Mexico has extradited notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero and 28 other fugitive cartel members to the United States, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). He is accused of kidnapping and conspiring to murder a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent in 1985.
Caro Quintero, who is considered by Mexican authorities to be the founder of the Guadalajara cartel, was allegedly involved in the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar in 1985.
The DEA says that his murder was in retaliation for a raid in 1984 of Caro Quintero’s 2,500-acre marijuana farm by Mexican authorities.
Caro Quintero spent 28 years in prison in Mexico for his role in the murder before he was released on a technicality in 2013. The Mexican Supreme Court later overturned the decision that freed him.
The fugitive returned to drug trafficking as a senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, according to the FBI.
In July 2022 Caro Quintero was captured by the Mexican Navy in an operation that ended with 14 Marines dying in a Black Hawk helicopter crash. He was caught after a navy dog found him hiding in the bushes.
“Caro Quintero, a cartel kingpin who unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the United States and Mexico, has spent four decades atop DEA’s most wanted fugitives list, and today we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States where justice will be served,” DEA Acting Administrator Derek S. Maltz said Thursday.
“This moment is extremely personal for the men and women of DEA who believe Caro Quintero is responsible for the brutal torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena. It is also a victory for the Camarena family. Today sends a message to every cartel leader, every trafficker, every criminal poisoning our communities: You will be held accountable. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far you run, justice will find you,” Maltz added.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection said 29 people who were held in different correctional facilities across the country were transferred to the US.
They were wanted for their connections to criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, among other crimes.
The US Department of Justice said that those taken into custody Thursday include “leaders and managers of drug cartels recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel).”
“These defendants are collectively alleged to have been responsible for the importation into the United States of massive quantities of poison, including cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin, as well as associated acts of violence,” the DOJ statement added.