Pubdate: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 Source: Wall Street Journal (US) Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc Contact: http://www.wsj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487 Author: Jose De Cordoba MEXICO CAPTURES THE MASTERMIND OF KEY DRUG CARTEL, ENDING REIGN MEXICO CITY -- Mexico said it had dismantled the country's most ruthless and powerful drug cartel after capturing its alleged mastermind, Benjamin Arellano Felix, and confirming the death of his brother, Ramon, the cartel's brutal enforcer. In Washington, Asa Hutchinson, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, congratulated Mexico on the capture. "We've been seeking his apprehension for years," he said. "It was our top priority." Mr. Hutchinson said he hoped Mexican authorities could now reclaim the Tijuana area, the base for the Arellano Felix cartel, which the gang has held in "almost a death grip." U.S. officials said they expect Mr. Arellano Felix to be extradited to the U.S., where he faces drug-trafficking charges. Mexican President Vicente Fox called the capture "a great triumph for justice" that showed his government is serious about fighting the drug trade. Army troops apprehended Mr. Arellano Felix early Saturday morning in a raid in a middle-class suburb of the city of Puebla, 65 miles from Mexico City, where he had been masquerading as an ordinary businessman. Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said the alleged drug dealer's detention could prove a fatal blow to the cartel, which dominates the drug trade along Mexico's Pacific coast. But analysts said the flow of drugs to the U.S. was likely to continue unabated, as other narcotics gangs pick up the slack. The cartel could even regroup. After his arrest, Mexican officials said, Mr. Arellano Felix confirmed to interrogators that his brother Ramon, using a false identity, had been killed in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan in a gunfight with police last month. Ramon, whose picture is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 10 Most Wanted list, next to that of Osama bin Laden, is believed to have been the enforcer of the cartel, allegedly orchestrating or carrying out the killings of dozens of people, including judges, police chiefs and the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Guadalajara. DNA testing to conclusively prove the death of Ramon Arellano Felix hasn't yet been completed. U.S. and Mexican officials said the Arellano Felix organization has spent millions of dollars to bribe generals, government officials and police chiefs. In a violent business, they are considered the most violent of Mexico's drug gangs, as well as the most technologically sophisticated, using an array of listening devices to help keep law enforcement at bay. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth