Alleged Leader of Deaf Smuggling Ring Held

Mexican federal police Thursday arrested the alleged ringleader of a smuggling operation that illegally brought dozens of deaf Mexicans into the United States and forced them into virtual slavery selling trinkets in New York City subways.

Renato Paoletti Lemus, who has been the target of an FBI and Interpol search since he was charged in New York with smuggling illegal deaf immigrants and other offenses, was arrested in Mexico City along with two other members of the Paoletti family, according to Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office.

In a communique issued late Thursday night, Mexico’s top prosecutor’s office said the arrests came after Jose Rustrian Paoletti and Ezdra Suri Dahab Kassin, identified as another member of the smuggling ring, purchased a $210,000 bond at a local bank branch here.

Bank personnel “immediately notified the federal attorney general’s office of the presence of these people,” the communique stated. Renato Paoletti--who is deaf himself and also has been identified as Reinaldo Paoletti by New York City police--was arrested later, along with his father, Jose Paoletti Moreda, the communique stated.

Several other members of the Paoletti family were jailed in New York last month after four deaf and hearing-impaired Mexicans escaped from the small Queens apartment where they had been living with dozens of other trinket sellers. They alerted local police to their plight.

New York police later rescued a total of 57 deaf Mexican immigrants, most of whom said they were smuggled illegally into the United States by the Paolettis, in two small Queens apartments.