Official Confirms U.S. Payments in Seizure of Verdugo

A federal prosecutor confirmed Friday that U.S. officials made payments to six Mexicans for their role in the apprehension of Rene Martin Verdugo, the accused drug smuggler suspected by U.S. authorities of having information about the kidnap-slaying of drug agent Enrique S. Camarena.

The acknowledgement by Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Lasater came as a federal district judge in San Diego considered a defense request that the Mexicans, who have been granted safekeeping in the United States, be ordered to answer questions about their role in Verdugo’s alleged abduction in late January from San Felipe, Baja California.

“Elements of the Mexican government or officials of Mexico did, at the request of the U.S. government, apprehend this individual,” Lasater said during a hearing before U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving. “Some payment at one point or another was made to these individuals.”

In an interview after the hearing, Lasater said the payments were made to the six Mexicans now in the United States, four of whom were fired from the Baja California State Judicial Police force around the time of Verdugo’s arrest.

In court, Lasater declined to answer Irving’s question about the amount of money paid to the Mexicans but said there was no basis for defense claims that the men were paid a total of $100,000 to abduct Verdugo.

Federal investigators say Verdugo was present during the torture of Camarena, 37, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was kidnaped in Guadalajara in February, 1985, and found dead in a field there a month later. Verdugo, a Mexicali land developer charged with smuggling a ton of marijuana from Tucson, Ariz., and then to Vista in 1983, has denied the allegation.

Over Lasater’s objections, Irving on Friday ordered prosecutors to gather and submit for his private review all government documents generated in connection with Verdugo’s arrest. The judge said he wanted to see the papers before deciding whether to interview the six Mexicans.

Defense attorneys say their testimony is crucial in establishing whether the U.S. government’s conduct in the case was outrageous enough to justify the dismissal of the charges against Verdugo. But prosecutors insist that court precedent would permit throwing out the charges and freeing Verdugo only if he had been severely tortured--a claim he has not made.

Irving said there might be other aspects of the government’s conduct that justified a closer look at Verdugo’s allegations. “This court is compelled to make at least some preliminary investigation as to the charges against the U.S. government in this case,” he said.

Irving also permitted San Diego attorney Howard Frank to step aside as Verdugo’s defense attorney. Prosecutors had pressed for Frank’s removal, contending that he had a conflict of interest because he also represented Victor Vidal, a convicted drug smuggler and government informant who is the key witness against Verdugo in the marijuana smuggling case.

Frank continued to insist Friday that there was no conflict in representing Verdugo in the early stages of his case. But he said he was withdrawing nonetheless to “get the case focused back on track and back on the issues.”

Frank was replaced by Michael Pancer, the San Diego lawyer who defended former Mayor Roger Hedgecock in his first trial on perjury and conspiracy charges.