FORMER MEXICO PROSECUTOR INDICTED

He Is Charged With Laundering Drug Money In U.S.

WASHINGTON - Mexico's former No. 2 lawman has been charged by federal
authorities with laundering more than $9 million in drug payoffs
through a Houston bank, a move officials hailed Friday as a major
victory for U.S. and Mexican anti-drug forces.

Former Deputy Attorney General Mario Ruiz Massieu was taken into
custody late Thursday at his New Jersey home. He has been under house
arrest there since 1995, first on a minor customs charge and then as
he fought extradition.

On Monday, a federal grand jury in Houston indicted him on 25 counts
of laundering narcotics proceeds, aiding racketeering and conspiring
with drug traffickers.

The indictment alleges that Ruiz Massieu had an associate make cash
deposits ranging from $40,000 to $800,000 into his bank accounts at
Texas commerce Bank in Houston during 1994 and 1995. Most of the
deposits consisted of $20 bills bundled in rubber bands, stuffed into
suitcases and delivered every few weeks - hundreds of thousands of
dollars at a time.

The deposits were made during and immediately after Ruiz Massieu
served as a senior law enforcement official in the administration of
Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gotari.

Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo Cuellar on Friday welcomed the
news of Ruiz Massieu's indictment, saying Mexico had collaborated with
the U.S. government in building the case. "This represents an
important step against impunity," Madrazo said in a statement.

U.S. Customs Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said in a statement that
the charges show "the enormous corrupting power of drug money. (Ruiz
Massieu) was a top official who violated the public trust. There is no
worse crime than this for law enforcement officials."

Ruiz Massieu's lawyer, Cathy Fleming, called the charges "politically
motivated" and said her client intends to plead not guilty.

At a hearing in Newark, N.J., on Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel
Paisano set bail at $500,000. Ruiz Massieu and his wife co-signed the
bond, which allows him to return to his rented house in a Newark
suburb. A date for his arraignment in Houston had not been set.

The arrest of Ruiz Massieu follows years of frustrated attempts by
U.S. and Mexican officials to bring him to trial for alleged
involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering.

He was first arrested by Customs officials at Newark International
Airport in 1995, on his way to Spain with $45,000 of undeclared cash
in his briefcase. He had fled Mexico amid charges of taking payoffs
from one of Mexico's most notorious drug traffickers when he headed
Mexico's anti-drug effort, and of obstructing the investigation into
the 1994 assassination of his brother, Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, a
top official of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Mexican prosecutors contend that Mario Ruiz Massieu was trying to
protect the man convicted in January of masterminding that murder,
Raul Salinas de Gortari, the brother of Mexico's former president.

Raul Salinas also is believed to have profited from the drug trade.
Swiss authorities have identified about $115 million they say is
protection money paid to Salinas. He is being held in a Mexican jail.

The U.S. charges connected with Ruiz Massieu's undeclared cash were
dismissed soon after they were filed. But Ruiz Massieu has been under
court-ordered house arrest ever since, fighting deportation
proceedings.

Mexico has been seeking to have Ruiz Massieu returned to face other
charges stemming from its own narcotics and bribery probe, and the
Clinton administration has sought to cooperate with the Mexican
request. Separately, Ruiz Massieu has been seeking asylum status that
would allow him to remain in the United States.