By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Alleged drug cartel boss Rafael Caro Quintero, who spent decades in prison in Mexico for the murder of a U.S. drug enforcement agent, pleaded not guilty in a U.S. court on Friday to drug trafficking charges that could result in his execution.
Caro Quintero spent 28 years in prison in Mexico after being convicted of the 1985 murder of former DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, one of the most notorious killings in Mexico’s narco wars. He was expelled from Mexico on Thursday as part of the biggest handover of suspected cartel members in years.
The violent story of the capo and murdered DEA agent featured prominently in Netflix’s 2018 “Narcos Mexico” series.
“We have waited 40 years for this day,” Frank Tarantino, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New York division, told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. “If you come after us, if you hurt one of us, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome, there is no border we cannot cross.”
Caro Quintero spent 28 years in prison in Mexico over Camarena’s murder. He denies involvement and was released in 2013 on a technicality, but was recaptured by Mexican authorities in 2022. He was indicted in absentia in 2020 in Brooklyn on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Caro Quintero, 72, landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Thursday night. On Friday, he appeared in a large ceremonial courtroom packed with more than 100 DEA agents and was led toward the defense table by U.S. marshals, his wrists shackled with the same handcuffs Camarena once carried.
His lawyer, Michael Vitaliano, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy ordered him detained pending trial.
Mexico’s surprise handover on Thursday of 29 alleged kingpins came amid President Donald Trump’s threats to order 25% tariffs on Mexican goods starting on March 4 over slow progress on stemming fentanyl as well as U.S.-bound migrant flows.
Lawyers for many of the defendants accuse the Mexican government of violating their rights with the forced U.S. transfer, since Mexican law mandates that its citizens can only be extradited to face charges in another country if they can be guaranteed not to face the death penalty.
Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz on Friday said the transfer was legal under Mexico’s national security law. He said Mexico’s prohibition on the death penalty should be respected by other countries.
Questions over the legality of Mexico’s transfer will not affect Caro Quintero’s case in the United States, legal experts said, due to a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case finding a Mexican national who was kidnapped and brought north could stand trial even though the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty was not followed.
Thursday’s mass transfer featured mostly aging gang leaders such as Caro Quintero, co-founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, who reigned over Mexico’s criminal underworld decades ago.
Some of those handed over were younger suspected cartel members allegedly responsible for deadly shipments of fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid that has caused nearly half a million U.S. overdose deaths the past decade.
Some other drug lords likely continued to run criminal rackets from behind bars, according to security analysts, but Mexico’s volatile gangland leadership has mostly moved on.
DRUG TRAFFICKING ‘PIONEER’
Caro Quintero walked slowly toward the defense table, sporting thick white hair and wearing a blue shirt over an orange undershirt tucked into beige pants, spoke with his lawyer, Michael Vitaliano, and a Spanish interpreter for several minutes before the proceedings began.
“Buenas tardes, senor, good afternoon,” Levy said in both English and Spanish after the case was called.
“Buenas tardes,” Caro Quintero replied.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Saritha Komatireddy said Caro Quintero was responsible both for “gruesome murders” and for the indirect deaths of Americans who used drugs.
“He and his partners pioneered the Mexican drug trafficking industry,” Komatireddy said in urging Levy to order Caro Quintero detained.
The White House called Caro Quintero “one of the most evil cartel bosses” on Friday. The statement cited an order issued last month by Trump labeling several Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, accused by prosecutors of being a one-time Juarez Cartel boss, was also among the group expelled to the U.S. Like Caro Quintero, he also entered a not guilty plea.
Kenneth Montgomery, a lawyer for Carrillo Fuentes, said he disputed the idea his client was “solely responsible” for drug-related deaths.
Montgomery said the fact that Carrillo Fuentes was expelled, rather than extradited, “exposes him to penalties that are quite serious,” and then referenced his experience handling death penalty cases.
Carrillo Fuentes and Caro Quintero are due back in court on March 25 and March 26, respectively.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Alistair Bell, David Gregorio, Christian Plumb, Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)
