FORMER POLICE CAPTAIN: JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA STATE AUTHORITIES TOOK
CARTELS' CASH

EL PASO -- A former Juarez police captain testified in U.S. District
Court on Thursday that all police in Juarez and Chihuahua state were
on the payrolls of drug cartels.

Jesus Fierro-Mendez, alias "Puma," testified that drug cartels paid
the police agencies a monthly fee to protect the drug
traffickers.

Fierro-Mendez took in the stand in the drug-smuggling trial of
Fernando Ontiveros-Arambula and Manuel Chavez-Betancourt.

"Any (cop) who did not want to be on their payroll still had to obey
orders," Fierro-Mendez said. "If they did not obey, they would be killed."

The DEA arrested Fierro-Mendez in October 2008 on a conspiracy charge
out of Indiana related to cocaine. He allegedly had a loaded AK-47
rifle and cocaine at his house when agents arrested him in El Paso.

Before his arrest, Fierro-Mendez testified, he was an informant for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and kept the agency updated on
drug cartel activities in Juarez.

Fierro-Mendez said Mexican kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman authorized
him and others in his organization to provide U.S. officials with
information about the rival Vicente Carrillo Fuentes cartel.

That rivalry has led to more than 4,700 slayings in two years in
Juarez alone.

Fierro-Mendez worked for the Juarez city police for 10 years and was a
captain before leaving.

While he and others kept ICE informed of what Guzman's competitors
were doing in Juarez, they continued to smuggle drugs into the United
States, he testified.

Most of the prosecution's evidence has focused on Ontiveros-Arambula.

Fierro-Mendez also testified that a commander Loya, whom he did not
fully identify, attended meetings with him and others on how Guzman
would take control of Chihuahua away from Carrillo Fuentes and his
drug cartel.

Ontiveros-Arambula was a key part of the plan for the attempted
takeover, he said.

Fierro-Mendez explained Thursday that the nickname "Mayito" was used
by three different people linked to the drug trade in the border region.

One of them is Ismael Zambada Niebla, a high-level drug dealer;
another is Mario Nunez-Meza, one of Guzman's operatives in Chihuahua;
and the third is a nephew of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

Fierro-Mendez said he has brothers who worked for Zambada in another
part of the border.

Oscar Ronquillo, another witness who testified Thursday, said two
associates of Ontiveros-Arambula became concerned after the DEA
arrested Elizabeth "Guera" Lares-Valenzuela, a member of Guzman's
Sinaloa cartel.

Ronquillo said the associates suspected Lares-Valenzuela was wearing a
body wire for the DEA to record their conversation during a meeting
with them at Bassett Place.

Lares-Valenzuela survived a shooting attack in Juarez in
2008.

Last year, she was indicted on federal drug charges.

Ronquillo said he first saw the woman at a cockfight arena in
Chaparral, N.M.

The trial continues today before U.S. District Judge David Briones.