Ex-Mexican police leader slain - Man gunned down in Rio Grande Valley had been accused of corruption

McALLEN, Texas - A former high-ranking Mexican law enforcement official was fatally shot in the head Wednesday morning outside a lawyer's office in McAllen.

Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni, 54, was shot once in the left side of his face shortly before 11 a.m. as he sat in his car outside the office of McAllen lawyer Robert Yzaguirre, McAllen police said.

Mr. Gonzalez was once a powerful Mexican federal police commander who fled to this Lower Rio Grande Valley city in the 1990s after Mexican officials accused him of corruption and torture.

Mexican officials demanded his extradition, but in 1995, a U.S. magistrate refused the request.

Police officials declined to speculate whether Mr. Gonzalez's previous troubles might have contributed to his death.

"There's a lot of history behind this man apparently, and it could be any number of things," McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said.

A Mexican business associate of Mr. Gonzalez also was in the car at the time of the shooting but was not hurt.

"We have not established any suspects in the case at this point in time, and neither have we established a motive," Chief Rodriguez said. "We do not know with certainty how many suspects were involved in the shooting."

Chief Rodriguez said Mr. Gonzalez's associate was "not providing us with any information that we can develop."

Chief Rodriguez said Mr. Gonzalez was at the law office to see Mr. Yzaguirre and had just left the office when he was shot. It was not known why Mr. Gonzalez was at the law office. No one at the office would comment Wednesday afternoon.

Once dubbed "the Mexican Elliott Ness" and the "untouchable" by former Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Phil Jordan, Mr. Gonzalez became an intriguing figure on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

In Mexico, the former federal police commander was once known as a fearless fighter who hunted down some of the country's most notorious drug traffickers, including Miguel Angel Feliz Gallardo - at one time Mexico's No. 1 drug lord.

He also worked closely with the FBI, which allowed his assault team to fly over U.S. airspace to track down and kill Pablo Acosta in the border town of Ojinaga, Mexico. Mr. Acosta was one of the most sought-after drug lords in the 1980s.

But Mexican drug experts say Mr. Gonzalez's squeaky-clean profile was a façade. Deep down, authorities said, he was a corrupt officer in cahoots with rival drug lords, representing the likes of Juan Garcia Abrego, an old chum who once controlled the South Texas corridor.

In 1993, Mexico's Attorney General Jorge Carpizo fired him, accusing him of corruption while amassing ranches, homes and vehicles without properly accounting for them. In 1994, Mr. Gonzalez fled to the Texas border where he grew up.

"He came of age at a period when Mexico was awash in corruption, and Calderoni was a very corrupt person," said Jesus Blancornelas, a crusading Tijuana journalist whose Zeta weekly has campaigned against drug cartels.

Mr. Blancornelas barely survived a 1997 assassination attempt reportedly ordered by the Arellano Félix brothers, leaders of the Tijuana drug cartel.

Mr. Gonzalez was known to travel alone in South Texas and once said he was through with Mexican politics and with chasing drug lords. He was usually jovial with reporters and balked at returning to Mexico anytime soon, at one point telling a reporter, "Mexico doesn't want me back. I know too much."

A DEA official in Washington on Wednesday said, "That I don't know. But it's kind of stupid for anyone to make that claim. We couldn't say whether he was or wasn't. That's just part of our policy."

Mr. Blancornelas doubted that Mr. Gonzalez was recently involved with a drug cartel.

"His killing had more to do with his past, certainly not the future," Mr. Blancornelas said. "He had too many skeletons in the closet."

Update, fyi...

Car may be lead in killing

Sedan in Harlingen might have been used in death of cartel buster

02/07/2003

Associated Press

HARLINGEN, Texas - Police on Thursday found an abandoned gray sedan matching the description of the getaway vehicle in the assassination of Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni, Mexico's former top drug enforcer.

The 1993 Chrysler with Louisiana plates was found before dawn, parked in a church lot about a mile from the isolated attorneys' office parking lot where the shooting occurred Wednesday in broad daylight.

Investigators said that the car's identity numbers appeared to have been tampered with and that the car may have come from Mexico.

Sgt. Joel Morales said the vehicle was the biggest lead yet in the slaying of Mr. Calderoni, who fled Mexico a decade ago after an illustrious albeit shady cartel-busting career.

At least one witness provided a vague description of two suspects, one of whom walked up to the silver Mercedes that Mr. Calderoni was driving and fired point-blank through the driver's side window. A 9 mm casing was recovered from the Mercedes.

Mr. Calderoni, 54, was no stranger to the underworlds he toppled, and newspapers on both sides of the border blared details of a career that peaked with the takeouts of drug lords Angel Felix Gallardo and Pablo Acosta, then soured with charges by the Mexican government that he tortured suspects in custody and took bribes from Gulf cartel kingpin Juan Garcia Abrego.

In broadcast interviews, he boasted of his wealth of land, cattle and real estate before becoming a police officer and said he joined the police for the challenge and was soon making so many seizures that it was getting boring.

Despite the wealth of apparent enemies and the point-blank nature of the shooting, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said it was premature to call the death a "hit."

"We do not know enough about this case yet to try to guess at what motivated this killing," he said. "Like in any case, especially a murder case, if you can figure out a motive you can figure out more or less a responsible party."

After Mexico was unable to extradite him in 1994, Mr. Calderoni fell into the fabric of Rio Grande Valley border trade, launching a series of businesses. One firm in his name shipped petroleum byproducts into Mexico; another transported used clothing by the tankerload.

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/tsw/stories/020703dntexmexkill.1ac03.html

It is sheer FUN being a conservative in this town. My wife is an M.D. who sees the theft of services on a grand scale.

Out to eat at a restaurant? BEWARE! The AIDS & HEP-B/C infection rate here is higher than virtually any city in the USA.

Plus, the folks in the kitchen come from foreign regions where use soap and water after going to the toilet never crossed their minds. Look in the waste paper basket in a public restroom, and see toilet paper with feces on it. THEY DONT FLUSH IT! Ever wonder why E-Coli wasn't a common problem in the 60s? Check out the demographic shift.... ...BORDERS ...LANGUAGE ...CULTURE!

Republicans in this town had NO candidate on the ballot for conress last November. Lloyd Dogget ran unopposed. I would have volunteered candidacy had I realized this in time.

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