Popular TV Personality Slain in Mexico Popular TV Personality Slain In Mexico City 12:58 a.m. Jun 08, 1999 Eastern By Caroline Brothers MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a prominent Mexican television personality in a hail of bullets Monday, ambushing his luxury car outside a Mexico City restaurant and reigniting fury over a crime wave in one of the world's largest cities. Francisco ``Paco'' Stanley, 56, who became a household name as a presenter of successful game shows and comedy programs, was the latest in a series of high-profile crime victims in the Mexican capital. Stanley's co-presenter, Jorge Francisco Gil Gonzalez, 38, who was with him in the car, was wounded and taken to a Mexico City hospital. Stray bullets killed a bystander believed to be an insurance salesman and wounded his wife in the ankle. Two suspects were detained Monday night and being held for questioning, one of them the owner of a Volkswagen Jetta used in the getaway, the Televisa network reported. ``This was a perfectly premeditated murder,'' Mexico City police chief Alejando Gertz told Televisa. ``They had to follow Mr. Stanley to know his habits. They attacked from behind. His own security guards said they had no idea where they came from.'' Stanley rose to prominence with Televisa as host of a daytime variety show, once shaving his head on the air after losing a bet over soccer game. He went to work for rival network TV Azteca about two years ago. Both networks gave the murder extensive live coverage, fielding calls from celebrities and everyday Mexicans both outraged and frightened. Two men armed with automatic weapons opened fire on Stanley's black Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicle about midday along one of the city's main thoroughfares on the south end of town. The gunmen fired at point-blank range at Stanley as he sat in the front passenger seat. The driver escaped unhurt, and the assailants escaped on a pedestrian bridge that crosses over a busy highway, their car awaiting on the other side. Officials said the Navigator was strafed with 26 bullets, shattering all the side windows, as Stanley left the restaurant after dining. A forensics report said he was hit with four bullets and died instantly. Hysterical fans gathered outside the TV Azteca studios in tears. His television colleagues railed at public officials, demanding that Mexico City's streets be made safe for its citizens again. TV Azteca anchorman Ramon Fregoso said he had spoken to Gil Fernandez after the assault. ``Gil has just told me he got two bullets.... It was not a robbery; it was not an accident; they (the assailants) came for them,'' he said. Earlier Gertz told TV Azteca, which interrupted normal programming to report the murder: ``We are all outraged, this is intolerable.'' He described the murder as ``an act of inconceivable evil.'' The killing sent shock waves through a capital plagued by violent crime that city authorities, and their deeply corrupt police force, seem helpless to stop. ``What is happening to our city? After this, what next?'' said Rosa Maria de Castro, one of Azteca's top news anchors, her voice breaking. Crime soared after the 1994-95 peso crisis which put a million Mexicans out of work and plunged the country into recession. Other high profile crime victims include the driver of Vicente Fox, a leading opposition candidate for president next year, who was shot in the chest in a Mexico City bank Friday. Earlier this year the brother of Interior Minister Francisco Labastida escaped a violent kidnap attempt in northern Sinaloa state. In March last year U.S. boxing promoter Don King was held up and robbed of a $100,000 Rolex watch. Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-06.09.99-23:24:10-11185