Accused Mentor of Imprisoned Drug Kingpin Arrested

MEXICO CITY — Federal officials have arrested a man they accuse of being the mentor and principal financier of imprisoned drug kingpin Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo during the drug lord’s two years in prison.

Baltazar Diaz Vega, 40, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Culiacan, a city in northwestern Mexico known as a drug center and Felix Gallardo’s home base.

Diaz Vega has played a key role in Colombian-Mexican-U.S. cocaine trafficking, and in the process accumulated a fortune worth at least $500 million, mainly in real estate, according to a source in the attorney general’s office.

Diaz Vega has undergone plastic surgery and dyed and curled his hair to change his appearance since the first warrant for his arrest on charges of selling and transporting marijuana was issued five years ago, according to the source, who asked not to be named.

He also is wanted on unspecified drug trafficking charges in San Diego and Phoenix and additional cocaine-related charges in Mexico, the attorney general’s office said.

Mexican authorities say Diaz Vega allegedly helped finance Felix Gallardo’s early ventures into cocaine, then himself moved into the more lucrative business of shipping cocaine from Colombia to his ranch in northern Mexico, then into the United States, authorities said.

When Felix Gallardo was arrested two years ago, Diaz Vega invested as much as $300 million per shipment in drug deals that Felix Gallardo ran from his Mexico City prison cell, the source said.

While Felix Gallardo continues to operate his multimillion-dollar cocaine empire from jail, “being a prisoner reduced his financing ability,” said the source.

He said that arresting Diaz Vega is a significant step in the government effort to close down Felix Gallardo’s drug business.