NEW YORK (UPI) - Watch 'Drug Wars: The Camarena Story' and you might want to cancel your winter vacation plans in Cancun.
You also might want to strangle a few American officials as well.
A good portion of the Mexican government and its law enforcement agencies are among the villains of 'Drug Wars,' a horrifying, fascinating miniseries about drugs, the brutal people who deal in them and the corrupt officials who protect and profit from them. It airs on NBC Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 7, 8 and 9, 9-11 p.m. Eastern time each night.
The Reagan administration doesn't come off too well either, with high-placed American officials putting their obsession with Nicaragua and the desire to protect American banking interests above the war on drugs and the safety of American drug agents.
There is the contention that, for cynical purposes, U.S. drug policy was switched from an effort to dam the flood of drugs into the country to a 'just say no' policy concentrating on convincing Americans not to use the stuff.
Behind it was the desire to keep the Mexican government happy -- so it would not side with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and so it would not default on the huge loans Mexico owes U.S. banks.
Left high and dry and almost helpless in all this are the American drug agents operating in Mexico.
The miniseries is based on investigative reporter Eileen Shannon's book, 'Desperados,' about the murder of a real-life hero, and the infuriatingly frustrated efforts of his colleagues in the Drug Enforcement Agency to bring his torturers and murderers to justice.
The hero, Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, was a DEA agent from Calexico, Calif., who accepted a transfer to Guadalajara, Mexico, because he wanted to make a difference.
He did make a difference, which was why he was kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered by the drug merchants, particularly Rafael Caro Quintero, a sinister, flashy narcotics entrepreneur who blamed Camarena for a raid that cost him about $20 million.
Camarena, like other DEA agents in Mexico, was forced to work without the power to make arrests or even to carry a gun -- because the U.S. authorities did not press for diplomatic immunity for them.
He was kidnapped in broad daylight near the U.S. Embassy in Guadalajara on Feb. 7, 1985, only three weeks before he was scheduled to be transferred back to the United States.
Also abducted on that date was Alfredo Zavala, a pilot who aided Camarena in air surveillance of marijuana and opium fields.
DEA agents in the field scramble frantically to find him, with no help from local and state police. On the contrary, from Mexico City on down through the Federales to the local cops, men on the take impede the investigation.
There is a huge amount of money involved. At one point Quintero sends $48 million, carelessly stacked in cardboard boxes, to Mexico City to pay for protection.
This show is strong stuff, with fine performances by Steven Bauer as Camarena, and Craig T. Nelson and Treat Williams as two DEA agents trying to find their colleague and then to make a case against the men who killed him.
Miguel Ferrer -- son of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney -- plays a young DEA agent and Elizabeth Pena is moving as Camarena's wife, who fears correctly that her husband has been killed but at least does not want him to fade into just another drug statistic.
In the end, two of the drug lords are jailed in Mexico, where they have access to hot and cold running drugs, booze and women.
Another drug bigwig winds up standing trial in the United States and is sentenced to 250 years in Leavenworth.
'Drug Wars: The Camarena Story' makes tense, taut television -- with both the strengths and weaknesses of the story which is, as NBC says, a 'fact-based drama.'
A lot of viewers will remember the headlines when the battered body of the tortured and murdered drug agent was discovered. The fact that Camarena's death was real gives the miniseries great impact.
The 'fact-based' category creates a problem, however. It means the story wavers between history and fiction -- characters are created or consolidated, conversations invented, situations molded to suit the form.
You can't tell the real people from the made-up ones without a scorecard, except you know that Craig Nelson's character must be real because no scriptwriter would invent a name like Harley Steinmetz for the agent-in-charge of the DEA's Guadalajara office. Steinmetz -- and Nelson's portrayal of him -- are not just central casting.
Some of the confusion between fact and fiction may be cleared up in the NBC News special reports that will follow the first two 'Drug Wars' broadcasts on Sunday and Monday, Jan. 7 and 8.
The specials, anchored by Tom Brokaw -- whose broadcasts, incidentally, are shown in the miniseries -- will include interviews with Mexican officials, U.S. federal and local drug enforcement authorities and some of the agents portrayed in the miniseries.NEWLN: adv weekend jan 6,7
The question of whether charges against a man accused of killing a Detroit drug dealer should be dropped because prosecutors delayed his second trial is to be considered by the Michigan Supreme Court this week.
The court will also be looking at cases that: could limit the Department of Natural Resources' jurisdiction over gas and oil wells; reverse the drug possession conviction of a Detroit man because he may have been improperly stopped for running when he saw a police car; and award money to the family of a Detroit man who was shot by a plainclothes police officer who had his house under surveillance.
Tommie James had been granted a new trial on charges of first-degree murder because of alleged misconduct by a juror. However, the new trial was delayed for 34 months -- 26 months of which was attributed to appeals by the prosecutors.
The Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed the charges on the grounds the delays violated James' right to a speedy trial.
In other cases, the state's high court is to consider:
-- whether the state Department of Natural Resources' control over oil and gas wells includes an Addison Township gas processing plant,
-- whether police may enter a house where they suspect drug dealing is taking place without a warrant if they believe all the drugs may be sold before a judge can issue one and
-- whether two Detroit police officers had the right to chase down Mark Mamon, who turned and ran for no apparent reason when he sighted a police car. During the chase, Mamon allegedly threw away a case containing some rocks of 'crack' cocaine but the Detroit Recorder's Court threw out the evidence on the grounds the officers never had reasonable cause to chase him.
Other cases to be argued next week, although decisions will not likely be rendered for several months, would decide whether two convicted drug dealers are entitled to new sentences because, in one case, the law was changed to provide a less harsh punishment. Another would decide whether a Detroit man who was shot and killed by a plainclothes officer was partially responsible for his own death because he pointed a gun and fired at the policeman before he was slain.
Stocks of Ohio interest enjoyed a strong year in 1989 with winners outnumbering losers by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio, but it ended on a down slide as there were more losers than winners in the fourth quarter.
A United Press International survey of 50 companies that are either major Ohio employers or have headquarters in Ohio found increases in the stock prices by 34 and decreases by 14 during 1989.
The fourth quarter, however, did not mirror the performance of the year as a whole, as there were 23 winners and 26 losers, with one company's stock price unchanged from Sept. 30 to Dec. 30.
A survey of the same 50 stocks showed gains by 38 in the third quarter, 36 in the second quarter and 31 in the first quarter.
The big winner of the year was Cincinnati's Kroger Co. with an increase of 75 percent from $8.75 at the opening of 1989 to $14.75 at the opening of 1990 but, like the trend, Kroger's price fell after opening the fourth quarter at $18.25.
The early gains for the nation's second-largest grocery retailer were triggered by a restructuring following two takeover attempts in late 1988.
No. 2 on the list was another company that has undertaken major restructuring, the American Greetings Corp. of Cleveland. The stock price for the world's largest publicly held greetings card company increased 74.1 percent during the year from $20.25 to $35.25.
And, unlike Kroger, the improvement continued in the fourth quarter. American Greetings, which sold some subsidiaries and streamlined business practices, opened the final quarter at $32.25 after finishing No. 1 on the third quarter list. The increase in the fourth quarter was 9.3 percent.
Gains of at least 50 percent during the year were turned in by five other companies.
Alltel of Hudson was up 63.7 percent to $38.88, Procter & Gamble of Cincinnati up 62.9 percent to $70.25, Worthington Industries up 62.6 percent to $12, Centerior Energy of Cleveland up 57.1 percent to $20.63 and American Telephone & Telegraph up 55.6 percent to $45.50. Of that group, only Alltel was down in the fourth quarter.
By comparison, no companies in the survey experienced declines of more than 50 percent during the year and only four had losses of more than 20 percent.
The big loser was the LTV Corp., which has been under federal bankruptcy protection since July 1986. Its price fell 49.8 percent from $2.25 at the opening of 1989 to $1.13 at the opening of this year. LTV of Dallas is the parent of the LTV Steel Co. of Cleveland.
GenCorp of Akron fell 28.9 percent from $16.88 to $12, with the loss coming in the final three months. GenCorp opened the fourth quarter at $17.88.
Chrysler's stock fell 28.3 percent from $26.50 to $19 and Timken of Canton fell 20.4 percent from $34.88 to $27.75.
It was a generally poor year for auto industry stocks, principally because of fourth-quarter losses by all of the Big Three. Ford Motor joined Chrysler in the losing column, down 15.3 percent for the year from $51.50 to $43.63, and General Motors was down 0.9 percent from a stock split-adjusted $42.63 to $42.25.
It was a mixed year for the steel industry, with the losses of LTV and Timken, but gains of 2.4 percent to $10.75 for Armco, 20.7 percent to $35.75 for USX and 27.2 percent to $11.13 for Wheeling-Pittsburgh, which like LTV is under bankruptcy protection.
In the retail industry, May Department Stores, operator of May, Kaufmann's and L.S. Ayers stores in Ohio, showed a 33.4 percent gain to $47.88 and The Limited of Columbus was up wat 25.7 percent to $34.88. But Sears Roebuck, which started its low pricing policy last spring, fell 6.4 percent to $38.13.
It was a generally strong year for Ohio's four largest bank holding companies, with Banc One of Columbus up 43.9 percent to $32.38, Ameritrust of Cleveland up 22 percent to $25, National City of Cleveland up 19.5 percent to $39.13 and Society Corp. of Cleveland up 1.9 percent to $34.13.
During the year, Banc One bought financially troubled MCorp of Dallas and Society bought financially ailing Trustcorp Inc. of Toledo.
It was a banner year for the nine utilities included in the survey, with gains ranging from 20 percent to 63.7 percent. In fact, three of the utilities -- Alltel, Centerior and AT&T -- were among the seven highest ranking firms on the list of 50.
Ameritech, parent of Ohio Bell, was up 41.7 percent to $68.00, Ohio Edison of Akron up 25.8 percent to $23.75, Cincinnati Bell up 22.5 percent to $27.25, American Electric Power of Columbus up 20.5 percent to $33, Dayton Power & Light up 20.3 percent to $30.38 and Cincinnati Gas & Electric up 20 percent to $31.50.
Centerior is the parent of the Cleveland Electric Illuminating and Toledo Edison companies. American Electric Power is the parent of Ohio Power, Columbus Southern and five out-of-state utilities.NEWLN: adv monday, jan. 8
