Pubdate: Sat, 06 Apr 2002
Source: New London Day (CT)
Copyright: 2002 The Day Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.newlondonday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/People/Ramon+Felix
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/traffic.htm (Traffic)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)

DEAD DRUG LORD AMBUSHED

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. officials believe Mexico's most violent drug lord was 
lured to a Pacific coast resort town and executed by police working for a 
rival drug trafficker, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said Friday. 
The comments refuted published reports that Ramon Arellano Felix was killed 
in a shootout with state police in Mazatlan. Speaking to reporters on the 
condition of anonymity, the official said U.S. agents helped Mexico find 
the other leader of the Tijuana cartel, Benjamin Arellano Felix, when they 
detected couriers carrying cash from Tijuana to Mexico City. The two events 
- -- Ramon's Feb. 10 death and Benjamin's arrest March 9 -- dealt a blow to 
Mexico's most feared cartel at a time when it was already struggling under 
pressure from rivals and big drug seizures by police.

The official said U.S. prosecutors plan to file a request for Benjamin's 
extradition. However, he said, they would not seek a death sentence to 
avoid a dispute with Mexico, which refuses to extradite suspects who face 
that penalty.
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