Man held in pivotal '95 Hub slaying

A 28-year-old man sought by police for 12 years was arrested yesterday in the stabbing death of Robert "Bobby" Mendes, a killing that triggered a decade of violence in Boston's Cape Verdean community and prompted the emergence of Mendes's mother as one of the city's most prominent anticrime activists.

Isaura Mendes , who last year also lost her youngest son, Alex, to Boston's street violence, collapsed in tears in front of her home after learning of the arrest.

Relatives and friends held her, chanted with her, and gently lifted her off the sidewalk.

"I don't hate anyone," Mendes said. "I just want them to change -- to stop killing each other. . . . Each of our children is beautiful. I don't know why they're dying. I'm working for peace."

Authorities arrested Arnaldo "Nardo" Lopes shortly after 2:30 p.m. when an American Airlines flight from Miami landed at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport .

Federal marshals, Boston police, and Maryland authorities handcuffed Lopes, who had been vacationing in Jamaica.

A 1996 warrant charged him with unlawful flight.

Lopes also faces second-degree murder charges, police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

Police identified Lopes as a suspect shortly after Mendes, his 23-year-old cousin, was stabbed in the chest on Oct. 10, 1995, after an argument at Wendover and Humphreys streets.

At a news conference at police headquarters last evening, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, joined by the Boston heads of the FBI and US Drug Enforcement Administration, said Lopes had fled the area and assumed the name "Michael Eric Hernandez" to evade authorities.

Police credited cooperation among local, state, and federal agencies, plus persistence by homicide detectives, for the arrest.

"The efforts of the detectives and agents involved in this case left no stone unturned in their quest for Bobby's killers," Davis said.

"This investigation led authorities from Boston to Cape Verde to Baltimore to Montego Bay and dozens of places in between," he added. "Those tenacious efforts paid off today. Let the message be clear: The men and women of this police department are dogged in their efforts to bring those who commit violence in our streets to justice."

A police source with direct knowledge of the investigation said authorities have been on Lopes's trail for weeks, but it wasn't until yesterday that they received the tip that led them to him.

Lopes has been living in the United States recently, perhaps in the Baltimore area, and was vacationing in Jamaica, the source said.

When arrested, the suspected denied he was Arnaldo Lopes and said he had no knowledge of the Mendes killing, police said.

Davis said authorities didn't know they had the right man until they fingerprinted Lopes after the arrest.

In a statement, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said: "Today's arrest is an example of good police work. The commitment and dedication of Boston police detectives will hopefully bring some peace to Bobby's mother."

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the perseverance shown by Isaura Mendes despite her horrible losses inspired detectives not to lose hope.

"She's lost so much and yet she has much to give to others as she grieves," Conley said. "It was for her and her family that law enforcement never stopped looking for her son's killer."

Davis also offered his condolences to Isaura Mendes, who has organized peace marches and has grown close to city and police officials over the years through her work on violence prevention programs.

The commissioner said he and Menino visited Mendes at her Dorchester home yesterday before announcing the arrest.

" It was quite an emotional experience," Davis said. "She was very relieved and grateful but obviously still hurting over the loss of two of her sons."

Police said the death of Bobby Mendes unleashed a wave of revenge killings in the Cape Verdean community.

Last May that included Bobby Mendes's brother, Alex , who at age 24 was shot to death not far from where his brother was killed.

That crime remains unsolved.

State Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester was among the scores of well-wishers who came to hug Isaura Mendes and other relatives.

The two locked in a tight embrace for several minutes, rocking back and forth, as Mendes said: "People calling me from all over. I don't have to worry. God is here. "

She also said she did not want revenge.

As relatives helped Mendes up the steps to her front porch, St. Fleur said, "This family has waited a long time for justice. This is really about her tenacity and faith that this day would come."

Fighting back tears, Stephanie Rosa , Isaura Mendes's niece, said, "We're just relieved. It's like a load lifted off all of us."

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com, and Suzanne Smalley at ssmalley@globe.com.

(Correction: Because of incorrect information provided by the Suffolk district attorney's office, a Page One story yesterday about an arrest in the 1995 slaying of Robert "Bobby" Mendes incorrectly listed the agencies involved in arresting the suspect in Baltimore. FBI agents, Boston police, and Maryland authorities apprehended Arnaldo Lopes.)