U.S. STRUGGLES TO EXTRADITE DRUG SUSPECT FROM MEXICO

PHOENIX (AP)- It took years to track him down, but when William Brian
Martin was arrested in Mexico, U.S. drug officials popped open champagne
bottles.

As it turned out, the celebration was premature.

The 34-year-old accused of funneling millions of dollars worth of cocaine
and marijuana across the border remains a preferred guest in a Nogales,
Sonora, jail cell.

U.S. officials don't know how long Mr. Martin will stay there.

Although Washington is quick to publicize recent successes in extraditing
accused criminals from Mexico, Mr. Martin is a quiet reminder of the more
numerous failures.

Mr. Martin has remained out of reach because a Mexican judge allowed him to
appeal his extradition. The case, American officials say, reflects the
Justice Department's ongoing problems getting the Mexican government to
honor extradition treaties.

"People should not escape justice by abusing the laws of another country,"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Jarosz said.

A 1997 report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy listed Mr.
Martin's case among four - out of more than 100 extradition requests that
have yet to be honored - in which accused drug smugglers had filed amparo
appeals with the Mexican courts.

An amparo is a legal maneuver that temporarily postpones extradition
proceedings.

Mr. Martin won his amparo appeal based upon a judicial finding that he had
married a Mexican woman in his jail cell and was therefore a Mexican
citizen.

In court documents, however, Drug Enforcement Administration investigators
called the marriage a "sham."

They have collected numerous documents, they say, that clearly demonstrate
Mr. Martin is a U.S. citizen.

The government says that from 1990 to 1994, Mr. Martin led a large drug
organization that distributed tons of marijuana and cocaine from Mexico to
Arizona, Texas, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.

Mr. Martin is also accused in a 44-count indictment of having laundered
large sums of money. Authorities are attempting to seize $28 million in
drug profits from Mr. Martin and one of his partners.

Before his arrest in November 1995, Mr. Martin had been dodging law
enforcement officials for more than two years, living the good life while
directing his drug enterprise from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Mexico,
authorities say.

A federal investigation into his drug activities took three years, said
Richard Gorman, special agent in charge of the Phoenix DEA office.

When Mexican authorities nabbed Mr. Martin, the Mexican news media
portrayed him as a high-ranking drug lord with connections to the Medellin
and Cali cartels along with drug organizations in Asia and Europe.

One of Mr. Martin's Mexican residences looked like a palace and was guarded
by the Mexican federal police, according to a DEA informant.

Mr. Martin's roots are in Arizona. Born in Yuma, Mr. Martin was raised in
Douglas and attended Paradise Valley High School and Arizona State
University.

Mr. Martin's drug organization had "stash" houses and warehouses in Tucson,
El Paso and California that stored the drugs brought up from Mexico,
federal officials say. The drugs were then moved using trucks, vans and
other vehicles to destinations to the east and west.

His defiant attitude is legendary. After he was first indicted in 1993,
police say Mr. Martin began stamping his packaged marijuana with a "seal of
approval" that read: "Courtesy of the Boys from Club Fled, 1993."

Federal officials say Mr. Martin's case illustrates the difficulties they
face in dealing with Mexico.

In November, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Mexican Attorney General
Jorge Madrazo signed an amendment to the two nations' extradition treaty
that calls for the temporary extraditions of criminals.

Meanwhile, hundreds of extradition requests have yet to be processed, and
Mr. Martin continues to evade U.S. authorities from his Mexican jail cell.