Pubdate: Sun, 04 Aug 2002 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2002 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer OFFICIALS EXPECT NEW LEADERS IN DRUG TRADE MEXICO CITY -- A new breed of crime leaders seems to be taking over Mexico's drug trade as the country's biggest gang reorganizes itself, U.S. and Mexican investigators say. In contrast to the brutal and flamboyant kingpins of the past, the new bosses are said to be keen on building alliances among gangs, delegating some of their organizations' responsibilities to key underlings and staying out of the limelight. The result likely will be a multibillion-dollar illicit industry that's less violent -- but more efficient and even harder to stop, officials say. "The era of the big drug lord is over," said Mario Estuardo Bermudez, Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor. "Instead of one leader, they now build an automated organization with regional managers who can cover more territory and create zones of influence in practically the whole country." The White House estimates that about half of the $65 billion in narcotics that Americans buy each year come through Mexico. Until recently, the world of Mexican drugs was dominated by the Arellano Felix brothers, known for their lavish lifestyles and fierce tempers. But in February, police in the resort city of Mazatlan gunned down the gang's feared enforcer, Ramon Arellano Felix. A month later, authorities captured his brother Benjamin, the gang's operations chief. As the Arellano Felix gang tries to overcome those blows, other smugglers are moving to seize a piece of the action in the first major shake-up in the drug business since 1997. U.S. and Mexican investigators predict no one man will rise to fill the void. Instead, a number of bosses are stepping to the forefront. Based just across the border from El Paso, Texas, the Juarez organization was once so powerful that it paid Colombian suppliers up to $30 million per cocaine shipment, then transported enormous amounts of narcotics from Mexico to a small army of distributors in New York, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. Drug agents had thought the group might collapse after the death of its leader, Amado Carillo Fuentes, following botched plastic surgery in July 1997. Instead, control fell to his brother, Vicente, who expanded the organization's operations, opening a control center in the eastern border city of Reynosa to supplement the Ciudad Juarez headquarters. Bermudez said Carillo Fuentes also has formed a strong alliance with the leader of the Gulf cartel, Osiel Cardenas, which has allowed his family to gain control of key smuggling posts on the Yucatan Peninsula. "Several arrests have put the Gulf cartel in a difficult position," Bermudez said. "It needs alliances with the Carillo Fuentes organization." Another rising leader is Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who was a low-ranking enforcer in the Juarez cartel but now heads a group of free-lance smugglers based in Mazatlan, in the western state of Sinaloa. A former farmer with extensive agricultural and botanical knowledge, Zambada has worked to increase his gang's production of heroin, U.S. officials say. U.S. and Mexican agents are also watching Juan Esparragoza, an adviser to Carillo Fuentes who they say acts as a "narco-diplomat" in smoothing over problems between the gangs. Donald Thornhill of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego field office said authorities are expecting the rising crop of bosses to "sit back and quietly get rich." "Whoever is next in line we expect to keep a much lower profile," Thornhill said. "They understand that having a lot of heat on them is not a good thing." "The era of the big drug lord is over. Instead of one leader, they now build an automated organization with regional managers who can cover more terri~tory and create zones of influence in practically the whole country." Mario Estuardo Bermudez, Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor. - --- MAP posted-by: Tom