| | |  Americas & Beyond | January 2009 
US Given 4 Ranking Drug Cartel Members
 Greg Moran & Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | From left to right, Jorge Aureliano Felix, Efrain Perez Arciniega, Jesus Labra Aviles and Fidel Chan Amador. | |
In a year-end windfall for federal prosecutors, authorities in Mexico this week extradited 10 leading drug traffickers to the United States – including four high-ranking members of the Arellano Félix cartel under indictment in San Diego.
Among those sent back was Jesús “Chuy” Labra Aviles, long identified as the financial brains of the once-fearsome border cartel, whose fortunes have waned under a years-long campaign by law enforcement to dismantle the top tier of the group.
Among those not sent back is Benjamín Arellano Félix, the cartel's former chief executive, who was arrested in Mexico in July 2002 and is under indictment in San Diego. Authorities have long sought his extradition.
Still, those who arrived in Texas yesterday represent not only the top echelon of the Arellano Félix cartel, but also of the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.
They cap a record year of extraditions from Mexico, which for years was reluctant to send even its most notorious citizens across the border to face charges in U.S. courts. Law enforcement officials praised the cooperation between the two countries.
In the midst of violence among cartels and Mexican President Felipe Calderón's crackdown on the drug trade, Mexico extradited 95 defendants to the United States last year.
That is the most ever, surpassing 2007's record of 83, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey said in a statement that the hand-overs “demonstrate that the cartels cannot operate with impunity” and saluted the Mexican government's “courageous action” in extraditing them.
Labra's arrival was a long time coming. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in March 2000 while watching his teenage son play soccer on the campus of Tijuana's elite public high school. Known as El Señor, Labra lived a low-key lifestyle in Tijuana until his arrest.
Also sent to the United States to face charges in San Diego were:
Efraín Pérez Arciniega, arrested on June 3, 2004. Perez allegedly organized the receipt of large drug shipments, supervised their importation into the United States through Tijuana, and cooperated in enforcement activities in Tijuana and Ensenada, according to the indictment.
Jorge Aureliano Félix, a former Baja California state police agent known as El Macumba, who worked directly under Perez's supervision. He was responsible for ensuring the safety of drugs stored in Tijuana before they were smuggled to the United States, and for receiving and keeping track of drug-trafficking proceeds, the indictment states.
He was arrested at the same time as Perez in Tijuana while both were watching a soccer game on television.
Armando Martínez Duarte, known as El Loco Duarte, was a former federal police commander assigned to the Mexicali region. He was arrested in 2002. He is alleged to be the security chief and enforcer in Mexicali for the cartel while he was a police commander. A law enforcement source said Duarte “ran interference between the cartel and Mexican law enforcement” so the smugglers could operate freely.
Also extradited was Fidel Chan Amador, who faces marijuana smuggling charges under an indictment issued in San Diego in September 2000 and is not associated with the cartel.
Labra and the others were all named in the same sweeping indictment against 11 top officials of the cartel, including Arellano Félix brothers Benjamín, Eduardo, and Francisco Javier. Benjamín and Eduardo are in custody in Mexico, and Javier is serving a life term in the United States.
The extradited men face charges in San Diego of racketeering, money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes.
All face mandatory sentences of life in prison if convicted, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, a prosecutor on the case. None faces the death penalty.
Mexico doesn't have a death penalty and does not turn over anyone that would face that in the United States, said John Kirby, a former U.S. attorney who worked on that 2003 indictment and is now in private practice.
Kirby said the extraditions are important. But he added that it “doesn't so much hurt the cartel. You're just bringing these people to justice.”
The defendants are scheduled to appear in court in Houston on Monday, Duffy said. They may decide to challenge their removal to San Diego, in which case another hearing would be set. They may waive that challenge, she said, in which case they could be returned to San Diego as early as next week.
While five of the 10 defendants extradited yesterday are wanted in San Diego, the others face charges in Florida, Georgia and Texas as well as Los Angeles. |
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