FBI to Investigate U. S. Man’s Death in Mexican Jail : North Hollywood: The family of Mario Amado says he did not hang himself but was beaten to death. They agree to let his body be exhumed.

The FBI has been assigned to investigate the death of a North Hollywood man in a Mexican jail, the Justice Department said Monday, even as the dead man’s family grudgingly agreed to allow the Mexican government to have his body exhumed from a California grave.

Although details of the inquiry are unclear, the Justice Department in Washington has requested FBI agents in Los Angeles to interview Los Angeles-based witnesses and gather other information on the death of Mario Amado in Baja California, said FBI spokesman John Hoos.

“It’s been assigned, it will be done and the results will be forwarded to Washington,” Hoos said.

At least six people have been subpoenaed to give depositions in Los Angeles, according to Joseph Amado Jr., who has insisted that his brother did not hang himself in a cell, as Mexican authorities contend, but was killed.

On Monday, Amado, 50, of Van Nuys, gave a deposition before an assistant U.S. attorney regarding the events surrounding his brother’s death. He also was ordered to provide U.S. authorities with the sweater Amado allegedly used to hang himself, as well as any photographs and documents he has received from Mexico regarding his brother’s death.

Mario Amado, 29, died June 6 in a jail in the beach town of Rosarito, south of Tijuana, shortly after police arrested him on grounds of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Mexican officials said Amado hanged himself with his sweater from the bars of his prison cell window, but Amado’s family has amassed medical evidence indicating that he may have been beaten to death.

Joseph Amado, who said his subpoena was personally delivered by an FBI agent, said he was questioned for more than four hours in the presence of an FBI agent and four persons introduced to him as Mexican government officials, including a representative of the Mexican attorney general’s office.

“It shows the Mexican government is finally starting to realize a murder was committed,” Amado said after the interview.

He said he and two others--his girlfriend and his brother’s girlfriend--were subpoenaed because they were with Amado in Rosarito.

FBI agents and Justice Department officials would not comment on who else has been subpoenaed in the case.

In a letter to U.S. Rep. Howard L. Berman late last week, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico John D. Negroponte said it was the Mexican attorney general who initially asked for the sworn statements by potential witnesses, and for the sweater.

Berman, (D-Panorama City), has personally written Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, urging him to ensure that justice is done in the case. Berman, who represents the area where Amado lived, has said he believes Mexican authorities are trying to whitewash Amado’s death and hinder any real investigation.

Although Joseph Amado’s subpoena indicated he was being interviewed “for the purpose of rendering assistance to Mexico,” FBI officials said they were conducting their investigation under orders from Washington.

“The request came from the U.S. Justice Department; that’s why we’re doing it, not because the Mexican government asked us to,” said FBI spokesman Hoos. Hoos said he did not know, however, how much the Justice Department was cooperating with the Mexican government.

Joseph Krovisky, a Justice Department spokesman in Washington, said he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any criminal investigation, nor whether it was independent or in cooperation with Mexican officials.

Carole Lovitzky, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said it is possible for the United States to investigate and prosecute alleged wrongdoing that occurred in another country, but usually only in cooperation with local authorities.

Amado’s family and Berman’s office said they were heartened that the FBI had become involved. “I’m glad they’re doing this,” said Rose Castaneda, administrative assistant to Berman. “We’ve wanted the FBI to get involved so the U.S. government can monitor this case and follow it through.”

Mexican authorities still officially contend that Amado committed suicide. But in his letter to Berman, Negroponte noted that the Mexican government wants to exhume Amado’s body to look at the marks on his neck and “to clarify the inconsistencies” between medical examiners in the two countries.

Amado’s family has preferred that the Mexican government accept the findings of American pathologists who ruled out suicide, and only recently agreed to allow his remains to be exhumed from a grave in Corcoran, in Kings County. No date has been set.

Joseph Amado said he suspected the Mexican government wants to exhume the body only to bolster its previous findings of suicide, but said his family would remain vigilant that a thorough investigation is conducted. “We aren’t going to let them outsmart us,” he said.