Suspect in Killing of Cardinal Found Dead in Mexican Prison
Mexican authorities Thursday were investigating the death of a San Diego gang member--a suspect in the killing of a Roman Catholic cardinal in May--found dead in his Guadalajara prison cell.
The body of Ramon Torres Mendez, a 24-year-old street gang member known as “Spooky,” was found Wednesday morning by his cellmate--also a suspect in the murder of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, according to prison authorities.
The death was being treated as a homicide, according to a statement released by the state judicial police of Jalisco.
Torres allegedly was part of an assassination team sent by Tijuana drug kingpins to kill a rival at the Guadalajara airport. Mexican police say the young men, most of them from San Diego, gunned down the cardinal by mistake.
Torres’ body showed no apparent signs of violence, said Manuel Aguirre Arevalo, director of the Preventive Prison of Guadalajara. Torres, one of four suspected triggermen being held in Guadalajara, had received a visit from his mother and brother Tuesday, Aguirre said in a telephone interview.
In another development, a U.S. immigration judge in San Diego Thursday ordered the deportation of another suspect, 27-year-old Adolfo Marin Cuevas, an illegal immigrant. Marin has the right to appeal.
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