USA | Federal death penalty possible for Mexican cartel boss behind 1985 DEA agent killing

Rafael Caro Quintero, extradited from Mexico in 2022, appeared in Brooklyn court as feds weigh capital charges for the torture and murder of Agent Enrique Camarena

NEW YORK — The death penalty is on the table for notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, the so-called “narco of narcos” who orchestrated the torture and murder of a DEA agent in 1985, according to federal prosecutors.

“It is a possibility. The decision has not yet been made, but it is going through the process,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Saritha Komatireddy said in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday.

About 30 DEA agents lined the benches to watch Caro Quintero, 72, and Ismael Quintero Arellanes, his cousin and right-hand man, appear before Judge Frederick Block for an update on his case.

Caro is accused of masterminding the kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA Agent Enrique “Kike” Camarena in 1985, and was one of the founding members of the notorious Guadalajara Cartel, the predecessor of the Sinaloa Cartel. Camarena’s killing was depicted in the Netflix series “Narcos.”

Block formally assigned veteran defense lawyer Elizabeth Macedonio as Caro Quintero’s “learned counsel” — meaning she’ll represent him in any death penalty-related proceedings. The decision to seek the death penalty falls to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi .

Macedonio won an acquittal in 2015 for Bonanno crime family member Vincent Asaro, after he was put on trial for his alleged involvement in the infamous 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport depicted in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

The drug lord is currently also represented by court-appointed defense lawyer Michael Vitaliano, and he expects to apply for taxpayer-funded counsel for the duration of his defense.

Block said he’d have to see what prosecutors say about his assets before making a decision on whether taxpayers will foot the bill for his trial defense.

“I don’t know whether the government’s tied up his assets. I don’t know what’s available, what’s not available,” he said.

Caro Quintero, who at one point topped the FBI’s list of most wanted fugitives, was arrested in Mexico in a dramatic 2022 capture. He and 28 other cartel figures were expelled from Mexico last month. Their expulsion has been viewed as a show of cooperation from Mexican officials to stave off the Trump administration’s threats to apply tariffs on Mexican goods.

He was hauled to Brooklyn and arraigned Feb. 28 on charges including allegations he led a criminal enterprise, engaged in murder conspiracy, international narcotics distribution conspiracy, and unlawful use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Caro Quintero is locked up in the Special Administrative Measures, or SAMS unit of the MDC Brooklyn, which houses high-risk inmates who the feds worry might pass deadly instructions to their cohorts in the outside world.

He’s slated to return to court June 25 .

Source: New York Daily News, John Annese, March 28, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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