In the dusty border town of Zapata, the name of Manuel Medina, 52, stood for money and power. Son of a shrewd, up-from-the-adobe storekeeper, heavy-set "Don Manuel"as everyone in town deferentially called himowned the only bank in all Zapata County (pop. 4,400). He had also served eleven terms as county commissioner, piloted his younger brother Santos to the county judgeship, and for years ran Zapata's politics as a family fief. But last week Don Manuel's bank was closed down for lack of fundsand the whole county was flat broke.
Founded well before the state's 1923 banking law came into effect,...
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