More Arrests Expected in Probe of DEA Agent’s Death

U.S. investigators say they expect more arrests this month in the yearlong investigation into the slaying of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique (Kiki) Camarena Salazar, whose mutilated body was found on a ranch near Guadalajara, Mexico, last year.

Investigators declined to publicly discuss the new developments in the case, but DEA spokesmen in San Diego and Washington, and a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Mexico City, said the new information is also expected to solidify the charges against two prominent Mexican drug traffickers charged in Camarena’s death.

The two, Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, are in jail in Mexico City charged with murder, kidnaping and drug smuggling.

Abducted and Murdered

A federal official who requested anonymity said that U.S. investigators are on the verge of arresting several associates of Caro and Fonseca who are believed to have information about Camarena’s abduction and murder.

Camarena, 37, a former resident of Calexico in Imperial County, and Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar were abducted Feb. 7 and allegedly taken to Caro’s home in Guadalajara. Caro has been identified as a drug kingpin by U.S. and Mexican investigators. Several Mexican policemen arrested for alleged involvement in Camarena’s kidnaping told Mexican authorities that Fonseca, 54, was present at Caro’s home when he arrived there.

In 1984 Camarena and Zavala were instrumental in the seizure of a 10,000-ton marijuana crop in Chihuahua, Mexico, that Caro said cost him $50 million in drug profits. Their battered and decomposed bodies were found in shallow graves March 7.

Fortunes From Drugs

Caro fled to Costa Rica, where he was arrested in April. Fonseca, who has been described by U.S. investigators as “the chairman of the board” of the Mexican drug organizations operating in Guadalajara, was arrested the same month in Puerto Vallerta. U.S. authorities have said that Caro amassed $500 million from drug profits, while Fonseca’s drug wealth is estimated at $3 billion.

A DEA agent in San Diego said that federal grand juries in California, Texas and Florida, aided by 25 DEA and FBI agents assigned full time to the case, are investigating Caro and Fonseca’s smuggling activities in the United States. The ongoing investigation has led to the nationwide seizure of $33 million worth of property and assets belonging to relatives and associates of Caro and Fonseca, DEA spokesman Ron D’Ulisse said.

In San Diego County alone, about $13 million in property and assets belonging to Caro or his relatives has been seized, D’Ulisse said. This includes expensive cars, boats, real estate and bank accounts.

Alleged Role in Killing

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego unsealed a secret federal grand jury indictment against Fonseca on Feb. 14, a week after Camarena’s kidnaping and before U.S. investigators had announced Fonseca’s alleged role in the killing. At the time, U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez said that Fonseca had been under investigation for drug trafficking by various U.S. law enforcement agencies for 15 years and by DEA agents for seven.

Fonseca and 26 others named in the indictment were charged with conspiracy to distribute 10,000 pounds of marijuana and 10 pounds of cocaine in San Diego and Los Angeles. In July, 1983, U.S. Customs agents at the San Ysidro port of entry seized $901,860 in cash from four Tijuana attorneys allegedly working for Fonseca, Nunez said. The men were returning to Tijuana after withdrawing the money from various San Diego banks when they were stopped at the border.

In May, 1983, Mexican customs agents seized $1.7 million in cash, which Nunez said was the proceeds from Fonseca’s illicit drug sales in the United States. The money was seized from a ring member when he failed to declare it, as required by Mexican law, after he crossed into Tijuana from San Ysidro. The money, which was packed in cardboard boxes, is now in a frozen account at Banco de Cedulas Hipotecarias in Tijuana.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Mexico City said that the legal case against Caro and Fonseca is expected to be decided sometime this year. The spokesman, who did not want to be identified, said that attorneys for the defendants are expected to present their evidence and arguments within the next three months.

Under Mexican law, the prosecution presents all of its evidence and information to a judge, who then reviews it. Later, he reviews evidence and information presented by defense attorneys. After studying both sides of the matter, the judge will decide on the defendants’ guilt or innocence, the embassy official said.