JUDGE BLOCKS EXTRADITION OF DRUG CZAR

Order Is Setback To U.S.-Mexican Plans For Trial

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. and Mexican authorities are fuming over the most
recent blow to their fight against drug trafficking: The alleged
kingpin of the world's biggest methamphetamine trafficking ring won't
be extradited from Mexico to the United States anytime soon.

Luis Amezcua is wanted in Los Angeles on drug trafficking charges, but
this week a judge in the western Mexico state of Jalisco blocked his
transfer to U.S. authorities, claiming the statute of limitations on
the charges had possibly run out. The judge also said the extradition
treaty between the United States and Mexico was unclear.

The ruling followed another judge's order last spring barring Mexican
authorities from extraditing Amezcua's brother JesFAs, also wanted on
drug trafficking charges in Los Angeles. JesFAs and Luis Amezcua are
in custody as prosecutors appeal the extradition decisions. Meanwhile,
a third brother, AdE1n, faces prosecution in Mexico on illegal
weapons charges but is not under arrest.

Setbacks in the Mexican courts have prosecutors here complaining that
judges mishandle their cases. U.S. law enforcement experts are clearly
worried about corruption among Mexican judges.

The Amezcuas' cases have been particularly vexing for Mexico-U.S.
relations because the brothers are said to run the largest known
network of dealers in methamphetamines -- a cheap and easy-to-make
version of the drugs known on American streets as ``speed'' and
``crank.'' Over the years the Amezcuas have usurped control of the
methamphetamine trade from motorcycle gangs in the Western United
States, according to drug officials.

How they operate

According to police, the Amezcuas send undocumented immigrants to
California and Texas carrying ingredients for making the drug, which
is produced in secret rural labs and hauled throughout the country by
migrant workers.

Another member of the family, Francisco Amezcua, was sentenced to 14
years in prison after he was arrested in Iowa in 1997 with a Fresno
man. 46rancisco Amezcua pleaded guilty to charges that he was setting
up a methamphetamine distribution network in Des Moines.

The methamphetamine ring, based in Guadalajara, is so dangerous that
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno singled it out last year in a demand
that Mexican authorities turn over drug suspects wanted north of the
border.

But Mexican authorities won't give up on the Amezcuas.

``The worst-case scenario is that if we lose the appeal, we can still
arrest and try (Luis and JesFAs) Amezcua in Mexico for crimes
committed in other countries,'' said Eduardo Ibarrola Nicol(acu)n,
Mexico's assistant attorney general for international affairs.

``We're confident we're doing our work correctly. What judges do and
lawmakers do is a different matter.''

Concern about courts

U.S. drug agents are not confident the Mexicans will succeed. The
Amezcuas have won each legal fight against prosecutors. Last year they
were arrested on money-laundering charges that a judge threw out
because of insufficient evidence.

U.S. officials were publicly silent, except for a short statement from
the embassy in Mexico City, which held out hope that Amezcua ``will be
extradited and face charges in the United States.''

Privately, drug officials worry that Mexico is backsliding on promises
to increase cooperation in extraditing dangerous criminals wanted in
the United States.

``This is not helpful. It raises again all of the old concerns we've
had about the judicial process in Mexico -- how easy it is sometimes
to influence judges with something other than the rules of law,'' said
a law enforcement consultant in Washington who asked not to be
identified. ``It's fair to say people here are very
frustrated.''

Yet the same consultant lauded Mexican prosecutors for trying to do
the right thing.

``People don't realize that just a few years ago, this type of
cooperation would have been unthinkable for a Mexican prosecutor,''
the consultant said. ``They're doing this extradition work against
Mexican precedent, and in the face of popular Mexican opposition to
extraditions.''