Free Republic

A Mexican federal police pass belonging to Juarez Cartel drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was found by the FBI inside a West El Paso luxury home. The find occurred during the search of the house of a former, unnamed girlfriend of Carrillo on Oct. 16, 2000, FBI officials said. The agency chose to release the information now to jump- start the investigation that lost momentum when FBI priorities shifted from drugs to counter-terrorism after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Hardrick Crawford, the FBI special agent in charge in El Paso. Carrillo is wanted in the United States for...

MEXICO CITY - Reputed drug lord Osiel Cardenas was arrested Friday after a fierce firefight with Mexican soldiers, cutting short the career of a man so bold he once threatened U.S. federal agents, leading the FBI to offer a US$2 million reward for his capture. Allegedly the leader of the Gulf drug cartel and the third major drug boss to fall in the last year, Cardenas was arrested in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, Defense Secretary Gen. Gerardo Vega Garcia told a news conference. At least two Mexican soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in the shootout with Cardenas' gunmen, who...

The FBI's top man in El Paso, Hardrick Crawford Jr., retired "abruptly" Friday afternoon amid complaints against him by Mexican officials. Crawford, 54, declined Saturday to discuss specific reasons for his retirement after 23 years with the FBI, including the past two years as special agent in charge of the El Paso office. "I had think been thinking about retiring for over a year, and I decided to tender my resignation at this time to pursue private consulting," he said in a telephone interview. "I will remain in the El Paso area for now. That's all I want to say...