[Deathwatch] Ramon Arellano Felix, Mexican drug lord, 37

[Deathwatch Central]

DNA Confirms Death of Drug Warlord 
Thu Mar 14, 7:35 AM ET 

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Blood stains from the shirt of a man killed in a
shootout with police last month helped authorities confirm the death of
Ramon Arellano Felix, the suspected leader of Mexico's most feared drug
gang and one of the FBI (news - web sites)'s 10 most-wanted fugitives.

  
Assistant Attorney General Juan Jorge Campos said Mexican authorities
compared blood taken from Arellano Felix's jailed brother, Benjamin,
with DNA evidence collected from the shootout at the Pacific coast
resort of Mazatlan on Feb. 10.

Tests showed the samples had a "genetic affinity" that proved the dead
man was Benjamin Arellano Felix's brother, Campos said at a news
conference Wednesday. U.S. and Mexican officials already had said they
were almost certain the dead man was the fugitive (news - Y! TV).

U.S. and Mexican officials say the two brothers ran a Tijuana-based
drug ring that smuggled tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United
States and killed hundreds of people over the past 15 years.

Other siblings have alleged roles in the organization, but authorities
say the death of one brother and the arrest of the other may mean its
demise.

The FBI posted the 37-year-old Ramon Arellano Felix, accused of being
the gang's enforcer, on its 10 most-wanted list in September 1997. A
1999 DEA report attributed about 300 murders in Mexico and the United
States to the gang.

U.S. and Mexican police agencies had determined that Arellano Felix
came to Mazatlan on Feb. 5 with a plan to kill a rival during Carnival
celebrations. Police say his death resulted from a chance encounter
with traffic police who saw guns in the car he was driving.

A day after the shootout, people who identified themselves as relatives
of the slain man arrived and claimed the body from a funeral home,
using false documents.

On Saturday, Mexican troops captured Benjamin Arellano Felix in a raid
on a house in Puebla, east of Mexico City. Authorities said police
found an altar honoring Ramon's memory, and that Benjamin Arellano
Felix told interrogators his brother was dead.