Mexico extradites 29 cartel figures to the U.S., including Rafael Caro Quintero

The Mexican government has extradited 29 high-ranking cartel figures to the U.S., including Rafael Caro Quintero, who is accused of orchestrating the 1985 murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent.

The mass extradition, which may be the largest single transfer of drug war-related convicts in Mexico’s history, according to archival records, was carried out as part of “bilateral coordination, cooperation, and reciprocity” between the two nations, the Mexican government stated.

The announcement came just before a meeting in Washington D.C. between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente.

The 29 defendants arrived by plane in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New York, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Washington. They face charges in U.S. districts related to racketeering, drug trafficking, murder, illegal firearms possession, money laundering, and other crimes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The list includes leaders and high-ranking members of drug cartels recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) by the Trump administration.

These groups include the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and the Cártel del Golfo (Gulf Cartel). It also includes leaders of the Juárez and Beltrán Leyva cartels, which have not been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.

“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 said in a statement.

Many of the defendants had been subject to longstanding U.S. extradition requests that went unfulfilled during the previous administration, according to the DOJ. However, the Mexican government moved forward with the transfers following the designation of these cartels as terrorist organizations.

Federal prosecutors will assess whether additional charges related to terrorism and violence are warranted and whether capital punishment is applicable.

Among those extradited is Rafael Caro Quintero, 72, who is accused of orchestrating the 1985 torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. He is also considered one of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, the first major Mexican drug cartel, which emerged in the 1970s. He could face the death penalty or life-imprisonment.

“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,” said DEA Acting Administrator Derek S. Maltz. “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.”

Other notable defendants who could face the death penalty include:

• Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, El Viceroy, led the Juárez Cartel after his brother, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, allegedly died following a botched plastic surgery in 1997. He is charged in the Western District of Texas with continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, money laundering, witness tampering, ordering the intentional killing of individuals to prevent them from communicating with U.S. law enforcement, and murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise.
• José Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernández, El Gato, held a leadership position in the Beltrán Leyva Cartel and is accused of orchestrating a murder plot in Southlake, Texas, in 2013. He faces charges of interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
• Andrew Clark, El Dictador, a Canadian citizen, was linked to Canadian Olympic snowboarder and fugitive Ryan Wedding. Clark served as a logistical liaison for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Pacific Cartel. He was extradited on charges of drug trafficking and homicide.
• Luis Gerardo Méndez Estevane, El Tío, was a member of Los Aztecas, the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel, and one of the founders of the breakaway group La Empresa. He is accused of involvement in the March 13, 2010, killings of three individuals associated with the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, as well as the massacre of 15 teenagers at a party in the same city.
• Alder Martin Sotelo is alleged to have participated in the 2022 murder of Deputy Sheriff Ned Byrd. He could face the death penalty in North Carolina for the crime.

Other notable defendants extradited to the U.S., and who could face life in prison, include:

• Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, Tony Montana, who is reportedly the brother of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho, leader of the CJNG cartel.
• José Alberto García Vilano, La Kena, leader of the Los Ciclones group within the Gulf Cartel (CDG). He is accused of orchestrating the 2023 kidnapping and murder of two U.S. citizens and the rescue of two others in Matamoros.
• Miguel Treviño Morales, Z-40, one of the top leaders of the Zetas Cartel. Mexican authorities believe he was responsible for the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants and the 2011 killings of 193 people, as well as the extreme violence that plagued Mexico in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Advertisment14
• Omar Treviño Morales, Z-42, brother of Z-40, who took over the leadership of Los Zetas.
• Ramiro Pérez Moreno, El Rama, and Lucio Hernández Lechuga, Z-100, both alleged high-ranking members of Los Zetas.
• Jesús Alberto Galaviz Vega, Z-13 and El Pinky, a leader of the Los Zetas Cartel, allegedly linked to more than 50 attacks on Mexican police officers.
• Carlos Alberto Monsiváis Treviño, La Bola, leader of the Cartel del Noreste following the split from Los Zetas. He is believed to be one of the masterminds behind a video dismissing Los Zetas’ alleged financing of former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s 2006 campaign.
• José Ángel Canobbio Inzunza, El Güerito and El 90, the second-in-command of Los Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel linked to the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, ‘El Chapo.’
• Evaristo Cruz Sánchez, El Vaquero, a regional leader of the Gulf Cartel, who was facing charges in Mexico for kidnapping, extortion, and organized crime.
• José Jesús Méndez Vargas, El Chango, one of the founders of La Familia Michoacana, a cartel that emphasized religion and whose leaders referred to their assassinations and beheadings as “divine justice.”

“Today’s actions are a consequence of a White House that negotiates from a position of strength, and an Attorney General who is willing to lead the Department with courage and ferocity,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.

“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,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “We will not rest until we secure justice for the American people.”