PUERTO RICO: Drug kingpin faces life sentence in N.J.

Drug lord Luis "Tun Tun" Figueroa Hernandez, whose cartel is thought to have shipped more than $500 million worth of drugs to the mainland, may be sentenced to life in prison this week, when a New Jersey jury will seal his fate after his conviction on trafficking charges.

With former associates testifying against him, the Ciales native also faces two separate murder trials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey this year.

But, while the 37-year-old is being held in a federal prison stateside, members of his gang in Puerto Rico, suspected in nine murders here, have yet to be charged and are back selling drugs on the streets, law enforcement officials say.

"They were quiet for a while, after Tun Tun was arrested. They thought they would be arrested, but things are back to normal now," a source close to the case told The STAR.

While the drug kingpin and associates face prosecution in New Jersey, federal and local authorities here have failed to prosecute Figueroa and members of the gang for crimes committed on the island despite an investigation going back to before 2000 and the federal testimony of witnesses with knowledge of the local killings.

New Jersey authorities are also prosecuting Camden City Hall officials who allegedly helped Figueroa's cartel thrive on the mainland.

Officers who probed the cartel here said at least 15 government officials - including at least five police officers, a mayor, a judge and a prosecutor - took bribes to help gang members avoid prosecution.

In 2000, the then head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the Caribbean - Michael Vigil - said he would go after Figueroa's associates and "anyone who worked in his shadow."

But, two years later, a police source said DEA agents investigating the drug-trafficking side of the case have dropped the probe. That was, he said, after The STAR reported that witness testimony given in New Jersey implicated an Aricebo prosecutor and judge in taking bribes from Figueroa to give him probation for the only criminal charge he ever faced here.

In late 1998, Figueroa was charged with three counts of attempted murder here for an alleged shooting spree in Ciales which ended with a police officer being wounded in the foot.

Despite allegations he used drugs while out on bail and was a suspect in several murder cases, Figueroa was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges and was given a five-year probation.

He was arrested by federal authorities after he fled local jurisdiction. Before leaving the island, though, he is suspected of having killed at least two people, including his girlfriend, who was cooperating with authorities.

"When the articles came out, the prosecutor became infuriated and called the DEA, pressuring the agents. The case was dropped then. The agents said they just didn't have enough evidence to sustain their claims," said a veteran officer who declined to reveal his name for publication.

DEA spokesman Waldo Santiago said it is agency policy not to discuss information regarding their investigations. The final decision to close an investigation or present charges before federal grand jury is the responsibility of the U.S. Attorney's Office, he added.

"It is like when you feel sick and you go to the doctor. He might give you medicine, recommend surgery, or just send you home," Santiago said. "We present our investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office. We are just investigators. We gather the facts and the evidence, and it's up to the attorneys to decide to prosecute or not."

Through a spokesman, Acting U.S. Attorney H.S. "Bert" Garcia said he could not confirm or deny any information related to an investigation.

"It's agency policy not to say whether someone is being investigated," said Garcia spokesman Orlando Rios.

At the local Justice Department, a prosecutor is still trying to build a case against Figueroa's associates in relation to nine separate slayings.

At the end of 2000, justice dropped charges against 11 gang members linked to several murder cases when its only witness refused to testify against fellow gang members.

The source said homicide agents need to go to New Jersey to interview witnesses who gave details related to murders committed by the cartel here. Yet, Justice won't fund the trip unless the detectives first spell out exactly what the witnesses are going to testify.

"That's just not possible," the source said. "Justice should at least talk to the prosecutor in New Jersey to find out how he can help us."

Justice Secretary Anabelle Rodriguez refused to comment on the case, saying it was referred to Chief Prosecutor Pedro Geronimo Goyco.

"When he believes it's time to go talk to the prosecutor [in New Jersey], we will do so, "Rodriguez said through her spokesman.

Police say they have "everything ready" to press charges against 11 of Figueroa's associates here in relation to the nine murder cases, including the slaying of a Canovanas police officer. The only thing they need is a witness.

"They have to get the witnesses before they get sentenced, or they won't talk," the souce said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Smith, who is prosecuting Figueroa in Camden, N.J., told The STAR he would be willing to share information and witnesses. He said he had a meeting with a DEA and local agents more than two years ago. Their probe mainly covered the cartel's drug-trafficking deals.

Yet, he stressed, "we have several witnesses who gave details about the murders in Puerto Rico."

"Especially that of Jessica [Rodriguez]," Smith said. "The witnesses are under plea agreement. Their sentences in the federal case are pending the conclusion of the other trials where they are testifying."

The 25-year-old woman, Figueroa's lover, was killed after gang members bought her a car in exchange for leaving a witness-protection center where she was staying as a result of her cooperation with authorities. She was raped and tortured before being strangled to death in May 1999. Police found her a year later buried 12 feet under Ferreteria Tun Tun, one of the businesses allegedly started with the cartel's drug profits.

Police said a dozen people worked on the execution. They allegedly poured cement over her body while drinking beer and smoking marijuana.

In 1997, the gang also allegedly planned to execute two men who had stolen several kilograms of cocaine. But, instead of killing the couple, they ended up slaying four people, including an alleged corrupt policewoman, Enid Quinones Bonilla, 27.

The cartel is well known in the Utuado police district for burying their victims in fields and locations bought with drug proceeds. Police believe some bodies are still buried, but won't be able to retrieve them until a witness tells them exactly where they are. Recent excavation efforts to dig up the bones of one of Figueroa's victims were unsuccessful.

In "The Alley," an open-area drug market in Camden where Figueroa's cartel also operated, the drug lord is being charged in the 1993 murder of 24-year-old Manuel de Jesus. The trial is expected in June.

Figueroa was one of 18 defendants charged in 1998 as part of a drug-gang sweep in East Camden. His sentencing related to the drug-trafficking conspiracy is scheduled for Feb. 25.

This kind of corruption and injustice in Puerto Rico is nothing new.

Puerto Rico is and always will be a 3rd-world cesspool of corruption, no matter how many $100s of billions of U.S. Taxpayer's dollars and thousands of jobs we send down there.

The island's corruption has infected our federal agencies down there like a disease.

They caught 4 ski masked terrorists hurling Molotov Cocktails at a Naval convoy on Vieques, 8/10/2001 and let them go, because of insufficient evidence.

4 Protesters held for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at Navy on Vieques

Charges against these 4 terrorists were dropped one year later with almost no mention in the press.

Our Navy needs to leave Vieques and Roosevelt Roads, so those waters are made safe for their drug shipments. ;^)

I'm sure his lawyers are working on a defense that blames the Navy's presence in Vieques.

To hear most Puerto Rican politicians talk, they'd accept that as an excuse in a New York minute. Of course it doesn't hurt that all those politicians know he pays out big money in bribes.

Puerto Rico's the same as Mexico, there's no death penalty there, either. They'd probably squeal like stuck pigs, if Tun Tun got the death penalty in New Jersey.

The difference is one call from Puerto Rico's Governor, Sila Calderon and Bush would let Tun Tun go as fast as he did Vieques.

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