José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, the brother-in-law of then-President of Mexico Carlos Salinas, was due to become the PRI majority leader in the Chamber of Deputies.
That changed on the morning of September 28, 1994, when he was murdered by a gunman, 28-year-old Daniel Aguilar Treviño, just outside Hotel Casa Blanca, located at Lafragua street crossing Paseo de la Reforma, an avenue in the center of Mexico City.
The incident occurred while Ruiz Massieu was boarding his vehicle after attending a PRI party meeting held at Casa Blanca.
[citation needed] Muñoz Rocha, who disappeared just days after the murder, made a phone call to a Mexico City television station saying that he was willing to come forward and give his side of the story to PGR authorities if his request for protection was met.
In October 2017, a judge in Mexico City decided to reduce Aguilar Treviño’s sentence from the original 50 years down to 42, now set to be released in 2036.
[citation needed] Three days later, Mario Ruiz Massieu was arrested in Newark, United States, boarding a plane to Madrid while carrying US$46,000 (equivalent to $95,000 in 2024) in unreported cash.