Mat Perez
While special agent in charge of the FBI in El Paso, Mat Perez directed the U.S. involvement in the attack against Acosta, who was hiding out in a remote Rio Grande village across from Big Bend National Park. With a U.S. army helicopter full of FBI agents, Perez escorted the Mexican assault force from El Paso to the Rio Grande village 300 miles away.
FBI agent Mat Perez (far left) led the American contingent of the assault team that raided Pablo Acosta’s final hideout. Here he poses with other FBI agent in front of the U.S. Army helicopter that was used in the operation.
The attack of the Mexican federal police from the American side of the river took Acosta and his gunmen by surprise. Acosta was killed after an hour-long gun battle that reminded some of the FBI agents, many of them Vietnam veterans, of their combat experiences.