THE COLLAPSE OF MEXICO'S 'INVINCIBLE' DRUG CARTEL

TIJUANA -- He was the muscle for Mexico's most feared drug cartel, and he
was looking to use it. As revelers filled the streets of Mazatlan for its
annual carnival, Ramon Arellano Felix cruised the beach strip like a shark,
hunting for a rival.

Instead, he ended up the victim, killed in a shootout with police who had
stopped his white Volkswagen for driving in the wrong lane. Officially, it
was a chance confrontation: The officers opened fire after Ramon brandished
a weapon and ran. But some think the police were gunning for the
37-year-old enforcer, possibly as proxies for Ismael Zambada, the rival
drug boss whom Ramon was in town to kill.

Either way, the death of Ramon Arellano Felix on Feb. 10, followed by the
capture of his brother Benjamin, 50, in Puebla on March 9, was stunning
proof that the luck of the world's most wanted drug traffickers had taken a
wrong turn after a decade of seeming invincibility. Throughout the 1990s,
the Arellano Felix gang had maintained an iron grip on the smuggling of
cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines up the Tijuana-San Diego
corridor. They had corrupted officials and police with millions of dollars
in bribes and intimidated others with spectacular killings, of police
chiefs, prosecutors and even children.

The demise of the brothers, literally or figuratively, made law enforcement
officials happy and hopeful that the government of President Vicente Fox
was finally delivering on its promise of a crackdown on drug trafficking.

But the victory over the Arellano Felixes has its dark side. Authorities on
both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border predict a bloody struggle for
dominance over this key piece of "narco-geography." Challenges to their
cartel will come from outside and within, said Michael G. Garland, former
head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Mexico unit.

"You can expect a period of violence, first to settle vendettas and then as
people try to position themselves to take over," said Garland, who said he
believes that the Arellano Felix organization has been "mortally wounded."

Struggle Seen as Having Little Effect on Supply

The first victim apparently has already fallen. Rodolfo Carrillo Barragan,
a law professor and attorney who represented the Arellano Felix clan in its
dealings around Mexico, was found dead in the garage of his Tijuana
condominium Monday night with a bullet wound to the head.

Typical of the wild speculation running rampant here, some theorize that he
was killed by his own employers because he knew too much of the cartel's
inner workings. Others think he was hit by an outside gang trying to sow
chaos amid the Arellano Felix ranks.

The oncoming struggle for cartel predominance will do little to impede the
flow of drugs to the United States, experts agree, because consumer demand
is still strong and the corrupt infrastructure that smugglers use remains
in place.

Asked if the capture and death of the Arellano Felix brothers was a blow to
drug trafficking, Arturo Guevara Valenzuela, the federal attorney general's
delegate in Baja California state, responded: "Let me answer that question
with a question. Will the capture in any way affect demand for drugs in the
United States? Doubtful."

For years, while other traffickers were being jailed, the myth and mystery
of the Arellano Felixes' longevity and invincibility only grew.

But in reality, the sprawling family empire founded on corruption and
violence was reeling even before the brothers' downfall. Arrests of key
lieutenants, increasing pressure from competing gangs angling for a piece
of the Tijuana-San Diego turf and the rising heat from Fox's newly
reinforced anti-drug forces in Baja had boxed in the Arellanos.

Fox quietly moved 1,300 units of the Federal Preventive Police into Baja
earlier this year--units that Baja observers say are actually army
soldiers. State Atty. Gen. Antonio Martinez Luna said the presence of the
units has made a huge difference in anti-drug enforcement.

Erroll Chavez, special agent in charge of the DEA's San Diego office, also
gave credit to the Mexican government. "There had been progress for the
last five years, albeit a bit slow," he said, "and it gave us reason to
believe that President Fox would deliver on his promise."

In the 1990s, Tijuana was the scene of immense carnage as the Arellano
Felix cartel consolidated its grip on the Tijuana-to-Mexicali turf, or
"plaza," as the drug-smuggling corridor is referred to. The Arellanos
ruthlessly attacked anyone who threatened their franchise.

They weren't above killing children to make a statement, as shown by the
massacre of three families in Ensenada in 1998 who investigators say were
impinging on the Arellano Felix marijuana monopoly. J. Jesus Blancornelas,
editor of Tijuana's Zeta newspaper, barely survived an assassination
attempt that killed a bodyguard in 1997. San Diego Union-Tribune reporter
Greg Gross was also on the Arellano Felix hit list, said the DEA's Chavez,
prompting Gross' employers to transfer him out of Mexico.

Former DEA agent Garland testified to the brutality. "If you are late
paying the Arellanos, you won't get a nicely worded letter saying your 30
days were up," he said. "But you might get a finger of your child in the mail."

The Arellano Felixes established their violent pattern soon after arriving
in Tijuana in the mid-1980s. They had learned violence at the feet of a
master, their uncle Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, a gangster from Sinaloa
state who, with Rafael Caro Quintero, was imprisoned for the 1985
torture-murder of DEA agent Enrique S. Camarena.

Before going to jail, Felix Gallardo divided up his smuggling domain
geographically in hopes of avoiding a free-for-all. His nephews took over
cigarettes and alcohol in Tijuana, expanding to marijuana and cocaine. The
Arellano Felixes quickly perceived the importance of controlling the
Tijuana-San Diego plaza, an ideal smuggling platform.

"Mules," or drug couriers, could easily blend in among the tens of
thousands of people who move daily across the border there. The crossing
point is highly coveted: There are dense metropolitan areas on either side
where smugglers can hide and where drugs can be stored in warehouses
without attracting notice.

"If you're going to cross 2 tons of cocaine, where would you rather cross
it--San Ysidro or Del Rio, Texas, where you are hundreds of miles away from
a transportation hub?" said Donald E. Robinson, special agent with the FBI
in San Diego.

As former DEA agent Garland points out, the Arellano Felix cartel was
typical of Mexican traffickers in that it never learned to cooperate with
rivals, like Colombian cartels did, and vicious fighting broke out. The
cartel insisted on a massive cut of any drugs that moved through its turf,
which other mobsters resisted.

One especially recalcitrant trafficker was Ismael Zambada, who reportedly
refused to pay $20 million to the Arellano Felix gang for the right to use
the northern Baja corridor to smuggle drugs into the United States. Ramon
was reportedly in Mazatlan in February to kill Zambada in revenge.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gonzalo Curiel said there is also evidence that
Zambada--who is believed to have been behind the killing of Tijuana Police
Chief Alfredo de la Torre in February 2000--was encroaching on the Arellano
Felixes' heroin traffic, another reason for Ramon to make his fatal trip to
Mazatlan.

All the Trappings of a Multinational Firm

As it grew, the Arellano Felix organization took on the characteristics of
a transnational corporation. Benjamin flew to Colombia, Peru and Panama to
seal multi-ton drug deals worth $40 million each. They developed monopolies
of not just cocaine but heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines.

Among the businesses that the U.S. Treasury Department alleges the gang has
used to launder its cash is the Farmacia Vida chain, which also has served
to secure the cartel primary ingredients for methamphetamines.

There were complicated logistics to work out, with most shipments of drugs
in recent years arriving via boat either on the Pacific Coast of central
Mexico or directly to Baja.

FBI agent Robinson said the preferred maritime logistics currently involve
high-speed cigarette boats that bring drugs up to Mexico from Colombia.
They're refueled along the way by "logistical support vessels," or, as
Robinson described them, "floating gas stations."

There was also the crucial task of corrupting U.S. immigration and customs
agents to ensure that big shipments were waved across the border.

But that has been getting tougher to do, officials say. U.S. Atty. Patrick
K. O'Toole, in charge of the San Diego-based Southern District of
California, said "two or three" agents have been prosecuted per year since
1990, whereas virtually none were prosecuted in the 1980s.

In addition, the cartel suffered a major blow in March 2000 when Jesus "El
Chuy" Labra, the financial mastermind of the cartel, was arrested. Then, in
May 2000, Ismael Higuera Guerrero, the gang's so-called chief operating
officer, was captured in Ensenada.

As for Benjamin Arellano Felix, he may have been done in simply by solid
police work. Authorities had gotten wind of regular courier deliveries of
cash from Tijuana to Benjamin, who was hiding out in Puebla, east of Mexico
City, and they simply tracked them, sources said. Also, one of Benjamin's
daughters suffers from a rare dermatological condition, and her treatment
left leads for agents to pursue.

In a macabre twist, Benjamin also provided the proof that closed the case
on his brother.

The body of the man shot to death in Mazatlan had been cremated, and the
bloodstains on the victim's shirt were the only evidence authorities had to
go on for identification. This week, DNA tests using blood drawn from
Benjamin confirmed what was widely believed: The dead man was indeed his
brother.