Feds catch convicted Miami lawyer-banker on lam for 27 years in Mexico

Back in the 1980s, Miami lawyer Manuel Lopez-Castro was convicted of racketeering charges for helping a marijuana smuggler flush with cash buy a majority interest in Sunshine State Bank during the heyday of drug trafficking and money laundering in South Florida.

But rather than surrender to start his 27-year prison sentence in early 1986, Lopez-Castro fled to various Latin American countries before settling in Mexico, where he eventually dropped the ?Castro? in his last name, authorities say.

This week, the feds finally caught up with the longtime fugitive.

A team of U.S. Marshals flew to Cancun after the agency recently obtained intelligence placing Lopez-Castro, 61, in the resort city. On Tuesday, the marshals and Mexican national police coordinated a planned traffic stop to arrest him. He jumped out of his vehicle and ran, but didn?t get far.

Mexican authorities officially deported Lopez-Castro, who lied he was a Mexican citizen but was actually a Cuban national naturalized in the United States in 1977. Mexican immigration agents escorted him on a flight Wednesday to Miami International Airport, where he was turned over to U.S. Marshals.

On Thursday afternoon, Lopez-Castro will be in Miami federal court where he was convicted at trial in October 1985.

After fleeing the following year, he was suspected of traveling to Spain, then Costa Rica, Argentina, Venezuela, Panama and finally Mexico. His fugitive case was considered ?cold,? until it was reassigned to U.S. Marshals who specialize in foreign fugitives.

The marshals worked with the U.S. State Department in Mexico and the Mexican federal police, which did surveillance of possible associates, friends and family members of Lopez-Castro.

?On several occasions, a person believed to be the wanted suspect was seen,? according to Barry Golden, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals. ?However, with such an extraordinary amount of time passed, they could not be sure.?

That?s when investigators hatched the plan to stop Lopez-Castro Tuesday as he left a condominium in Cancun in a vehicle with other family members. In Mexico, authorities quickly learned that he lied about his status as a Mexican citizen, uncovering that he had obtained a fraudulent Mexican birth certificate a decade ago.

At trial in 1985, Lopez-Castro was convicted of helping a major marijuana smuggler, Jose Antonio Fernandez, buy Sunshine State Bank in South Miami. According to an indictment, the lawyer acted as a bank official who assisted its executives, co-defendants Ray and Rafael Corona, in laundering the smuggler?s drug profits.

Lopez-Castro failed to show up on Jan. 28, 1986, at a federal prison in Tallahassee. That?s when the lawyer, disbarred after his conviction, was to begin serving his sentence.

Then-U.S. District Judge James W. Kehoe signed a warrant for Lopez-Castro?s arrest. He had been free on bonds totaling $260,000 while he appealed his conviction.

Lopez-Castro?s parents had pledged their home as part of the collateral for the bonds. Castro had surrendered his U.S. passport when the bonds were set. He had been known to travel frequently to Costa Rica and Panama.

Federal agents searched Lopez-Castro?s home at 8100 Old Cutler Rd. for information about his disappearance. Prosecutors eventually seized the property, which was valued at $350,000.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/14/3234207/feds-catch-convicted-miami-lawyer.html

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