Puerto Rican fugitive wanted in 12 killings is arrested in Dearborn


By Associated Press

DETROIT -- A suspect in a dozen murders in Puerto Rico is being held in Michigan after being arrested Thursday.
   U.S. Marshals stopped Alexis Candelario Santana while he was driving in Dearborn and arrested him without incident, U.S. Marshal spokesman Louis Stock said.
   Candelario Santana, 30, was brought before a federal magistrate later Thursday to initiate the process of extradition to the U.S. Caribbean territory.
   "He has not been removed back to Puerto Rico, that may take days or weeks," Brock said.
   Candelario Santana is accused of participating in 12 killings in the San Juan suburbs of Bayamon, Toa Baja y Dorado, as part of the "Rubber Tree Gang," which allegedly controlled some drug sales in the area.
   The suspect had been moving between the cities of Orlando, Fla., and Detroit, said Herman Wirshing, head of the Marshal's Service in Puerto Rico.
   Marshals had been searching for Candelario Santana for four months.
   A message was left with the federal defender handling Santana's case.

Another member of this gang was arrested in MA in 2001