Ariel Rios (April 5, 1954 – December 2, 1982) was an

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

special agent for the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), killed in the line of duty. He was a member of the Presidential anti-drug task force in South Florida.

Biography

Ariel Rios was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to Puerto Rican parents. He graduated from William Howard Taft High School in February 1972, and immediately enrolled in

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and received his B.S. in Criminal Justice in 1976. He married his high school sweetheart, Elsie Morales, immediately upon graduation. Rios started working as a guard with the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and

New York City Department of Corrections The New York City Department of Correction (NYCDOC) is the branch of the municipal government of New York City responsible for the custody, control, and care of New York City's imprisoned population, housing the majority of them on Rikers Island ...

; he worked his way up to the Internal Affairs Unit. He then joined the ATF and took the oath of office on December 3, 1978. He completed his formal training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in

Glynco, Georgia Glynco is an area in Glynn County, Georgia located on the northwestern edge of Brunswick, Georgia. Glynco is a portmanteau of the words "Glynn County". History In 1942 the Naval Air Station Glynco was established on the area now known as Glynco. ...

, in 1979. After training, he was assigned to the New Haven office on June 3, 1979.

Undercover operation

On December 2, 1982, as part of the Presidential anti-drug task force in South Florida, Special Agent Rios and his partner, Alexander D'Atri, were sent into a "buy and bust" undercover operation to negotiate a large cocaine deal from suspected drug traffickers. The meeting took place at the Hurricane Motel on West Flagler Street, Miami. The operation was going well until one of the suspects, standing by the window, noticed other agents closing in. When he pulled a gun, Rios moved forward in an attempt to disarm the man and save his fellow agents. While struggling with the drug dealer, he was shot in the face and died on the scene; his partner was seriously wounded. Rios was survived by his wife and two children. He was buried in

Jayuya Jayuya (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the mountainous center region of the island, north of Ponce; east of Utuado; and west of Ciales. Jayuya is spread over 10 barrios and Jayuya Pueblo (the downtown and administra ...

, Puerto Rico. Citizens of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

donated $23,000 to the Ariel Rios Memorial Fund. President Ronald Reagan invited the Rios and D'Atri families to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

for a special tribute. The Secretary of the Treasury presented medals to Elsie Rios and Alexander D'Atri.

Court sentencing

On April 20, 1983, the district court sentenced Augustin D. Alvarez and Mario C. Simon to life plus 50 years in federal prison, for the first-degree murder of the federal agent Ariel Rios and assault against federal officer Alexander D'Atri, cocaine conspiracy and distribution of cocaine, and using of a firearm during the commission of a felony; Oscar Hernandez to 30 years in prison; Victoriano Concepcion to 25 years in prison; and Eduardo Portal to 22 years in prison. Two other men were sentenced for lesser charges.

Legacy

On February 5, 1985, the block-long federal building at 1200

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4 ...

, that used to house the ATF Headquarters was renamed the

Ariel Rios Federal Building The Ariel Rios Federal Building in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, DC, is the headquarters of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) at 99 New York Avenue, NE. The building was completed in 2008, and in ...

in his honor. It now houses the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

headquarters. In May 2013, the building was renamed the

William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building is a complex of several historic buildings located in the Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C., across 12th Street, NW from the Old Post Office. The complex now houses the headquarters of the Enviro ...

for former President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters is now located at 99 New York Avenue NE in Washington, DC. In 2013, the ATF honored the memory of Special Agent Ariel Rios by naming the reflecting pool the Ariel Rios Reflecting Pool in accordance with the wishes of the family. In December 2016, this ATF Headquarters building was renamed the

in his honor. In 2003, a stretch of 49th Avenue from Flagler Street to 8th Street SW was renamed Special Agent Ariel Rios Ave. (M Res. 02-633) by the City of Miami.

References

;Sources *''Very Special Agents'', by James Moore (retired ATF agent) University of Illinois Press 2001 *''Forgotten Heroes'', by William Wilbanks. Published by Turner Publishing Company, 1997
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. - 755 F.2d 830
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Ariel 1954 births 1982 deaths People from New Haven, Connecticut American murder victims ATF agents People murdered in Florida Male murder victims John Jay College of Criminal Justice alumni Deaths by firearm in Florida American people of Puerto Rican descent