DRUG WITNESS CLAIMS HE WAS PAID TO TESTIFY

Bank Papers Say Check For $1 Million Drawn

The key witness in one of the most significant drug-trafficking
trials of the '90s is expected to testify that federal agents
suborned perjury to win a conviction against Juan Garcia Abrego -- if
a judge grants the Gulf Cartel kingpin a hearing -- according to
court documents filed last week.

If a federal judge grants the evidentiary hearing, Carlos Resendez
Bertolousi said he will swear that he and prosecutors cut a $2
million deal for his testimony against Garcia Abrego, and that he
agreed not to tell defense attorneys. Resendez also asked the
attorney who negotiated the payment, Raquenel Villanueva Fraustro, to
testify at the hearing, documents state.

U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein last month ordered Garcia Abrego's
attorneys to outline the evidence they would present if he grants
their motion for a hearing, the first step on the road to a new
trial. Attorneys Michael Pancer and Kent Schaffer have alleged that
federal prosecutor Melissa Annis and FBI agent Peter Hanna encouraged
Resendez to lie and withheld evidence crucial to their client's
defense at his 1996 trial.

As proof, they have submitted NationsBank documents showing that
Hanna purchased a $1 million cashier's check for Resendez and a
$250,000 cashier's check for Noema Quintanilla Montes, Resendez's
mistress.

U.S. Attorney Mervyn Mosbacker has denied the allegations but refused
to address the specifics of the allegations. Although Mosbacker said
the government would respond in court documents, prosecutors have
never explained the cashier's checks.

Affidavits from Garcia Abrego's defense team and Villanueva's
unsigned affidavit state she will testify. The Mexican attorney also
said many of the interviews federal agents conducted with her and her
client were tape-recorded. She also said the U.S. government paid her
expenses when she traveled between her office in Monterrey, Mexico,
and Houston for meetings between prosecutors and her client.

Villanueva's statements added fuel to allegations by Pancer and
Schaffer that prosecutors withheld crucial evidence during the 1996
trial, and could persuade Werlein to grant a new trial. Schaffer said
he was encouraged by Werlein's Dec. 12 query after a 1 1/2-year wait.

Indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston in 1993, Garcia Abrego
was convicted in October 1996 of 22 counts of drug trafficking,
conspiracy, money laundering and operating a continuing criminal
enterprise. He is serving a life sentence.

Resendez, who has been in the federal witness-protection program
since Garcia Abrego's trial, told Villanueva in December he wants to
testify, according to an affidavit. But in early January he allegedly
told her the U.S. government was pressuring him not to do so,
affidavits state.

Randy Schaffer, Resendez's Houston attorney, has since been unable to
contact his client so that an affidavit could be prepared, according
to court documents. Randy Schaffer and Kent Schaffer are brothers.

Resendez hired Randy Schaffer more than two years ago to negotiate
with federal prosecutors for the payment of $1 million Resendez said
he is owed for his testimony.

Villanueva said in an unsigned affidavit that federal prosecutors
reneged on payment of a $2 million reward and other remunerations she
negotiated for Resendez and his family prior to the trial.

Her testimony is pivotal. In her affidavit, Villanueva said she was
present when a federal prosecutor she identified as "Melissa" and an
FBI agent told Resendez the U.S. government would do the following in
exchange for his testimony:

. Pay Resendez $2 million in reward money for Garcia Abrego's capture.

. Purchase property Resendez owned in Mexico.

. Give Resendez and his family American citizenship.

. Provide protection and a change of identity for Resendez.

. Purchase Resendez a house in the United States.

. Provide Resendez a job in the United States.

The first drug trafficker to be placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted
list, Garcia Abrego headed the notorious Gulf Cartel, which was
responsible for smuggling more than 396,000 pounds of cocaine and
46,000 pounds of marijuana across the southwest border between 1980
and 1996.

His smuggling efforts were facilitated by public officials on both
sides of the border, who were paid millions of dollars in bribes and
gifts.

Resendez's testimony was the most damning of the trial. He testified
that he helped arrange drug deals and was aware of murder plots and
bribes to top Mexican government officials as a 30-year confidant of
Garcia Abrego.

If Werlein grants a hearing, defense attorneys hope he will find
there is valid evidence that Resendez was promised $2 million if he
testified and order a new trial. Such a twist would undermine
Resendez's credibility as the government's key witness and could doom
significant portions of the prosecution's case.