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Not long after the bodies were found, the DEA discovered that Camarena's kidnapers had taped their attempts to interrogate him on drug cases. Mexican federal authorities first denied that the tapes existed, and they have told several different stories about the discovery of the recordings. But after a personal appeal by U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, his Mexican counterpart Sergio Garcia Ramirez handed over copies of some tapes to DEA investigators, who have sought to identify the recorded voices. One of them, they say, matches that of Rene Martin Verdugo Urquidez, a Caro Quintero crony who is currently awaiting trial on drug charges in San Diego. He was among the nine indicted last week.
U.S. investigators are especially eager to identify Camarena's chief questioner, a man who spoke in the practiced manner of a police interrogator. At one point Camarena was heard answering him, "Si, comandante." Partly on the basis of informants' claims, DEA officials believe the comandante was Sergio Espino Verdin, formerly chief in Guadalajara of a secret police unit run by the Interior Ministry. Espino Verdin, yet another of those indicted last week, was arrested by Mexican police last year and charged with Camarena's murder. But authorities have vetoed the agency's requests for extensive samples of his voice on tape so that they can be compared electronically with the interrogation recordings. Mexican officials also destroyed most of the physical evidence collected in the Guadalajara house owned by Caro Quintero where Camarena is believed to have been held.
Caro Quintero and Fonseca, imprisoned in 1985 for drug trafficking, are currently inmates of Mexico City's Reclusorio del Norte. But according to DEA agents who have visited the facility, their amenities there include private cooks, female companionship, liquor, access to a telephone and a Jacuzzi. Last summer the U.S. team that keeps an eye on the drug barons prevented them from getting the ultimate amenity: a private exit. The agents discovered a tunnel leading 800 ft. from two abandoned houses across from the prison toward their cellblock.
Besides accused Trafficker Verdugo Urquidez, two more of those indicted last week are already in U.S. custody for other offenses, and so will stand trial in American courts for their alleged roles in Camarena's murder. Of the remaining six, two are at large, probably in Mexico, and four are in Mexican custody. But under the extradition treaty between Mexico and the U.S., neither side is required to surrender its nationals to the other, and few observers expect Mexico to do so voluntarily. Most U.S. officials would be satisfied if Camarena's death were avenged by displays of rigorous prosecution on both sides of the border. Said U.S. Attorney Robert Bonner in Los Angeles: "Our first and foremost concern is that justice is done. If justice is done in Mexico, so be it." Unhappily, that is precisely what has not been done by Mexico for the past three years.