NATION : Drug Suspect Flees Texas Jail

SAN ANTONIO — An alleged drug kingpin and two other inmates escaped from a privately run prison across from the police station after one of them pulled a gun on a guard, authorities said.

Five federal agencies plus Mexican, Texas and local officials were searching today for the men who escaped Sunday evening. They include Mario Alberto Salinas Trevino, who federal authorities allege masterminded one of the largest drug-smuggling and money-laundering rings between Texas and Mexico.

Salinas, 37, was among 25 people arrested in March, 1989, in a drug operation dubbed “Operation Jet Set.” U.S. Marshal Bill Jonas said that $10 million was seized from Salinas then and that he’s suspected of having up to $10 million in drug money stashed in a hideaway either in Texas or Mexico.

Prosecutors charge that between 1983 and 1989, a drug ring Salinas helped run was responsible for transporting more than 46,000 pounds of marijuana and 1,900 pounds of cocaine. The ring allegedly distributed the drugs throughout Texas, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Florida and Massachusetts.