Fugitive Arrested After 20 Years on the Run, Found Working as a Cop in Mexico

Capture of a Fugitive

One of Amer­i­ca’s most want­ed fugi­tives, Anto­nio ‘El Dia­blo’ Riano, has been arrest­ed in Mex­i­co, bring­ing an end to a 20-year man­hunt. The 72-year-old Oax­a­ca native was charged with first-degree mur­der in 2004 for the shoot­ing death of a 25-year-old man in Ohio.

Riano’s Hiding in Plain Sight

After evad­ing jus­tice for two decades, Riano was found work­ing as a police offi­cer in his home­town of Zapoti­t­lan Pal­mas, Mex­i­co. When asked why he had become a police offi­cer, Riano replied in Span­ish, “I want­ed to help the peo­ple of Mexico.”

Cooperation Between Law Enforcement

The arrest was the result of a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between the U.S. Mar­shals Ser­vice, the But­ler Coun­ty Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office, and the U.S. Depart­ment of Jus­tice. Michael T. Gmoser, the But­ler Coun­ty Pros­e­cu­tor, praised the joint effort, stat­ing, “This type of appre­hen­sion would not be pos­si­ble with­out the coop­er­a­tion and due dili­gence of both the Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office inves­ti­ga­tors, the Unit­ed States Mar­shal Ser­vice, and the Unit­ed States Depart­ment of Justice.”