U.S. Targets 12 of Worst Drug Chiefs

Launching a process intended to take some of the profit out of the narcotic trade, the Clinton administration on Friday named 12 international drug kingpins--half of them Mexicans--to a new list of criminals considered so evil that Americans can draw jail time just for doing business with their associates.

“This action underscores our determination to do everything possible to fight drug traffickers, undermine their operations and end the suffering that trade in illegal drugs inflicts on Americans and people around the world,” White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said in announcing the list.

All 12 names are familiar to counternarcotic forces. Some, like the brothers Ramon and Benjamin Arrellano-Felix of the Tijuana cartel, are almost household names. Most are under indictment in the United States, and some are already in jail at home.

A new law approved by Congress last year is designed to make it far more difficult for big-time traffickers to launder their profits through seemingly legitimate businesses. It requires the administration to identify and impose economic sanctions on all businesses linked in any way to the kingpins. The administration plans to issue a second list later this year citing hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of names of businesses associated with the traffickers.

The direct effect of Friday’s action is largely symbolic. The 12 kingpins are prohibited from entering the United States, although they would be unlikely to do so in any case because they are subject to arrest on existing indictments. Any financial assets they hold in their own names can be seized, but U.S. officials say it is doubtful if any such accounts exist. And Americans are prohibited from doing business with them, although such direct links are rare.

But the second step of the process is expected to have a devastating effect on the cartels. Associates of the 12 kingpins would be barred from any sort of financial dealing in the United States, or abroad with American citizens or U.S. companies.

Americans who violate the statute would be subject to administrative penalties of up to $1 million, or court-imposed criminal punishments of as much as 10 years in prison and up to $10 million in fines for individuals. Officers, directors or agents of companies would be subject to prison terms of up to 30 years.

“This law goes directly after the cartels wherever they operate in the world today,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the statute. “Our goal is to isolate targeted drug traffickers and their affiliated businesses by freezing their assets under U.S. jurisdiction and [cutting] off their ability to do business in the United States.”

No Colombian drug dealers were named because that South American country, considered the home of the world’s worst narcotic traffickers, is already covered by a 4-year-old executive order imposing similar sanctions. A senior Treasury Department official said that the separate Colombian list includes seven kingpins and 526 affiliated companies and individuals.

The official said that several narcotic-linked Colombian businesses have gone bankrupt “because they were so dependent upon the U.S. business community.” The official said that the new statute is expected to have a similar effect on drug cartels in the rest of the world.

The second-stage listing of companies is expected to be far more controversial than naming the kingpins because most of the target firms have sought to conceal their connection with the narcotic trade.

In addition to the Arrellano-Felix brothers, Friday’s list includes four other Mexicans: brothers Jose and Luis Amezcua-Contreras, Rafael Caro Quintero and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. Also listed are Nigerian brothers Abeni and Oluwole Ogungbuyi, Noel Timothy Heath and Glenroy Vingrove Matthews of St. Kitts and Nevis, Wei Hsueh-Kang of China and Chang Chi-Fu of Myanmar.

Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.), the primary sponsor of the legislation, said that the statute is useful even though the kingpins almost certainly have no assets under U.S. jurisdiction.

“If this tool didn’t exist, even if you were under indictment you could do business with a bank,” he said. “But you cannot now.

“This law enables us to fight the war on drugs year round, day in and day out. This is the only way we are going to drive these cartels out of business.”

Treasury officials said that there is no fixed schedule for issuing the list of associates. One official said that it may be issued in installments as companies are identified. In addition to Treasury, officials from the State and Defense departments, the FBI and the CIA are working to compile the list.