Fugitive found working as a police officer in Mexico 20 years later

HAMILTON, Ohio (WXIX/Gray News) - A fugitive wanted for murder was found 20 years later working as a police officer in his hometown in Mexico, local and federal officials announced Thursday.

Deputy U.S. Marshals took Antonio “El Diablo” Riano, 72, into custody Thursday morning from Mexican authorities in Mexico City.

He is under arrest and being extradited from Zapotitlán Palmas to the Butler County Jail, according to the U.S. Marshals Service and Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.

They teamed up on the case with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, which worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico.

Riano was listed as one of the Bulter County Sheriff’s Office’s “Most Wanted” for years and was profiled on the “America’s Most Wanted” television series in 2005.

He has been wanted on a murder indictment since 2005 in the 2004 shooting death of 25-year-old Benjamin Becerra, court records show.

Hamilton police determined Riano shot Becerra in the face following a brief argument inside and then outside a bar around 2:20 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2004.

Becerra was in a brawl at the bar a few weeks earlier, so when he showed up again that day, the bartender asked Becerra to leave, according to the prosecutor’s chief investigator Paul Newton.

Riano stepped in to help the bartender and an argument ensued between the two men, according to Newton.

When Riano and Becerra began to argue, the bartender told them to take it outside.

Minutes later, bullets were fired.

The victim was found lying face down on the sidewalk.

Riano got into his van and took off, according to surveillance camera footage from the bar that police had recovered during the investigation.

Local authorities used the surveillance video to identify Riano as their suspect.

Investigators found the murder weapon, identified by the bullets left at the scene, 10 days after Riano fled, hidden in a secret compartment under the kitchen floor of his apartment.

Police had everything they needed to arrest Riano but he was nowhere to be found.

“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,” Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said.

Riano’s return to Butler County is due in great part to the tireless, dogged efforts by Newton and Butler County Chief Criminal Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress.

“This arrest is the result of the ongoing sharing of information between the agencies and the determination of the investigators who refused to give up on this case,” said United States Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio Michael Black.

Newton is the one who figured out where Riano was. He scoured the internet countless hours for years for any clue, any photo, any little piece of evidence that might lead to him.

At one point in 2006, local and federal authorities tracked him to his mother’s house in Mexico. But when the U.S. Marshals went there to take him into custody, Riano was not home.

Newton has apprehended several fugitives during his decades-long career at the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and now the prosecutor’s office.

“Has been the most challenging just in the simple fact that he really dug in then and went underground,” Newton said, referring to Riano. “He moved after that. We really didn’t see any evidence of him until 2023. I think he thought he was home free.”

Burress, meanwhile, jumped through the extensive legal hoops required to retrieve a fugitive from Mexico, a complicated process that takes years.

In addition to the intense coordination between local, federal and Mexican authorities, local officials are required to complete a labyrinth of paperwork.

Burress patiently and meticulously compiled and filed all the records including affidavits from witnesses and the case investigator, certified copies of the indictment, arrest warrant, medical records/autopsy reports, copies of all relevant statutes, and Riano’s fingerprints and photo.

Both Burress and Newton traveled out of town to locate witnesses and secure new sworn statements from them.

The Department of Justice also now requires “new” witness “declarations - additional affidavits - in addition to ones taken at the time of the offense. At least one of the declarations must be from a witness who can identify the defendant through an attached photo as the perpetrator of the crime.

“They are very picky about their paperwork,” Burress said. “We needed them on our side so whatever they needed us to do, we were going to do.”

U.S. Marshals turned Riano over to Newton at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport around 4 p.m. Thursday.

Newton took Riano to the Hamilton Police Department and then the Butler County Jail.

Riano was booked in at 7:47 p.m.

He is being held without bond until a hearing at 9:30 a.m. Monday before Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Oster Jr.

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