Who are Rafael Caro Quintero and another 28 alleged criminals extradited to the United States from Mexico?

CNN
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Mexico has extradited 29 alleged criminals to the United States, including the so -called “Narcos de Narcos” Rafael Caro Quintero, many accused of murder and several alleged posters now designated as foreign terrorist organizations.

The accused men were taken from prisons and prisons around Mexico on February 27 and flew to the United States to face a variety of positions in court, according to the United States Department of Justice. Analysts told CNN in Spanish that this is likely The largest individual extradition of its kind in the history of relations between the United States and Mexico.

This is what you need to know about extradited men and accusations were leveled against them.

Caro Quintero is the individual more high profile among the extradited 29. Known as the “Narcos de Narcos” and persecuted by the United States for 40 years, it is alleged that the former leader of the now missing cartel of Guadalajara was one of those responsible for the 1985 murder of the Agent of the DEA, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and others. When news was learned from his extradition on February 27, the DEA’s office in Los Angeles tweeted A portrait From Camarena with the legend “served justice!”

Caro Quintero He appeared before a judge in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon, declaring himself innocent of the positions related to the murder of decades of an agent of the drug control administration and other drugs related to drugs.

Caro Quintero has already spent 28 years In prison In Mexico for his supposed role in Camarena’s murder before being released in a TEchenicality in 2013. That year, the Mexican Supreme Court overturned The decision that released him.

According to the FBI, added to the 10 most wanted FBI fugitives in 2018, Caro Quintero returned to drug trafficking as the main leader of the Sinaloa cartel. The Sinaloa cartel is now considered a terrorist organization for the United States.

In July 2022, Caro Quintero was captured by the Mexican Navy during an operation in which an Navy dog ​​found him hidden among some bushes.

“Caro Quintero, a poster capo that unleashed the violence, destruction and death of the United States and Mexico, has spent four decades on the list of most wanted fugitives in the DEA, and today we can proudly say that it has arrived in the United States where justice will be served,” said Derek S. Maltz on February 27 in a press release on February 27.

Judge Robert M. Levy clarified in the Court that Caro Quintero was expelled from Mexico under a provision within the National Security Law, which allows the Mexican government to eliminate a person without submitting the formal extradition process.

Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother were accused of Wake County murder, the deputy of the North Carolina sheriff, Ned Byrd, in August 2022. Prosecutors accuse Marin-Sotelo of shooting and killing Byrd during a traffic stop.

In May 2023, while waiting for the trial in a Virginia, Marin-Sotelo prison and another inmate managed to escape, with Marin-Sotelo fleeing to Mexico. He was caught There is less than a week after escape. His sister was later arrested and declared guilty in a federal court To help you run by paying $ 2,500 to organize the exhaust car, according to judicial documents.

According to CNN’s affiliate WRALThe extradition of Marin-Sotelo back to the United States took a long time due to a treaty between the two countries that allows the extradition to be rejected if the defendant could face the death penalty. Prosecutors in North Carolina finally agreed Not looking for the death penalty in September 2023 in an effort to accelerate the process.

Judicial documents indicate that both Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother are scheduled for reading charges in court on March 3.

Andrew Clark

Clark is the only Canadian citizen among the 29 prisoners. Known as “the dictator” or “the dictator”, the Mexican authorities captured Clark in Mexico in October 2024, and shortly after the US Department of Justice Hit it with an accusation of replacement of 16 charges.

The Department of Justice alleges that Clark was one of the two figures at the head of a massive drug smuggling ring that brings “hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, Canada and other places in the United States,” according to a press release from the department in October 2024.

He alleges that he ordered numerous murders. The co-conspirator accused of Clark is a former Canadian Olympic snowboard FBI.

Also known as “El Güerito” and/or “El 90”, Canobbio is supposedly the leader of the Los Chimales armed group. According to the main security agency of Mexico, Canobbio was the second in command of the Los Chapitos criminal group, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the children of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

In November 2024, A FEDERAL GUARD In Chicago, he accused Canobbio “for allegedly manufacturing cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs in Mexico and importing them to the United States,” according to the Department of Justice.

Valencia is accused of money laundering as a financial operator of the Beltrán Leyva poster, according to a press release from the Federal Security Agency of Mexico SSPC. The declaration of the United States Attorney Pam Bondi about his extradition says he faces “life imprisonment.”

In 2019, a grand jury of Chicago accused him of crimes related to drugs and money laundering, according to judicial documents obtained by CNN.

Known for his nickname “La Kena”, the Mexican authorities say that Garcia is accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. Supposedly, Garcia was the leader of the cyclones group in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, one of the rich in the rich of the Gulf poster. In a press release on February 28, the Department of Justice said that Garcia was accused of drug trafficking and crimes related to money laundering.

The Gulf poster is infamous because of the accusations that kidnapped Four American tourists in Tamaulipas in 2023, killing two. The authorities believe that the poster had confused tourists with Haitian drug traffickers.

Alias ​​”El Vaquero”, according to SSPC, Cruz is accused of drug trafficking as regional leader of the Gulf poster, one of the six Mexican posters now considered terrorist organizations by the United States government.

In it Press release When announcing the capture of Garcia, the Department of Justice said that he accused Cruz in an “accusation of nine positions for his participation in drug trafficking between 2015 to 2021”.

Miguel and Omar Treviño Morales

The alleged former leaders of Los Zetas, like other members of the poster, who often face Nommes de Guerre who begin with “Z”, these two brothers are known for their respective “Z-40” and “Z-42”. Founded by former members of the Mexican Special Forces and once powerful, according to Insight CrimeThe Los Zetas poster is currently weak and fragmented.

Miguel is allegedly the founder of the Northeast poster, now considered a terrorist group for the United States. Before his capture in 2015, he was considered Omarar a potential successor, According to Insight Crime in 2021.

Who are the remaining 20 prisoners?

The other 20 prisoners are all accused members or leaders of the lower level of posters and other criminal groups in Mexico, according to a press release from the Mexican Security Agency. Among them are alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), Northeast poster and the Sinaloa cartel, all considered terrorist organizations by the United States government.

Hannah Rabinowitz de CNN, Lindsey Knight, Polo Sandoval and Christina Maxouris contributed reports.