Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jul 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Author: John Rice

MAJOR DRUG TRAFFICKING SUSPECT FOUND DEAD IN MEXICO

MEXICO CITY - A major drug trafficking suspect has been found
slain near the U.S. border, one in a series of killings that police
believe are linked, officials said Tuesday.

The body of Angel Salvador Gomez Herrera was discovered Friday in
brush near Matamoros, just south of Brownsville, Texas, according to
Julio Cesar Saucedo, spokesman for the Tamaulipas state attorney
general's office.

Some Mexican news reports over the past year said that Gomez, a former
state policeman, had taken over leadership of a Matamoros-based drug
ring, known as the Gulf Cartel, after the 1996 conviction of drug
chieftain Juan Garcia Abrego.

But Saucedo said in a telephone interview that "there is not a black
and white version" of who leads the organization.

Some drug experts have said that the organization is led by Oscar
Malherbe, who was sentenced to two years in prison in January 1998 on
weapons charges. He is wanted on drug trafficking charges in the
United States.

Gomez's family said he was last seen on June 24.

Saucedo said officials believe that six other slayings in recent days
are related to the Gomez case. Those include four men whose
blindfolded and bound bodies were discovered near Matamoros on Monday.
Two of the victims, identified as former state policemen, were
believed to be his bodyguards, Saucedo said.

Two other men named Gomez were recently discovered slain together in
the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

On Monday, state police searched houses believed to belong to Gomez,
finding drugs, automatic rifles and federal police badges, as well as
a car reported stolen in El Paso, Texas.
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