Jan.23, 2010

A Mexican media magnate and his son were arrested in Arizona on charges of money laundering and aiding a criminal enterprise, El Diario de Sonora newspaper said Friday.

Mario de la Fuente Manriquez and son Mario de la Fuente Mix were detained along with five other suspects in Nogales, Arizona, according to El Diario, which is part of the family's media holdings.

Both men reside in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

The suspects face three counts of illegal control of enterprise, three counts of money laundering, three counts of fraudulent schemes, three counts of assisting a criminal syndicate and one count of conspiracy, El Diario said.

"The De la Fuente family has a history of doing business in Tucson and Phoenix. All of the charges are being investigated in Maricopa County, in Phoenix, where the businessmen are being interrogated," the newspaper said.

The De la Fuentes "are fully disposed to clear up any doubts the authorities" may have about their activities, El Diario de Sonora said.

De la Fuente Manríquez is president of Omni Cable, the umbrella corporation that owns Diario de Sonora newspaper and TV station, Canál 3, in Nogales, Sonora. The network spans the entire length of the Sonora-Arizona border, from San Luis Río Colorado, Puerto Peñasco, Caborca, Nogales, Magdalena de Kino, Santa Ana, Cananea and Agua Prieta.

The elder De La Fuente’s brother, Lorenzo de la Fuente Manríquez, was mayor of Nogales, Sonora, between 2003 and 2006 under the Institutional Revolutionary Party.