3 Suspects in Camarena Slaying Called ‘Stained’ as Trial Closes

Three men linked to the slaying of U.S. narcotics agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico will forever be stained with the guilt of helping kill a hero who wanted to eradicate drugs, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Closing the eight-week trial in federal court, Assistant U.S. Atty. Jimmy Gurule compared the three suspects to the guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s tragedy and said they can never escape guilt for the roles they played in the killings of Camarena and his pilot in Guadalajara in 1985.

“All great Neptune’s oceans cannot wash the blood from the hands of Raul Lopez Alvarez, Rene Verdugo and Jesus Felix,” Gurule said, borrowing phrases from the play.

“The blood of Enrique Camarena, the blood of Alfredo Zavala Avelar, is stained on their hands forever.”

Called a Hero

Gurule said that Camarena, whose tortured body was found with that of Zavala in a shallow grave outside Guadalajara on March 5, 1985, was “a hero whose only fault was that he did his job . . . too well.”

Prosecutors contend that Rafael Caro Quintero, believed to be one of the most powerful drug lords in Mexico, orchestrated the abduction, interrogation, torture and murder of Camarena and his pilot because their work had resulted in seizures of his marijuana worth more than $5 billion.

Nine men, including Caro Quintero, were indicted in Los Angeles in the killings. Lopez Alvarez, Verdugo and Felix are the only three in U.S. custody. Another was killed in a shoot-out with Mexican police. Caro Quintero and four others are jailed in Mexico.

Lopez Alvarez, a former Mexican state police officer, and Verdugo, an admitted marijuana distributor, are charged with aiding directly in the torture and murders. Felix is charged with helping Caro Quintero flee to Costa Rica after the killings.

The three men claim they are innocent dupes because Mexican officials are so entwined with the narcotics business that they have conspired to protect the real killers.

Damage to Bodies

Federal prosecutor Gurule said Camarena’s head had been shattered “like an eggshell” and pierced with an ice pick-like instrument. Zavala’s chest was crushed “as though someone had been jumping up and down” on him, he said.

The government produced no witnesses to the torture, but one of the voices on a tape recording of the brutal session was identified as that of Caro Quintero. No connection was made between the tape and the voices of the three men on trial in Los Angeles.

But an FBI agent testified that one of Verdugo’s hairs was found at the house where the tortures took place. Verdugo, 36, admits he was summoned to the house because Caro Quintero was trying to locate a “leak” in his organization, but he denies participating in the murders.