JUDGE BACKS INFORMER WHO SEEKS TO MOVE FAMILY FROM COLOMBIA

A federal judge in Brooklyn yesterday ordered prosecutors to recommend that
the United States bring relatives of a Colombian drug informer to this
country to protect them from what the informer claims are reprisals from
members of a drug cartel.

The ruling came after an unusual disagreement between two parts of the
Justice Department — the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn, which
backed the informer's contention that his family is in grave danger because
of his testimony in narcotics cases in the 1990's, and the Drug Enforcement
Administration, which contends that there is no clear evidence that any
harm that has come to the man's relatives was related to his role as an
informer.

Last month, the informer, John Harold Mena, a former member of the Cali
drug cartel, told the judge, Edward R. Korman of United States District
Court, that despite a promise by prosecutors to safeguard his family,
cartel members had killed his father and four other relatives since 1994,
and that there had been three more murder attempts in July.

"I'm going to order the United States attorney's office to live up to its
obligation," the judge said yesterday.

But Judge Korman said that under the 1993 agreement between Mr. Mena and
the prosecutors, he could only order the prosecutors to recommend that
Justice Department officials take steps to bring Mr. Mena's family members
to this country.

Mr. Mena testified in a case involving cocaine processing in Queens and in
a separate case against accomplices of his in the 1992 killing of Manuel de
Dios Unanue, a journalist investigating drug rings.

Judge Korman issued his order yesterday after an assistant United States
attorney, Kelly Moore, said the D.E.A. and the federal prosecutors had
disagreed about how to handle the case. She said the dispute would be
resolved by Justice Department officials in Washington. Under questioning
from the judge, Ms. Moore said the prosecutors had concluded that Mr.
Mena's request to bring 18 family members to this country was reasonable,
but that the D.E.A. had concluded that violence against some of Mr. Mena's
relatives was not related to his testimony.

In an interview later, Anthony P. Placido, the special agent in charge of
the D.E.A.'s New York office, said the agency was committed to keeping its
promises to cooperating witnesses. But he said the investigation indicated
that some of Mr. Mena's relatives were involved in criminal activities and
that investigators had not been able to tie some of the attacks to Mr.
Mena's testimony. Mr. Placido said his agency had brought 13 of Mr. Mena's
relatives to this country. "At what point do we draw the line?" he asked.

Mr. Mena's lawyers have said that after his testimony, members of the
cartel "swore a blood oath to kill Mr. Mena's entire family in revenge."