Pubdate: Thu, 21 Dec 2000
Source: Phoenix New Times (AZ)
Copyright: 2000 New Times, Inc.
Contact:  P.O. Box 2510, Phoenix, AZ 85002
Website: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/
Author: Robert Nelson

DRUG WAR COWBOYS

The DEA May Finally Get Its Man

In the drug trade, the Sinaloan Cowboys are said to be the kings of 
the stone-cold killers.

In fact, though, when the Sinaloans need an unsavory hit, they call 
the hillbillies from Michoacan.

"The guys from Michoacan are known in Sinaloa for not losing any 
sleep over anything," says a DEA agent who has worked in the region. 
"They are the ones known for being the really terrible bad-asses."

The agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration might not have 
tumbled to the Michoacan factor if it weren't for the 1994 killing of 
a DEA agent in Glendale, Arizona.

The murder of undercover agent Richard Fass during a drug sting 
triggered a six-year manhunt through Mexico for Agustin 
Vasquez-Mendoza, who the DEA believes masterminded the killing. Fass 
was attempting to buy 22 pounds of methamphetamines from two 
associates of Vasquez when, allegedly under Vasquez's orders, the two 
robbed and shot the agent seven times.

The manhunt ended in July with the capture of Vasquez at a phone 
booth in Tehuacan, Puebla. For the past six months, Vasquez has been 
sitting in a jail outside Mexico City, fighting his extradition to 
Phoenix.

That fight should be nearly over. A Mexican federal judge is expected 
to rule December 21 on Vasquez's final appeal. He'll either decide 
the case needs further review or, as DEA officials hope, release 
Vasquez to the DEA for transport to Sky Harbor Airport.

"It would be a wonderful Christmas present for the Fass family," says 
DEA special agent Jim Molesa. "We're hopeful, but we also know these 
things can drag on."

Besides finally snagging Vasquez, the DEA manhunt opened a stream of 
intelligence about drug operations in the rugged mountains 
surrounding Apatzingan, Michoacan, an area the DEA now believes is 
one of the wellsprings of America's burgeoning meth problem. And it's 
a stream of information the DEA hopes to keep flowing long beyond the 
extradition of Vasquez.

"As we were looking for Agustin, we began seeing these 100-pound 
shipments of ephedrine coming into Apatzingan and 100-pound shipments 
of meth coming out of the mountains," says the Phoenix-based DEA 
agent who led the hunt for the fugitive. "At the same time, we were 
hearing about all these Michoacan license plates coming up in drug 
investigations around the United States.

"Because of Agustin, we were in a region neither the DEA nor the 
[Federales] would have been in. And because of that, we believe we 
got a jump on fighting the Mexican meth trade."

DEA agents attribute the arrests of more than three dozen fugitives 
in Mexico and the United States to the Vasquez hunt.

The lead DEA agent, who asked not to be identified for safety 
reasons, likely will be returning to Michoacan to work with Mexican 
federal and state police in their investigations of the meth trade.

"We have a positive relationship there and there is so much work left 
to do," the agent says. "We just hope the cooperation can continue."

For sure, the relationship between the DEA and the Mexican government 
in the hunt for Vasquez has not always been positive. The 
investigation was clouded with numerous accusations of human-rights 
violations, particularly by Vasquez-Mendoza's large family. The 
Mexican government pulled back support from the DEA several times. 
And frequent assassinations of local police officials who helped the 
DEA began eroding the will of local law enforcement. DEA agents were 
sometimes not allowed to carry firearms in the region, known for its 
virulent drug trade, chaotic clan politics and the casual ferocity of 
its violence.

The hunt began in a Glendale strip mall, where Richard Fass, a 
37-year-old father of four working his last day as a DEA agent in 
Phoenix, met two men for a meth buy. Instead of a sale, though, the 
supposed dealers apparently planned a robbery and execution. The two 
men opened fire on Fass. Fass fired back, wounding one man, but was 
then hit by a fusillade of bullets.

Juan Rubio Vasquez was chased down by officers near the scene. 
Agustin Cordova-Cuevas fled in a car but was stopped and arrested. He 
had a bullet wound in his side.

But the alleged mastermind of the plan, Vasquez, made it out of 
Phoenix, into Mexico and on toward the mountains of Michoacan. U.S. 
and Mexican authorities spent the next six years looking for him.

Police interrogated members of Vasquez's expansive family and were 
accused of myriad human-rights violations. Death threats began 
flowing into the Apatzingan office of the federal judicial police. 
Several police throughout the region were assassinated. Police were 
accused of beating witnesses and hanging them from hovering 
helicopters to extract information.

A Mexican human rights group investigated and found no wrongdoing. In 
1998, the FBI put Vasquez on its 10 Most Wanted List, the reward was 
raised to $2.2 million and federal officials began a media blitz to 
generate leads.

Six DEA agents and four Mexican federal agents were assigned 
full-time to the manhunt. Mexican officials began making arrests 
throughout Michoacan of suspected meth makers and runners. More 
accusations of human-rights violations followed.

As the investigation intensified, Mexican and U.S. agents began to 
understand the extent of Michoacan's rule in the U.S. meth trade. 
Massive amounts of ephedrine were being flown into Apatzingan and 
then transported into remote areas, areas Mexican state and federal 
police shy away from. The ephedrine was being cooked in mountain 
labs, then brought back to Apatzingan for transport to the United 
States.

Michoacan drug runners were being apprehended throughout the United 
States, particularly in the rural Midwest and the West Coast. 
Six-figure money wires to Michoacan were coming from as far north as 
Yakima, Washington. "All the biggest wires from some of these cities 
on the West Coast were flowing into Michoacan," the agent says. "And 
this wasn't money back from [people working] construction to their 
family. This was big money."

In 1999, Mexican and U.S. agents were getting numerous tips that 
Vasquez had fled Michoacan for Compeche. They learned, too, that he 
had a new wife.

Federales and DEA agents chased Vasquez through Compeche into Puebla. 
There, they learned that Vasquez was making regular phone calls from 
a telephone booth to his wife's family.

Using high-tech surveillance equipment, DEA officials pinpointed the 
phone booth from which the couple was making calls. They staked out 
the booth and, a few days later when Vasquez and his wife showed up 
to make another call, agents nabbed him.

Vasquez was flown to Mexico City to verify he was the correct 
suspect. Once he was identified, U.S. officials in Arizona and 
Washington began flooding Mexican officials with what they hoped was 
the evidence and paperwork necessary to get Vasquez extradited.

For any hope of extradition, U.S. officials had to agree that they 
would not seek the death penalty, which is not allowed under Mexican 
law. Mexico's foreign minister also has not allowed Vasquez to face a 
conspiracy murder charge and aggravated assault charges that American 
prosecutors had filed against him. Still, seven counts remain, 
including first-degree murder.

"We've had some real good cooperation with a number of Mexican 
prosecutors," says Tom Hannis, an assistant U.S. attorney who is 
handling the case.

On November 30, Vasquez filed his last appeal in an attempt to 
prevent extradition. If that appeal is denied, Vasquez could be on a 
plane to Phoenix.

That's a big could, though, according to U.S. attorneys and DEA officials.

"We could be in limbo again, too," the assistant U.S. attorney says, 
referring to the convoluted appeals process that could continue at 
the judge's whim.

If and when Vasquez arrives in Phoenix, he will be turned over to 
Glendale police and then delivered for his initial appearance in 
Maricopa County court. He then probably will be transferred to 
Maricopa County Jail. Expect a media blitz.

"It's a big deal, and once he comes, we're going to spread the word," 
Molesa says. "So many people in several different agencies in the 
U.S. and Mexico worked so many long, dangerous hours on this case. 
They deserve a little appreciation for a job well done."
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