Federal ICE agents linked to gang-style drug killing in Mexico
Diane Sweet
Published:
Friday December 15, 2006
Newly released evidence in a gang-style murder in Mexico last month reveals that the still unidentified victim -- a male found in a city park in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico with a finger stuffed in his mouth, which is a punishment traditionally inflicted by drug traffickers upon informants -- had the business cards of two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents taped to his head.
Photos published in the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario de El Paso clearly show one of the cards as that of Agent Raul M. Bencomo. A second card that is barely legible is believed to belong to another ICE agent.
ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok issued a written statement, saying, "This matter is under investigation by Mexican authorities. It would be inappropriate for ICE to comment out of respect for the integrity of the Mexican investigation. We have a strong relationship with our law enforcement counterparts and will assist if requested."
Ciudad Juarez, which is notorious for its lawlessness, is ruled by the Juarez drug cartel, led by Vicente Carillo Fuentes. The cartel is allegedly responsible for the smuggling of billions of dollars a year in marijuana and cocaine shipments, and the United States has offered a $5 million dollar reward for Fuentes' arrest.
Agent Bencomo, whose card appears in the photo, had worked in Ciudad Juarez with an informant, Guillermo Ramirez Peyro, also known as Lalo, who received over $220,000 from US government agencies to notify agents whenever the drug cartel planned a killing. Lalo recorded at least one of the cartel's brutal murders and then became an active participant in subsequent kilings, all without any intervention by ICE officials, who claim they were only made aware of the deaths after the fact.
Information regarding the Juarez killings was eventually passed to ICE headquarters in Washington through the office of Johnny Sutton, US Attorney for Western Texas and a close associate of President George W. Bush. Sutton is also chairman of an advisory committee which coordinates legal policies and programs along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Upon the inter-agency revelation of the mass grave in Mexico, Sandy Gonzales, the Special Agent in charge of the DEA office in El Paso -- one of the most senior and highly decorated Hispanic law enforcement officers in America -- wrote to his ICE counterpart to indicate his dismay at the handling of the investigation:
"I am writing to express to you my frustration and outrage at the mishandling of investigation that has resulted in unnecessary loss of human life," he began, "and endangered the lives of special agents of the DEA and their immediate families. There is no excuse for the events that culminated during the evening of 14 January... and I have no choice but to hold you responsible." ICE, Gonzalez wrote, had gone to "extreme lengths" to protect an informant who was, in reality, a "homicidal maniac... this situation is so bizarre that, even as I'm writing to you, it is difficult for me to believe it."
After writing to ICE, Gonzales was promptly demoted, then sent a letter explaining that if he resigned, he would receive a "positive" recommendation to future employers. Gonzales resigned and then filed suit.
Meanwhile, Lalo, who had been taken into protective custody by ICE after a shooting in Mexico, was placed in a maximum security facility somewhere in the Midwest after ICE determined that his visa was "irregular" and began deporation hearings. He continues to fight the deporation that he believes would be his death sentence at the hands of the drug cartel he worked against as an informant.
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