Mexican drug lord appears before US judge, pleads not guilty to murder, kidnapping charges in DEA agent’s 1985 killing
CNN
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.
Forty years after his alleged involvement in the kidnapping, torture, and killing of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero was expelled from Mexico and appeared before a judge in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon. Caro Quintero pleaded not guilty to all charges. As he entered the courtroom, he wore handcuffs belonging to the man prosecutors say he killed, DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena Salazar, according to a law enforcement official. Considered by Mexican authorities to be the founder of the Guadalajara cartel, Quintero was allegedly involved in the 1985 kidnapping, torture and murder of 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. Caro Quintero “used extreme violence to protect the cartel’s operations, beating and killing anyone who got his way,” said John Durham, interim US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, at a Friday news conference. This included ordering the “kidnapping, torture and murder” of Camarena, a young agent who had infiltrated his operations, resulting in the government seizure of a drug-producing farm, according to Durham. The suspect’s defense attorney, Michael Vitaliano, told the court his client has a heart condition and needs medication.
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