SUSPECTED DRUG LORD CHARGED WITH MURDER

U.S. Supports Re-Indictment Despite Concern Mexico Won't Hand Him Over

EL PASO -- When the good guys take on the bad guys, law enforcement
officials are supposed to get on the bullhorn, yell 'Come out with your
hands up,' and sooner or later, the accused does.

But even though U.S. authorities say they've got the goods on one of
Mexico's most notorious reputed drug bosses, they may never put him behind
bars.

U.S. authorities recently re-indicted Vicente Carrillo Fuentes on multiple
counts of drug-trafficking. But the alleged drug lord is still at-large in
Mexico, and it's likely that he'll never stand trial in the United States
because federal prosecutors also charged him with 10 counts of murder.

Murder charges raise the threat of capital punishment in the United States,
but Mexico doesn't have the death penalty and historically does not
extradite felons facing such punishment. The charges could dim whatever
hope U.S. authorities had of pressuring Mexico to hand over the man they
say is responsible for a criminal enterprise that has generated more than
$300 million in drug sales since the mid '90s and that has bloodied the
streets of both El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, its counterpart in Mexico.

Even so, authorities from the FBI field office in El Paso up to the U.S.
drug czar in Washington stand by the decision to file murder charges,
saying they'll step up pressure for Mr. Carrillo Fuentes' downfall.

"It's always been our mission to take down the highest levels, the John
Gottis of the drug world," said Edmundo Guevara, special agent in charge of
the FBI in El Paso. "We can't do this ourselves. Cooperation has to exist
between Mexico and the United States.

"The bad guys are using that border effectively."

Barry McCaffrey, the director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, called Mr. Carrillo Fuentes "a major violent criminal drug
capo" and described the indictments as "valid," even if the potential
results remain obscure.

"I don't know how it will come out but I am sure he is a significant threat
to both Mexico and the United States," the nation's drug czar said during a
visit to the border last week. "You can't defend America if you can't work
with the Mexicans."

Revised case

The new 46-count indictment supercedes a 27-count indictment on drug
trafficking and money-laundering charges issued three years ago against Mr.
Carrillo Fuentes. That indictment did not include murder charges and has
not led to any action by the Mexican government.

Federal officials say the inaction means they need the murder charges to
not only apply pressure on Mexican authorities, but to let Mr. Carrillo
Fuentes know he is a wanted man, said Mr. Guevara, who took over in May.

Mr. Guevara, a 24-year veteran, comes to the Southwest Border with a wealth
of knowledge in how the drug-trafficking apparatus functions. He is sure
that the federal government is on track with the Carrillo Fuentes charges.

ity, the agency's largest foreign post. Before that, he worked in Miami's
FBI office, which has one of the largest organized drug programs in the nation.

Mr. Carrillo Fuentes runs what Mr. Guevara described as "one of the major
drug organizations in the world." He controls virtually all
drug-trafficking activities in Juarez and neighboring El Paso, officials said.

The alleged drug lord has been able to maintain control because of his
ruthless tactics, officials said. The murder charges are the first filed
against the 37-year-old by federal authorities in the Western District of
Texas.

Seven of the 10 deaths Mr. Carrillo Fuentes is charged with stem from the
identification of remains found in graves at ranches in Juarez last year
during a joint operation by the FBI and Mexican federal authorities. The
other three slain victims were a former Juarez state police chief and his
two sons. The bodies of the trio were found in 1994 inside an abandoned
vehicle on one of the international bridges linking Juarez and El Paso.

All of the killings were ordered by Mr. Carrillo Fuentes, authorities said,
as a way to silence potential enemies.

"There is obviously an informant in this case, some source of information
that links him to all ten," Mr. Guevara said.

New man in charge

The new charges come just as Mexico prepares for a new administration led
by president-elect Vicente Fox. The new government's reaction to the
capital punishment issue won't be felt for awhile.

Travis Kuykendall, former head of El Paso's Drug Enforcement
Administration, said the possibility of the death penalty is "a huge
obstacle to overcome" because of Mexico's aversion to it, and the outcome
"depends on political will."

Even so, he agrees that the legal paperwork can be a useful tool in
dismantling an organization.

"They are absolutely right in taking it as far as one can in our system,"
said Mr. Kuykendall, who is now director of the High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area office in El Paso, a multi-agency unit that promotes
coordination of drug control efforts.

"The problem is that we don't have the authority to go into a foreign
country and pick up anyone," he said.

Mr. Carrillo Fuentes isn't likely to face charges from Mexico prosecutors
any time soon. In Mexico, the burden of proof requires active participation
in the carrying out of a crime.

"They don't have conspiracy laws. In Mexico, you have to prove that someone
was actively involved" in a criminal enterprise, said Mr. Kuykendall. "When
you're a drug lord, you don't haul marijuana, you don't load it and unload
it, you don't drive the truck. That's why top people in Mexico hardly ever
get prosecuted."

Though Mr. Carrillo Fuentes' arrest by U.S. authorities would not stem the
flow of drugs from Mexico to the United States, it would "lead to some
disruption of the cartel," Mr. Guevara said. It also would likely set off
another violent turf war, like the one that followed the death of Mr.
Carrillo Fuentes' brother Amado, the alleged former leader of the Juarez
drug cartel.

Deadly competition

His death in 1997 prompted a series of bloody incidents that included a
summer shooting spree at an upscale Juarez restaurant named Max-Fim. Thugs
armed with AK-47s gunned down six people at the restaurant. Another
shooting followed a few weeks later when automatic gunfire erupted at
Geronimo's Bar &Grill in Juarez, killing three.

In 1998, another alleged drug baron who was jockeying to take over the
cartel was found slumped inside a sports utility vehicle. Rafael Munoz
Talavera, was riddled with bullets, beaten and wrapped in plastic.

Though violence continues to be a part of the border landscape, recent
incidents are not as brazen. Mr. Carrillo Fuentes seems to have gained a
stronghold.

An important potential side effect of the murder charges in the indictment
is that authorities hope it will turn up the heat among competing drug
traffickers, who may opt to turn Mr. Carrillo Fuentes in rather than risk
losing their share in a lucrative enterprise.

No end to drug war

"If the pressure continues like this, even a person of his stature, at
least in the criminal world, becomes a liability for other drug dealers,"
said Mr. Guevara.

In the end, experts agree, justice will likely come in the form of death.
But it won't be due to the U.S. judicial system.

"What generally happens in Mexico is the competitor kills him," Mr.
Kuykendall said. "That's usually the capital punishment in Mexico."

But that won't end the drug war.

"As long as there is a demand, they'll be someone to fill the gap. Amado
was the boss and he's gone. Vicente is now the boss and when he's gone
another one will come along," he said.