Witness in Camarena Murder Case Denied Bail

LOS ANGELES — A federal district judge in Los Angeles on Friday ordered that a prominent Mexican businessman be held without bail as a “material witness” in further investigations into the 1985 murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena.

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie rejected pleas from attorneys for Ruben Zuno Arce of Mascota, Mexico, that he be released on bail because he has not been charged with a crime. Rafeedie said confidential papers submitted to him by the government convinced him that Zuno Arce was a potential flight risk.

Rafeedie also said the confidential information convinced him that “this witness has a great deal of information that could be material” to the October trial of Juan Jose Bernabe Ramirez, a former Mexican policeman indicted for murder and conspiracy in the Camarena case Oct. 9.

The judge also said the confidential information “places this witness in significant involvement” with Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug kingpin who is in jail in Mexico City on charges of murdering Camarena.

‘No Ties’

And Rafeedie said that there was a significant risk that Zuno Arce could flee the country if released on bail. “He has no ties to this area,” Rafeedie said. “He is wealthy. He pilots his own plane. He is politically connected,” the judge declared, referring to the fact that Zuno Arce is the brother-in-law of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria.

However, Rafeedie also ordered federal prosecutors to get a swift determination from their superiors at the Justice Department in Washington on whether Zuno Arce is to be granted immunity to testify before a federal grand jury here or in the Bernabe Ramirez trial in October.

Initially, Rafeedie said, Zuno Arce indicated that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. But the judge said that prosecutors indicated that immunity could be obtained for Zuno Arce, compelling his testimony.

The judge was emphatic that prosecutors call him Monday or Tuesday with a decision on whether immunity had been granted. He also told Assistant U.S. Atty. Jimmy Gurule that if immunity is granted he wants Zuno Arce brought before a grand jury as soon as possible, preferably next week. Rafeedie said that in any case he would hold another hearing on Zuno Arce’s status Aug. 28.

Zuno Arce was arrested in San Antonio Aug. 9 by federal authorities and four days later was flown to Los Angeles in response to a warrant issued by Rafeedie. Prosecutors who obtained the warrant asserted Zuno Arce was “a major narcotics trafficker in the Guadalajara area” and said that he owned the Guadalajara house where Camarena was tortured and murdered until three weeks before the murder occurred.