
Mexico extradites notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero and 28 other fugitive cartel members to the US
CNN
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.
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. Caro Quintero, considered by Mexican authorities to be the founder of the Guadalajara cartel, was allegedly involved in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar in 1985. The DEA says Salazar’s 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.