Lawyer of man accused of being key drug cartel figure is killed

March 17, 2000
Web posted at: 8:40 p.m. EST (0140 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

MEXICO CITY -- A lawyer defending a man accused of being a key figure in one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels was killed just a day after speaking on behalf of his client.

Gustavo Galvez Reyes, 32, represented Jesus Labra, a millionaire businessman arrested March 11 in what police said was one of Mexico's most important narcotics arrests in recent years.

Galvez's body -- hands and feet bound with a plastic bag over the head -- was found Wednesday in southern Mexico City. The director of the city's coroner's office, Jose Ramon Fernandez Cazares, said Galvez was badly beaten before being suffocated between 9 p.m. and midnight Tuesday. He said the man's head, chest, abdomen and liver were injured and some ribs were broken.

"No heavy object was used" in the attack, Fernandez said, "nor did the body show wounds from bullets or knives."

On Monday, Galvez had spoken to the media, denying the charges brought against Labra. Police claim Labra is a top figure in the Tijuana drug gang led by the Arellano Felix brothers -- his nephews -- a group considered one of the largest and most violent drug organizations in Mexico.

"I feel like because of living in Tijuana, people say you are a drug dealer or money launderer," Galvez had said. "That is the only fame that people from Tijuana have."

Another of Labra's attorneys, Eugenio Zafra, said he had spoken to Galvez by telephone at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday as Galvez was meeting with Labra.

"We agreed to see one another the next day ... After that I didn't hear anything from him," Zafra said.

Labra was charged with carrying a firearm, though on Sunday police said he faces possible drug charges. He is being held under house arrest for 90 days.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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