Suspected mastermind of La Villa prison break arrested in Reynosa

Brownsville Herald, ^ | December 23, 2008 | By Jeremy Roebuck,

[HollyButler]

REYNOSA - The alleged mastermind behind a 2006 jailbreak from a La Villa prison was captured Tuesday on a ranch outside Reynosa.

Mexican federal authorities arrested Francisco Meza Rojas, 43, just before 11 a.m. on a warrant seeking his extradition to the United States, officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said.

Meza - a former McAllen police officer and purported head of a large-scale drug smuggling organization - has eluded authorities for the more than two years since he and five other inmates broke out of La Villa's East Hidalgo Detention Center.

He is only the third man authorities have located since then.

"This is another example of (Mexican) President (Felipe) Calderón's efforts to be tough on organized crime and drug traffickers," said Will Glaspy, head of the DEA's McAllen field office.

While Mexican authorities remained tight-lipped about Meza's arrest Tuesday, multiple U.S. federal law enforcement officials said the fugitive will be flown to Mexico City for formal extradition proceedings.

Because he holds citizenship in both Mexico and the United States, it could take several months before he is brought back north of the border to face charges, they said.

ESCAPE

Meza's jailbreak plot stunned authorities for both its brazenness and the fact that it was carried out with the apparent unknowing help of prison staff.

Working with his cell mates, he convinced a prison commissary officer to help sneak in a cell phone and a pair of wire cutters under the pretense that he needed to contact a sick relative in Mexico.

On Sept. 19, 2006, Meza and his accomplices used the smuggled items to tie up and detain a prison guard and cut through four levels of fencing at the facility.

[HollyButler]

All five of Meza's suspected accomplices were members of La Raza Unida prison gang and were being held on illegal immigration charges. La Raza branching out ?

[tips up]

Michael Scofield could break out of there. Maybe during next season...