DRUG TRAFFICKER PLEADS GUILTY

Courts: The Reputed Official Of Mexico's Arellano Felix Gang Admits
Laundering Money, Smuggling Four Tons Of Cocaine Into The United States.

SAN DIEGO -- A reputed top aide to the Arellano Felix drug mafia in Tijuana
pleaded guilty Thursday to federal trafficking charges in U.S. District
Court in San Diego, authorities announced.

Everardo Arturo Paez Martinez, 34, admitted his role in a trafficking
enterprise and in conspiring to launder money in connection with smuggling
nearly four tons of cocaine from Mexico between 1988 and 1996.

Paez admitted organizing and overseeing a group that sneaked dozens of
shipments across the border to San Diego and Los Angeles. Laundered
proceeds helped fund the Arellano Felix drug gang, U.S. authorities said.
Paez's plea, before U.S. District Judge Judith N. Keep, came five months
after he was handed over by Mexican authorities in a move characterized by
U.S. law enforcement officials as historic. It was the first time Mexico,
long reluctant to extradite Mexican citizens, had surrendered a major
Mexican drug suspect.

U.S. authorities said Thursday that the guilty pleas were the result of
cooperation between the two nations, for whom the war on drugs has often
provoked friction and finger-pointing.

"The Paez plea is the culmination of an unprecedented level of cooperation
between the United States and Mexico's law enforcement and prosecutorial
agencies. It demonstrates what can be achieved in international cooperative
efforts where two countries venture to work together," said Patrick K.
O'Toole, U.S. attorney for San Diego and Imperial counties.

By pleading guilty, Paez avoids a mandatory life sentence under the
continuing criminal enterprise count, often called a drug kingpin
allegation. He faces 20 years to life on that charge and up to 20 years on
the money laundering count when sentenced Jan. 14.

"He wanted to put all the cases behind him and start moving on and try to
avoid a life sentence," said defense lawyer Knut Johnson, a San Diego
lawyer appointed to represent Paez.

Johnson said Paez did not admit to ties with the Arellano Felix gang, one
of the most violent in Mexico, and was not cooperating with U.S.
authorities. "That's not part of the deal and he's not cooperating in any
way," Johnson said.

The Paez plea is the latest setback for the Arellano Felix organization,
which has seen the capture of two other top lieutenants in Mexico in the
last 19 months.

One of the men, Ismael Higuera Guerrero, is subject of an extradition
request by U.S. authorities.

Laura E. Duffy, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Paez, said the
plea, coupled with the extradition that made it possible, was a significant
blow to the Tijuana-based drug cartel. "What has been an unlikely
possibility became a very real experience for them today," Duffy said.