Forty years after the kidnapping, torture, and brutal murder of DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, one of the men responsible for his death finally did a perp walk as he got out of a plane into the waiting hands of U.S. agents. The criminal spent decades in Mexico under the protection of top government officials.
Rafael “El Rafa” Caro Quintero, one of the leaders of the Guadalajara Cartel and alleged masterminds behind the murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, arrived in New York on Thursday night as part of a group of 28 top drug lords and one murder suspect wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice. Mexican authorities extradited the group on the same day that their security cabinet was set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his staff. The meeting comes as the Trump Administration has publicly called Mexico a Narco-State and has threatened them with tariffs, sanctions, and other punitive measures.
At the time of the perp walk, federal agents used Camarena’s handcuffs that his family provided.
As Breitbart Texas reported, Caro Quintero spent 28 years in a Mexican prison for his role in the Camarena murder. In 2013, under a suspicious ruling by a judge in Mexico, authorities released him even though he had been sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. The release took place over a weekend, and by the time U.S. authorities were notified of the ruling and tried to have him extradited, Caro Quintero was gone. After initially denying it, Caro Quintero went back into the cartel life. Due to the widespread corruption within Mexico’s government, Caro Quintero operated with almost complete impunity for several years while living in Western Mexico, particularly Sonora, Durango, and Sinaloa.
Breitbart Texas reported that he established his own criminal organization called the Caborca Cartel. After initially trying to work with the Sinaloa Cartel but having issues with the Chapitos, Caro Quintero sided with the La Linea faction of the Juarez Cartel and, for a short time, had various turf wars for control of two Sonoran corridors into Arizona.
In 2018, the FBI added Caro Quintero to their most wanted list and offered a $20 million reward for his capture.
FBI Most-Wanted List
It wasn’t until 2022 that Mexico’s government rearrested Caro Quintero; however, after his arrest, the drug lord managed to tie down the extradition process with legal maneuvers and also the help of various Mexican politicians.
One of the politicians linked to Caro Quintero and allegedly tied to Camarena’s murder is Manuel Bartlett Diaz, who most recently served as the director of Mexico’s Federal Electric Commission and was a close ally of former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Bartlett was the Secretary of the Interior from 1982 to 1988 and was one of the alleged links between the Guadalajara Cartel and Mexico’s government.
“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a written statement. “We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels. We will not rest until we secure justice for the American people.”
“The FBI and our partners will scour the ends of the earth to bring terrorists and cartel members to justice,” FBI Director Kash Patel added. “The era of harming Americans and walking free is over.”
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with the Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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