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Crime & Safety

Washington's Help Sought to Speed Zachs' Extradition

WHPD, Carone family reach out to Senator Lieberman to produce cooperation and extradition from Mexico.

The effort to pry West Hartford native Adam Zachs from a Mexico City prison to begin serving a 60-year sentence for murder received a push in Washington recently, said.

Although there is no expiration date for the , “We sent that paperwork out and a request for expediency [to Sen. Joseph Lieberman] several weeks ago,” West Hartford police Capt. Joseph LaSata said.

The family of Peter Carone, who was shot fatally in the back by Zachs outside the Prospect Cafe in 1987, also reportedly contacted Lieberman’s office. Zachs, who was convicted of murder in 1988, was , after 22 years as a fugitive.

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Carone, a graduate, was 29 and engaged to be married.

Local, state and federal authorities have met a 60-day deadline under an international treaty to file extradition papers in Mexico City. Zachs, who will be 48 April 25, apparently will not return voluntarily. His only legal remedy to avoid punishment in Connecticut appears to be through appeals in Mexico’s antiquated court system -- a longshot, authorities say.

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“It changes daily and it’s tough to get information out of Mexico,” LaSata said.

Requests for interviews with assistant state’s attorney John Fahey, who is in charge of Connecticut’s end of the extradition, Hartford State’s Attorney Gail P. Hardy and Hartford supervisory U.S. Marshal Andrew Tingley were not answered.

The U.S. Department of Justice has declined comment while the case is active.

Lieberman’s office reportedly enlisted state congressional leaders and petitioned U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to gain diplomatic support. A letter to Clinton was signed by Connecticut’s two U.S. senators and five U.S. representatives. Clinton’s office declined comment to The Hartford Courant.

“We’re just awaiting a decision from the Mexican government, first and foremost, and then secondly if Zachs will agree to be extradited,” LaSata said. “If not I believe he can fight it for up to a period of six months and then once the appeals are exhausted he has to come back anyway.”

Zachs, a graduate, could file appeals blocking his extradition “until he runs out of money,” a former liaison with Mexico’s attorney general’s office said in February. Zachs capitalized on a legal loophole in Connecticut to flee while appealing his conviction in 1988.

No fewer than 15 local, state, federal and international law enforcement agencies combined to nab Zachs outside a home in Leon. He apparently ran a computer repair business under the name Ruben Fridman, married a Mexican citizen, and has children.

“The fact he married somebody down there and has a family might give the Mexican government pause,” said David L. Garza, former chief of the Foreign Prosecution Unit for the Texas Attorney General.

Last week Mexico appointed a new attorney general. But Mexico’s entire justice system seems in disarray, according to reports, after the previous attorney general resigned after 18 months.

Mexico also could simply expel Zachs as an undesirable person.

“I think the choices as presented to him right now is either to come back and start serving his sentence in America now or try to fight it,” LaSata said.

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