Mexico Asks U.S. for Data on Bribe Charge Involving Justice

SAN DIEGO —  Mexico’s attorney general has asked the American government for more information on allegations by the Drug Enforcement Administration that a Mexico Supreme Court justice was bribed by a reputed drug kingpin.

Atty. Gen. Sergio Garcia Ramirez also characterized the corruption allegations as “vague and general.”

Garcia Ramirez made the request Friday in a letter to Charles L. Pilliod Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Copies of the letter and a more general note sent to Pilliod by Garcia Ramirez a day earlier were released Tuesday by the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.

The letters were prompted by affidavits filed by the DEA in U.S. District Court in San Diego to support the seizure last week of more than $2 million in cash and other assets in the United States from Mexico City attorney Francisco Alatorre-Urtusuastequi.

Alatorre-Urtusuastequi’s law firm represents Rafael Caro Quintero, the reputed drug lord accused of masterminding the kidnaping and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique S. Camarena two years ago in Guadalajara.

The affidavits allege that Mexico Supreme Court Justice Luis Fernandez-Doblado and other judges in Mexico City had received cash payoffs to exonerate Caro Quintero and alleged drug magnate Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, who also is charged with Camarena’s murder.

The DEA said an informant told agents that Fernandez-Doblado met with Alatorre-Urtusuastequi in Tijuana a year ago. Another source told the DEA that the Mexican attorney maintained a “ ‘stash’ of millions of dollars” at houses in Chula Vista to bribe Mexican officials on Caro Quintero’s behalf.

Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carrillo remain in custody in Mexico City.

Garcia Ramirez’s latest letter asks the U.S. government to furnish Mexico with documents and other information related to the affidavits so the Mexican government can conduct its own investigation.