Police Fund

Past corruption revealed

Mexico City drivers, who routinely pay bribes to avoid traffic tickets, had no idea just how much their pesos could buy until Jan. 19. That is when television newscasts showed authorities conducting a raid of two palatial homes owned by former Mexico City Police Chief Arturo Durazo Moreno. Besides rooms with views, Durazo's mountain retreat included stables, 17 Thoroughbreds, imported furnishings, 19 collector's cars, a cache of weapons and a discotheque equipped with the most advanced sound-and-light equipment inspired by New York's Studio 54. Durazo's second estate, in the Pacific resort town of Zihuatanejo, dubbed "the Parthenon," features decorative fountains, statues and marble-and-gold bathrooms.

Perhaps Durazo thought no one would notice. Shortly after he was booted out of office in November 1982 by incoming President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, he made a declaration of goods, claiming to be worth $600,000. Alas, appraisers say the construction of a single security wall around one of his vast compounds would cost $250,000. An estimate of the civil servant's net worth: $12.5 million.

Public outrage against Durazo began to build when a book written by his former chief aide, Jose Gonzalez, was published in November and became an instant bestseller. According to Gonzalez, the chief spent lavishly on family and friends, flying as many as 300 guests in police helicopters to his estate for weekend parties. He kept a tighter rein on his men in uniform. By denying them necessary resources for their work, he encouraged them to supplement their paltry salaries with bribes.

Gonzalez also describes Durazo's involvement in drug smuggling, fraud and homicide; the author even claims that he killed several people on Durazo's behalf. Because of his friendship with former President Jose Lopez Portillo, the chief apparently assumed he was immune from prosecution.

Despite his admissions of murder, Gonzalez has not been charged. Officials have charged Durazo with tax evasion, illegal possession of weapons and smuggling, crimes that could put him in prison for 20 years, and other investigations are under way. The only trouble is they have been unable to arrest him because no one knows where he is.