DRUG SUSPECT FINALLY FACES U.S. JUSTICE

Jailed 4 Years In Mexico While Fighting Extradition

Federal prosecutors have finally slapped handcuffs on a brash young
Scottsdale businessman who they claim funneled tons of marijuana and
cocaine into the United States before fleeing to Mexico six years ago.

On Wednesday, William Brian Martin, 35, appeared in U.S. District
Court in Phoenix for the first time since being indicted by a federal
grand jury in 1993.

The Paradise Valley High School and Arizona State University graduate
pleaded innocent to federal racketeering, drug and money-laundering
charges.

Martin is alleged to have headed a multimillion-dollar drug smuggling
operation from 1990 until shortly before his arrest in Mexico in 1995.

Martin was handed over to U.S. marshals in Nogales on Tuesday by
Mexican officials who had confounded their U.S. counterparts for
nearly four years by keeping Martin securely locked in their own jails
despite a long-standing extradition request.

Appearing somewhat stunned as he faced a U.S. magistrate, the
boyish-looking Martin was declared indigent and assigned a
court-appointed attorney.

It is a far cry from the life authorities claim he led earlier this
decade, when the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs
Service and the FBI began looking into his activities.

According to the indictment and previously released court documents,
Martin presided over an operation on both sides of the border that
smuggled drugs into the United States, repackaged them in safe houses
in Phoenix, Tucson and El Paso, then shipped them to customers in New
York, Nevada, Pennsylvania and California.

During the course of the investigation, various agencies seized more
than 6 tons of marijuana, 2,700 pounds of cocaine and $1.3 million in
cash.

Some of the profits from the operation are alleged to have been pumped
into shell businesses set up in other states to launder the cash.

In 1993, however, Martin and 12 others were indicted. Living in
Scottsdale at the time, Martin fled to Mexico before he could be arrested.

The operation continued, running from inside Mexico, authorities
allege.

After his indictment, The Arizona Republic reported last year, Martin
is said to have stamped marijuana packages with a "seal of approval"
that said, "Courtesy of The Boys from Club Fled."

In January 1994, Mexico was asked to arrest and extradite Martin so he
could stand trial. Martin was finally nabbed in Agua Prieta, Sonora,
in November 1995.

At the time, the Mexican press suggested Martin had ties to the
powerful Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels. He is also rumored to have
done business with the Mexican narcotics syndicates of Rafael Caro
Quintero and Amado Carillo Fuentes.

A DEA report filed in federal court months ago quoted informants
saying Martin was living at the time of his arrest in a lavish Mexican
residence guarded by Mexican federal police.

Though American law enforcement agents felt they finally had their
man, the gears of justice ground to a halt shortly after Martin's
arrest, prompting prosecutors to complain openly of foot-dragging by
the Mexican government.

Martin filed an amparo, the equivalent of a constitutional challenge
to his extradition. In it, he claimed to have Mexican citizenship
because he had married a Mexican citizen -- a marriage DEA agents
later called a "sham."

Within the last 30 days, the amparo was dismissed by the Mexican
Supreme Court, clearing the way for Martin to be sent home for trial.

"We are thankful for the diligence the Mexican and United States law
enforcement officials have demonstrated throughout this extradition
process," U.S. Attorney Jose de Jesus Rivera said.

Most of those indicted with Martin in 1993 have long since negotiated
plea agreements with the government or gone to trial and begun serving
sentences. Two remain at large in Mexico, DEA spokesman Jim Molesa
said.