By Hannah Rabinowitz, Polo Sandoval, Jennifer Hauser, Mark Morales and Maria Santana, CNN
This image from 2016, released by the FBI, shows the wanted poster for Rafael Caro Quintero. Photo: AP via CNN Newsource
Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero appeared before a judge in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon, pleading not guilty to charges related to his involvement in the decades-old killing of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
Caro Quintero, 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 "Kiki" Camarena Salazar in 1985 - an attack dramatized in the Netflix show Narcos.
The charges against Caro Quintero include leading a continuing criminal enterprise (which involves 10 violations, including murder conspiracy), two counts of international narcotics distribution conspiracy, and one count of unlawful use of firearms in connection with drug trafficking activities.
His defense attorney, Michael Vitaliano, told the court his client has a heart condition and needs medication.
Caro Quintero was one of several Mexican drug lords transferred to the US Thursday.
He is now in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center, known for its high-profile inmates like Sean "Diddy" Combs and Ghislaine Maxwell. He was expelled from Mexico and arrived in the US on a military plane late Thursday evening, according to prosecutors.
His transfer is "a historic moment" for law enforcement and his arrest "demonstrated you can never kill a DEA agent and you will never get away with it. We will never allow that to happen and we will never forget," said John Durham, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
The FBI's 'wanted' poster for Rafael Caro-Quintero. Photo: AP via CNN Newsource
"After 40 years, the man who murdered DEA agent Enrique Camarena is finally here to face justice in the United States," said Assistant US Attorney Saritha Komatireddy in court Friday.
Frank Tarentino, the special agent in charge of the DEA's New York division, said he spoke with Camarena's son, Enrique Camarena Jr., who is now a judge in San Diego. "He was very grateful, very appreciative, relieved, in some sense, that justice has been served and will continue to be served as this process unfolds," Tarentino said after the hearing. "His family is keenly aware of these proceedings, and as this case moves forward, we'll keep them apprised of what's happening."
Caro Quintana spent the last decade hiding in the jungles of Sinaloa "hoping we would forget," Komatireddy said, adding that the drug kingpin could face the death penalty.
He is expected to return to court on March 26.
Judge Robert M. Levy clarified in court that Caro Quintero was expelled from Mexico under a provision within the national security law, which permits the Mexican government to remove an individual without undergoing the formal extradition process.
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 during an operation that resulted in the deaths of 14 Marines in a helicopter crash. He was caught after a navy dog found him hiding in bushes.
"President Trump directed the Department of Justice and the Department of State to make this happen, and Attorney General [Pam] Bondi and Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio did a tremendous job in getting this done," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Friday, describing Caro Quintero as "one of the most evil cartel bosses in the world."
The Trump administration is declaring the transferred individuals as "terrorists," Leavitt 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.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, former leader of the Juarez Cartel, was arraigned Friday alongside Caro Quintero in federal court, where he entered a not guilty plea to charges encompassing murder conspiracy, cocaine distribution, and money laundering.
They were wanted for their alleged 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)."
The DOJ said they included Martin Sotelo - also known as Alder Marin-Sotelo - who allegedly participated in the 2022 murder of Deputy Sheriff Ned Byrd in Charlotte, North Carolina; Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, who allegedly helped lead CJNG; and two alleged high-ranking members of Los Zetas, Ramiro Perez Moreno and Lucio Hernandez Lechuga.
"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.
Bondi said the alleged cartel members would be prosecuted "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."
"As President (Donald) Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs," she said.
Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove said the transfers were "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."
CNN's Fidel Gutierrez contributed this report. Previous reporting by Tara Subramaniam, Karol Suarez and Rey Rodriguez.
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