EX-MEXICAN DRUG PROSECUTOR DIES

SUSPECT: He Was In New Jersey Battling Extradition And Apparently Took His
Own Life.

MEXICO CITY - Days before he was to be arraigned on U.S. charges of
laundering $9.9 million in suspected drug payoffs, Mexico's former top drug
prosecutor was found dead in his New Jersey apartment Wednesday of an
apparent overdose.His lawyer said it was suicide.

Mario Ruiz Massieu, 48, had been under house arrest in New Jersey since 1996
while battling extradition to Mexico, where he was accused of covering up
the 1994 murder of his brother, ruling party leader Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu.

Ruiz Massieu was also in Houston last month with laundering millions while
he was assistant attorney general. He was to be arraigned in Houston on Friday.

Massieu was found by Palisades Park, N.J., police in his apartment, and his
death was due to an apparent overdose of antidepressants, officials said.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said he left a note maintaining
his innocence and berating Mexico's government. George Arzt, a
representative of Ruiz Massieu attorney Cathy Fleming, said she would reveal
the contents today.

Ruiz Massieu had fended off four extradition requests in New Jersey courts.

"Unfortunately, he suffered from depression ...," said another attorney,
Javier Olea Pelaez. "He was afraid of winding up in prison without enough
money to mount a legal defense."

His sister, Marisela Ruiz Massieu, said she believes the same people who
masterminded their brother Jose Francisco's murder were responsible for
driving Mario Ruiz Massieu to kill himself.