims were a former Juarez state police chief and his 
two sons. The bodies of the trio were found in 1994 inside an abandoned 
vehicle on one of the international bridges linking Juarez and El Paso.

All of the killings were ordered by Mr. Carrillo Fuentes, authorities said, 
as a way to silence potential enemies.

"There is obviously an informant in this case, some source of information 
that links him to all ten," Mr. Guevara said.

New man in charge

The new charges come just as Mexico prepares for a new administration led 
by president-elect Vicente Fox. The new government's reaction to the 
capital punishment issue won't be felt for awhile.

Travis Kuykendall, former head of El Paso's Drug Enforcement 
Administration, said the possibility of the death penalty is "a huge 
obstacle to overcome" because of Mexico's aversion to it, and the outcome 
"depends on political will."

Even so, he agrees that the legal paperwork can be a useful tool in 
dismantling an organization.

"They are absolutely right in taking it as far as one can in our system," 
said Mr. Kuykendall, who is now director of the High Intensity Drug 
Trafficking Area office in El Paso, a multi-agency unit that promotes 
coordination of drug control efforts.

"The problem is that we don't have the authority to go into a foreign 
country and pick up anyone," he said.

Mr. Carrillo Fuentes isn't likely to face charges from Mexico prosecutors 
any time soon. In Mexico, the burden of proof requires active participation 
in the carrying out of a crime.

"They don't have conspiracy laws. In Mexico, you have to prove that someone 
was actively involved" in a criminal enterprise, said Mr. Kuykendall. "When 
you're a drug lord, you don't haul marijuana, you don't load it and unload 
it, you don't drive the truck. That's why top people in Mexico hardly ever 
get prosecuted."

Though Mr. Carrillo Fuentes' arrest by U.S. authorities would not stem the 
flow of drugs from Mexico to the United States, it would "lead to some 
disruption of the cartel," Mr. Guevara said. It also would likely set off 
another violent turf war, like the one that followed the death of Mr. 
Carrillo Fuentes' brother Amado, the alleged former leader of the Juarez 
drug cartel.

Deadly competition

His death in 1997 prompted a series of bloody incidents that included a 
summer shooting spree at an upscale Juarez restaurant named Max-Fim. Thugs 
armed with AK-47s gunned down six people at the restaurant. Another 
shooting followed a few weeks later when automatic gunfire erupted at 
Geronimo's Bar &Grill in Juarez, killing three.

In 1998, another alleged drug baron who was jockeying to take over the 
cartel was found slumped inside a sports utility vehicle. Rafael Munoz 
Talavera, was riddled with bullets, beaten and wrapped in plastic.

Though violence continues to be a part of the border landscape, recent 
incidents are not as brazen. Mr. Carrillo Fuentes seems to have gained a 
stronghold.

An important potential side effect of the murder charges in the indictment 
is that authorities hope it will turn up the heat among competing drug 
traffickers, who may opt to turn Mr. Carrillo Fuentes in rather than risk 
losing their share in a lucrative enterprise.

No end to drug war

"If the pressure continues like this, even a person of his stature, at 
least in the criminal world, becomes a liability for other drug dealers," 
said Mr. Guevara.

In the end, experts agree, justice will likely come in the form of death. 
But it won't be due to the U.S. judicial system.

"What generally happens in Mexico is the competitor kills him," Mr. 
Kuykendall said. "That's usually the capital punishment in Mexico."

But that won't end the drug war.

"As long as there is a demand, they'll be someone to fill the gap. Amado 
was the boss and he's gone. Vicente is now the boss and when he's gone 
another one will come along," he said.
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