FREED DRUG LORD FACES MEXICAN ARREST

Wanted In Sonora In 1987 Deaths Of 3

One of Tucson's most notorious drug lords, who spent 16 years in a
federal prison, was released last week only to possibly face more
time for the 1987 slayings of three men in Mexico. Jaime Javier
Figueroa-Soto, 59, was worth more than $150 million from the
marijuana trafficking and business in Sonora when he was arrested at
his Scottsdale home in 1988. He was released last Thursday from a
maximum security federal detention facility in Florence, Colo.,
according to a news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. He was transferred to an ICE detention facility in
Aurora, Colo., to await deportation. During the deportation process,
ICE officers learned he was wanted on murder charges by Mexican
authorities, the news release stated. He was flown Tuesday from
Denver to El Paso via the Justice Prisoner Alien Transportation
System, operated by the U.S. Marshals Service, the release said. He
was then escorted by federal officers to the middle of an
international bridge in El Paso and turned over to officials from the
Mexican Immigration Service, the release stated.

"Figueroa-Soto was a significant figure in drug trafficking in
Arizona," said Douglas Maurer, field office director for ICE
Detention and Removal Operations in the Denver area, in a news release.

"Now he's a 59-year-old convicted criminal who just completed 16
years in a U.S. federal prison, and he may be serving more time in a
Mexican prison." Figueroa-Soto, who controlled the flow of marijuana
from Sonora to Arizona, had amassed more than $25 million in homes,
including four in Tucson, according to Arizona Daily Star archives.

One year after his arrest, Figueroa-Soto was convicted in Pima County
Superior Court on charges of money laundering and operating a
criminal enterprise. With the conviction came a 30-year sentence,
which his attorney, Walter Nash, successfully fought to make
concurrent with and the same as his 16-year federal sentence. Nash
said Figueroa-Soto "was really looking forward to getting back with
his family" in Mexico!

He said Figueroa-Soto has children who are now adults. But
Figueroa-Soto will not get that opportunity, at least not right away.
The warrant for his arrest is out of Magdalena, Sonora, and is in
connection with the killing of three men in 1987, according to the news release.