Most Wanted U.S. Fugitive Is Nabbed

By CHAD ROEDEMEIER
06:50 PM ET 09/02/99

ATLANTA (AP) - An alleged cocaine kingpin and the No. 1 fugitive on the Marshal Service's ``15 Most Wanted'' list was arrested Thursday at an Atlanta airport. Peter Paul Zink, charged with running a cocaine ring in Wisconsin, had been a fugitive since 1988.

A 43-year-old California native, Zink was arrested in Guatemala in February but officials there refused to extradite him to the United States to face the drug charges. They did, however, kick Zink out of the country as an ``undesirable person.''

Guatemalan officials, working with representatives from the U.S. State Department, put Zink on a flight on Thursday morning. State Department officials guarded Zink on the way to Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.

He is to be taken to Wisconsin to stand trial.

Zink was No. 1 on the U.S. Marshal's list because he was a fugitive for so long and because he was considered dangerous, said Robert H. McMichael, U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia.

Zink has been arrested before for homicide, attempted murder and weapons and drug possession, but the U.S. Marshal Service could not say if he had been convicted or served time in prison.

In addition to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, Zink was also wanted on murder-solicitation charges for allegedly hiring a gunman to kill a police informant in 1987.  Zink had family in Guatemala and was found working as a freelance guide, providing tours of Mayan ruins under the name Marcos Potts.

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