Caro Quintero and “Viceroy” plead “Not Guilty”
New York, US, Feb 28 (EFE). –
The co-founder and leader of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel, Rafael Caro Quintero (RCQ), along with former Juarez Cartel leader Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, known as “El Viceroy,” pleaded not guilty on Friday in federal court in the Eastern District of New York ahead of trials that could carry the death penalty.
Both Mafia leaders face charges of membership in a criminal organization and distribution of cocaine into the US. RCQ also faces weapons and murder charges.
El Viceroy’s brief appearance came minutes before that of the Guadalajara cartel co-founder, both of whom were among 29 prominent drug traffickers sent to the United States from Mexico on Thursday.
“For decades, Rafael Caro Quintero and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes have flooded the United States and other countries with drugs, violence, and mayhem, killing so many in their quest for power and control, including, in RCQ’s case, the brutal torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Camarena,” said US Attorney Durham.
Caro Quintero and “El Viceroy” arrived on Thursday as part of an operation that the US Departments of Justice and State and the Mexican Attorney General’s Office defined as an “expulsion” rather than extradition, which opens the door to the death penalty.
The US Department of Justice has already stated that the kingpins could face the death penalty because it considers the epidemic of overdose deaths, especially from fentanyl, to be an act of terrorism by cartel leaders.
Thursday’s expulsion of drug criminals to the US comes after the Trump administration designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and continued to threaten to raise tariffs on Mexico.
Rafael Caro Quintero
RCQ, 72, leader of the powerful Guadalajara cartel in the 1970s and early 1980s, is charged with the 1985 murders of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala.
The former drug lord was arrested in Costa Rica in 1985 but was released in 2013 due to a procedural error.
The decision was overturned two years later. He was arrested again in Sinaloa in 2022 after clashes with authorities that resulted in the deaths of 14 Mexican Navy agents.
He was one of the DEA’s most coveted targets, offering $20 million for his capture.
“After 40 years, the man who murdered Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena is here to face justice,” said prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy in court.
“This man is responsible for the death of many Americans. He and his partners are pioneers in the Mexican drug trafficking industry,” she added.
The RQC hearing was very brief, barely 15 minutes, during which the drug trafficker did not invoke his right to remain silent and answered “yes, sir” to all of the judge’s questions under the watchful eyes of a room full of DEA agents.
Immediately following the hearing, the former drug lord was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
RCQ will return to federal court in the Eastern District of New York on Mar. 26 for his preliminary hearing before going to trial. He also has open cases in California and Texas.
El Viceroy
Carrillo Fuentes, who also pleaded not guilty, was first charged in 2009 in the Eastern District of New York, with a superseding indictment filed in 2019.
El Viceroy’ was the heir to one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the late 1990s due to his ties to Colombian cartels.
He assumed leadership of the Juarez cartel after the death of his older brother, Amado Carrillo, “The Lord of the Skies,” following complications from plastic surgery.
El Viceroy’ had links to the Sinaloa Cartel, but this came to an end in 2004 after a family conflict between Carrillo and Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, which marked the beginning of a war between the two organizations that left dozens dead, mainly in Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
While the Juarez Cartel was allied with the Sinaloa Cartel, the two organizations worked together, partnering on drug shipments and sharing infrastructure as they trafficked tons of cocaine into the United States.
Carrillo’spreliminary hearing for the trial of the former leader of the Juarez cartel is scheduled for Mar. 25. EFE
gac/mcd
