DEAs most wanted drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero arrives in NYC to face charges after Mexico hands him over to US
A drug cartel kingpin, known as the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s top target for his role in the killing of a DEA agent, was moved from Mexico to New York City on Thursday and is expected to face a judge on Friday, according to officials and sources.Rafael Caro Quintero was among 29 cartel members the Mexican government released into US custody as President Trump has threatened to slap Mexican imports with a 25% tariff on March 4 if the country doesn’t do more to crackdown on illegal immigration drug smuggling.“Obviously, this is one of the biggest days in decades for DEA agents,” Ray Donovan, the former head of New York’s DEA office, told The Post.“This is very near and dear to every DEA agent.”DEA Acting Administrator Derek Maltz said there is “one name” in the group “that stands above the rest for the men and women” of his agency – Quintero. Quintero, 72, arrived in the Big Apple Thursday night and will likely be moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Donovan said.
The cartel kingpin is expected to arraigned on Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court on drug-trafficking charges, sources said.Quintero was convicted in Mexico for being the mastermind of the 1985 killing of US DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and for the last two years has been sitting in a Guadalajara prison, sources said.He was sent to New York while some of the other cartel members were flown to other US cities.“The defendants taken into US custody today include leaders and managers of drug cartels recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” the Justice Department said in a statement. The DOJ noted that many of the many of the defendants had longstanding extradition requests that “were not honored” during the Biden administration and that the Mexican government complied as a direct result of Trump ordering drug cartels to be designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. “They are n...