Drug Smuggling Mexico

The alleged kingpin of a massive marijuana smuggling ring based on a secluded Orange County ranch was formally charged in federal court Tuesday on 26 drug-related felony counts. A day after his extradition from Baja California to the United States, Daniel James Fowlie, 57, was notified of the charges during a brief court appearance at which U.S. Magistrate Ronald R. Rose unsealed a grand jury indictment returned in June, 1988.

Mexican federal police have made the largest heroin seizure in Mexican history, breaking up what authorities described Sunday as an unprecedented Asian-Mexican alliance that shipped Asian heroin into the United States through an unusual route: the border. In a series of raids over the past five days, police seized 52 kilos--114.

Towering above the audience in 10-gallon cowboy hats and leather-trimmed Western wear, Los Tucanes electrify a swaying sea of fans with a cautionary song about the rise and fall of a reputed drug baron who enjoyed wealth, fame and power until hubris--and the law--caught up with him. The youths at concerts sing along, much as their great-grandparents once sang the ballads of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution.

My escort, Jose Luis, barreled down Paseo Alvaro Obregon along the La Paz waterfront in his yellow Volkswagen dune buggy. The shocks were long since spent and every rut and chuckhole of that Baja California road sent vibrations of earthquake quality through the vehicle. All the way to the prison, Jose Luis dabbed his thinning pate with cactus juice, a home remedy for baldness.

Daniel James Fowlie, the alleged patriarch of a vast drug-smuggling operation at a remote Orange County ranch, was extradited to the United States from Mexico on Monday, ending a 20-year effort by law enforcement authorities to apprehend him. Fowlie, 57, wanted on 26 drug charges filed in U.S. District Court, arrived at John Wayne Airport about 5:30 p.m.

Daniel James Fowlie, the alleged patriarch of a vast drug smuggling operation at a remote ranch in southeastern Orange County, was extradited to the United States from Mexico on Monday, ending a 20-year effort by law enforcement authorities to apprehend him. Fowlie, wanted on at least 26 drug-related charges filed in federal court, was turned over to U.S. authorities at a Baja California prison in the afternoon and flown to John Wayne Airport aboard a U.S. Customs Service plane.

A former Mexican state policeman was sentenced Friday to 240 years in federal prison for his role in the 1985 torture-murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena and his pilot in Mexico. Raul Lopez-Alvarez, 29, a one-time Los Angeles resident, will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 60 years for his participation in the murder of Camarena and the pilot, Alfredo Zavala Avelar. The murders were committed, authorities said, at the behest of a Mexican drug lord. U.S.

During the final, desperate months of his life, accused Mexican drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes moved to Chile with his family, lieutenants and bodyguards to run a cocaine empire from the unlikely refuge of South America's most prosperous nation, Chilean police said Monday.

Six months ago, President Ernesto Zedillo took over a nation in crisis. A confidential report that landed on his desk in his first week spelled out a major reason why--drugs. The warning from the government's National Institute for Combatting Drugs was ominous: The increasing power of Mexico's drug cartels threatens the nation's stability and, indeed, could ultimately make the country ungovernable.

Years before he became one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted, alleged Mexican drug lord Ramon Arellano Felix--with his motorcycle, leather pants and flowing champagne--was the toast of the Tijuana disco scene. He and his brothers moved into elegant homes, married into established families and cultivated an array of Baja California businessmen and judicial authorities. And when the Arellanos' enemies were executed, many looked the other way.