Pubdate: Saturday,August 28,1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Section: News,page 32 Author: Ronald Smothers-The New York Times EX-LEADER INDICTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING Newark,N.J.-Capping years of investigation in a case that has roiled relations with Mexico, U.S. prosecutors Friday detailed a 25-count narcotics and money-laundering indictment of Mario Ruiz Massieu, a politically influential former Mexican deputy attorney general arrested in New Jersey in 1995. The indictment, unsealed Monday by a Houston grand jury, represents the first felony charges brought in the United States against Ruiz Massieu, who had close ties to the family of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The indictment charges that Ruiz Massieu used his position as Mexico's top anti-drug official during 1993 and 1994 to obtain bribes from drug traffickers. It accuses Ruiz Massieu of sending a top aide to make 25 trips from Mexico City to Houston, ferrying a total of $9 million in cash, packed in suitcases, for deposit in two Texas banks. While Ruiz Massieu was deputy attorney general, the indictment charges, he "did receive large sums of United States currency in the Republic of Mexico from individuals associated with drug traffickers." The unsealing of the indictment was first reported in Friday's editions of Mexican newspapers. On Friday, Ruiz Massieu's lawyer, Cathy Fleming, continued to deny those charges, saying that her client's family was "a very prominent and rich family in Mexico" and that the money was family money. The indictment reflects an abrupt about-face by the Clinton administration, which for years after Ruiz Massieu's arrest at Newark Airport on March 23, 1995, had been reluctant to embarrass the Mexican government by prosecuting such a senior official. Law enforcement agents, led by the U.S.Customs Service, pressed federal prosecutors for years to charge Ruiz Massieu with drug crimes. But senior Clinton administration officials for several years worked instead to return him to Mexico, at first through extradition and more recently by seeking to deport him. Ruiz Massieu was named Mexico's deputy attorney general in early 1994, largely because of his influential connections. His older brother, Jose Franciso, was the No. 2 official in the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party and had been married to President Salinas' brother, Raul, was later convicted by a Mexican judge of that killing. The new indictment comes four years after the former Mexican official fled his country for the United States and was subsequently picked up for attempting to take about $40,000 out of the United States without reporting it, in violation of U.S.Customs regulations. He was held for several months at that time, and then released on bond and placed under house arrest. Since then, immigration officials have sought to deport him. Ruiz Massieu was taken into custody Thursday night by U.S.Customs, Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI agents at a home in Palisades Park, N.J., where he has been living under house arrest. He is also being monitored by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, pending the outcome of the efforts to deport him. Ruiz Massieu, in handcuffs and leg manacles, listened to a court translator as U.S. Magistrate Joel Pisano ruled that he would be released on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond. He will continue to live under house arrest. Ruiz Massieu still faces arraignment in Houston, where the case is slated to be tried. Fleming said that her client was not a risk to flee and "was happy with the protections of the U.S. legal system." She said he was innocent of the charges and wanted only an opportunity in U.S. courts to clear his name. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart