Mexican Drug Lord Said to Be Dead

Federal prosecutors Saturday were investigating widespread reports that Amado Carrillo Fuentes, identified by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies as Mexico’s most powerful drug baron, has died.

Amid wildly contradictory versions of Carrillo’s reported death, a communique released by the Mexican attorney general’s office said that forensic experts were trying “to gain access to the corpse.” Members of Carrillo’s family told local reporters in their home state of Sinaloa that they have identified his body.

Carrillo, 41, better known as the “Lord of the Skies,” is charged in U.S. indictments in Miami and Dallas and in Mexican criminal cases with building a multibillion-dollar drug-smuggling network that uses aircraft and high technology to bring tons of cocaine from South America through Mexico and into the United States.

Accused of heading the most sophisticated of Mexico’s five major cartels--the drug gang based in the border town of Ciudad Juarez--Carrillo has eluded one of the most extensive manhunts by drug agents on both sides of the border in recent years, and Mexican authorities appeared to be skeptical of the Carrillo family’s claims Saturday.

“Due to the existence of various arrest warrants against Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the attorney general’s office is obliged to corroborate through all legal means the identity of the corpse,” the attorney general’s communique said.

In Washington on Saturday, a Drug Enforcement Administration official said the agency has seen the same reports about Carrillo’s death but is not convinced. “We are trying to find out the details from official sources,” the official said. “Until we see fingerprints, photographs and dental records, we will withhold judgment.”

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A document published in May by the DEA called Carrillo “the premier patron among Mexican drug traffickers.”

“Carrillo Fuentes’ freedom of movement, excellent working relationships with Colombian and Mexican traffickers, strong political ties, ability to corrupt police . . . have led to his rise in power among major Mexican drug traffickers,” the document stated.

In January, Carrillo eluded a major Mexican police and military operation at his sister’s wedding in the same Sinaloa village where his relatives reported his death to local reporters Saturday.

In February, Mexico’s defense minister explained how Carrillo eluded capture, saying he was so powerful that he had corrupted and compromised Gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, then Mexico’s anti-drug czar. Gutierrez is now in jail and facing charges of working for Carrillo and his cartel.

In the months since, federal investigators have turned up the pressure on Carrillo, raiding dozens of properties throughout the country that they have linked to his estimated $25-billion fortune. In April, two Mexican federal agents involved in the hunt were found shot to death gangland-style in Mexico City.

At the Carrillo family’s ranch in the village of Guamuchilito, reporters said they saw dozens of luxury cars and loads of elaborate floral wreaths arriving Friday night and Saturday. Later, several Mexico City radio and television stations reported that Carrillo’s mother, Aurora Fuentes de Carrillo, told waiting journalists: “The rumor is confirmed.”

The reported causes of death, however, varied widely. Formato 21 radio in Mexico City said Carrillo died during an unspecified surgery. Other media reported that he suffered a heart attack. And an attorney general’s office spokeswoman said she heard reports that Carrillo died in a gun battle.

Most of Mexico’s independent drug analysts declined comment on Carrillo’s death until it could be independently confirmed. If it is, it will have a sweeping impact on relations between Mexico’s powerful, often warring cartels.