Indictment: Mexican Officials Aided Drug Cartels

A Mexican law enforcement official who worked with U.S. authorities was charged with passing along classified information to drug traffickers and arranging the arrests of his drug boss' rivals, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.

Jesus Quinones, a liaison to U.S. law enforcement with the Baja California attorney general's office, was among 43 defendants named in the complaint that alleges murder, kidnapping and other crimes.

The U.S. attorney's office released the indictment following raids in San Diego and Mexico in which 31 of the defendants were arrested. It was not immediately clear whether Quinones was in custody.

Prosecutors allege Quinones and other defendants worked for Fernando Sanchez Arellano, a nephew of the brothers who head the Arellano Felix cartel and one of the most wanted alleged drug traffickers in Tijuana, Mexico.

The complaint charges the defendants with conspiracy to conduct a criminal enterprise through racketeering. It alleges the scheme included murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, money laundering and robbery.

On Thursday, Justice Department lawyers asked a federal judge in Phoenix to block a new law targeting illegal immigrants in Arizona before it takes effect next week. Those in favor of the law say illegal immigration leads to more crime.

CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports supporters of the new law point to the recent murder of rancher Robert Krentz. Investigators say his killer snuck in from Mexico. Arizona governor Jan Brewer says Mexican drug cartel-style violence is crossing the border too.

"Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded," Gov. Brewer said.

In Pima County, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said not only is there no evidence of beheadings, but "the border is more secure now that it's ever been."

"They're down," Dupnik said. "Violence in the cities is down."

According to the FBI, that's true across the southern border this decade. In San Diego violent crime is down 17 percent. In El Paso, Texas violent crime down 36 percent - it sits right across from Juarez, Mexico, one of the deadliest cities on earth. In Phoenix major crime has dropped 10 percent from 2000 to 2009.

West along the border in Nogales, Arizona, Chris Ciruli said it's a "safe environment."