Mexico extradites notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, other cartel leaders to US

WASHINGTON - Mexico has sent dozens of high-level cartel leaders and members to the U.S., including Rafael Caro Quintero, a notorious drug lord behind the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985.

The extraditions were done at the request of the U.S. government as President Donald Trump’s threat of imposing 25% tariffs on all Mexican imports looms. One of Trump’s demands is for Mexico to crack down on dangerous cartels and fentanyl production and distribution.

Here’s what to know:

Rafael Caro Quintero, other cartel leaders extradited

The backstory:

Caro Quintero received a 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of Camarena, but he walked free in 2013 after 28 years in prison when a court overturned it. 

Caro Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, had since returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles in the northern Mexico border state of Sonora until he was arrested by Mexican forces in 2022.

In January, a nonprofit group representing the Camarena family sent a letter to the White House urging the Trump administration to renew longstanding U.S. requests for Mexico to extradite Caro Quintero, according to a copy of the letter provided to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the family’s outreach.

"His return to the U.S. would give the family much-needed closure and serve the best interests of justice," the letter states.

Pressure increased after Trump threatened imposing stiff trade tariffs on Mexico and designated several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, according to a person on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy that went into Caro Quintero’s removal.

The acting head of the U.S. DEA, Derek Maltz, provided the White House with a list of nearly 30 Mexican targets wanted in the U.S. on criminal charges, according to the person. Caro Quintero, for whose arrest the U.S. had offered a $20 million reward, was number one on that list, according to the person.

"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," Maltz said Thursday.

Dig deeper:

The person said President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government, in a rush to seek favor with the Trump administration and show itself a strong ally in the fight against the cartels, bypassed the formalities of the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty to remove Caro Quintero and the other defendants.

That means it could potentially allow prosecutors in the U.S. to try him for Camarena’s murder — something not contemplated in the existing extradition request to face separate drug trafficking charges in a Brooklyn federal court.

"If he’s being sent to the U.S. outside of a formal extradition, and if Mexico didn’t place any restrictions, then he can be prosecuted for whatever the U.S. wants," according to Bonnie Klapper, a former federal narcotics prosecutor in Brooklyn who is familiar with the case.

The U.S. had sought the extradition of Caro Quintero shortly after his arrest in 2022. But the request remained stuck at Mexico's foreign ministry for unknown reasons as Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, severely curtailed Mexican cooperation with DEA to protest undercover U.S. law enforcement operations in Mexico targeting senior political and military officials.

What we know:

Those sent to the U.S. were brought from prisons across Mexico to board planes at an airport north of Mexico City that took them to eight U.S. cities, according to the Mexican government.

Among the 28 other drug cartel figures were members of five of the six Mexican organized crime groups designated earlier this month by the Trump's administration as "foreign terrorist organizations."

Besides Caro Quintero were cartel leaders, security chiefs from both factions of the Sinaloa cartel, cartel finance operatives and a man wanted in connection with the killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy in 2022.

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, a former leader of the Juarez drug cartel, based in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, and brother of drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as "The Lord of The Skies," who died in a botched plastic surgery in 1997, was among those turned over to the U.S.

According to prosecutors in both countries, the prisoners sent to the U.S. on Thursday faced charges related to drug trafficking and, in some cases, homicide among other crimes.

What they're saying:

"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," U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.