Pubdate: Sun, 10 Mar 2002 Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) Copyright: 2002 Press-Telegram. Contact: http://www.ptconnect.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/244 Author: John Rice (AP) Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n349/a03.html ALLEGED MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL LEADER CAPTURED MEXICO CITY - Soldiers raiding a house in central Mexico early Saturday captured the alleged leader of a drug cartel accused of spreading terror across much of the country. They also found evidence that his brother, the gang's alleged co-leader, was dead. With the arrest of Benjamin Arellano Felix and the death of his brother, Ramon, "the cartel of the Arellanos has been completely dismantled," Attorney General Ramon Macedo de la Concha told a news conference. "It seems that this is a great triumph for justice," President Vicente Fox said Saturday as he congratulated the army and the Justice Department. U.S. and Mexican authorities say the brothers smuggled tons of cocaine, amphetamines and marijuana into the United States, killing hundreds of people - ranging from farmers to police to a Roman Catholic cardinal - to crush threats. Still, the breakup of other major gangs in the past has had little or no long-term effect on the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. "Tomorrow there will be another substituting for them for one simple reason: While there is consumption, demand in the United States, there will be drug trafficking in Mexico," said Tijuana journalist Jesus Blancornelas, who survived an assassination attempt by the gang, in an interview with Mexico's Formato 21 radio station. Benjamin Arellano Felix was captured without gunfire at about 1 a.m. as police raided a two-story house in an upper-middle class neighborhood of Puebla, a city 65 miles east of Mexico City, Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Clemente Vega Garcia announced at a news conference. He said an altar to Ramon Arellano Felix was found in the house, suggesting he was killed in a Feb. 10 police shootout in Mazatlan. Ramon Arellano Felix is on the FBI's 10 most wanted list with a $2 million reward for his capture. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth