WASHINGTON — As a high-ranking U.S. antidrug official, Richard Padilla Cramer held frontline posts in the war on Mexico’s murderous cartels. He led an office of two dozen agents in Arizona and was the attache for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Guadalajara, Mexico.
While in Mexico, however, Cramer also served as a secret ally of drug lords, according to federal investigators.
Cramer advised traffickers on law enforcement tactics and pulled secret files to help them identify turncoats, according to a criminal complaint filed by a DEA agent. Cramer charged $2,000 for a Drug Enforcement Administration document that was e-mailed to a suspect in Miami in August, authorities say.
DEA agents arrested Cramer, 56, at his home in Arizona on Sept. 4.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Miami said Wednesday that she could not comment but said cases that begin with complaints usually go before a grand jury.
Cramer’s duties as the ICE attache in Guadalajara included serving as a liaison with Mexican police, assisting investigations and gathering intelligence, but the investigation revealed that Cramer also worked for “a very high-level drug lord,” according to federal officials. The 26-year government veteran became a full-time adviser to traffickers after retiring from ICE in January 2007, according to the complaint.
A trafficker “convinced Cramer to retire . . . and begin working directly for (him) in drug trafficking and money laundering,” according to the complaint.
Cramer sold secret documents that he obtained from active U.S. agents, an aspect of the case still under investigation.
The accusations underscore the corruptive power of the cartels, which have bought off Mexican politicians, police chiefs and military commandos. Drug lords have reached across the international line with increasing ease, corrupting U.S. border inspectors and agents to help smuggle cocaine north.
