Rafael Caro Quintero

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Lore & Background

After the murders, Caro Quintero fled to Costa Rica but later that year was arrested and extradited to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder. Following his arrest, the Guadalajara Cartel disintegrated, and its leaders were incorporated into the Tijuana Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, and Juárez Cartel. After serving 28 years in prison, Caro Quintero was freed in August 2013 after a state court concluded that he had been tried improperly. The day after his release, amid pressure from the United States government to re-arrest him, a Mexican federal court issued an arrest warrant against Caro Quintero. He was at large as a wanted fugitive in Mexico, the United States, and several other countries. On April 12, 2018, he was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, replacing Jesus Roberto Munguia. The United States offered a 20-million-dollar reward for information leading to his capture, the highest value among fugitives on the list. Caro Quintero lost his final appeal to avoid extradition to the United States on March 27, 2021. He was arrested in Mexico on July 15, 2022, and was extradited to the United States on February 27, 2025.

In Their Own Story

Caro Quintero has been accused of ordering the abduction, torture, and murder of writer John Clay Walker and dentistry student Albert Radelat on January 30, 1985. According to the allegations, the two U.S. citizens were dining in a Guadalajara restaurant when they encountered Caro Quintero and his men as they accidentally walked into one of Caro Quintero's private parties. Caro Quintero is alleged to have then ordered his men to seize the U.S. citizens and take them to a store room, where they were tortured with ice picks and interrogated. John Walker died on the scene from blunt force trauma to the head. Albert Radelat was still alive when he was wrapped in tablecloths, taken to a park near the city, and buried. The men's bodies were found six months later, buried at the San Isidro Mazatepec Park in Zapopan. The authorities believe that Caro Quintero had mistaken Walker and Radelat for U.S. undercover agents. Caro Quintero has also been accused of involvement in the murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar. In November 1984, the Mexican authorities raided a 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) ranch known as El Búfalo in Chihuahua, owned by Caro Quintero. The authorities reportedly burned more than 10,000 tons of marijuana – totaling a loss of around $160 million. Camarena, who had been working undercover in Mexico, was said to be responsible for leading the authorities to the ranch. This allegedly prompted Caro Quintero and other high-ranking members of the Guadalajara Cartel to seek revenge against the DEA and Camarena. In retribution, Camarena and his pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar were kidnapped in Guadalajara on February 7, 1985, and taken to a residence owned by Caro Quintero located at 881 Lope de Vega in the colonia of Jardines del Bosque, in the western section of the city, brutally tortured, and murdered. Caro Quintero left Mexico on March 9, 1985, with his associates and girlfriend, Sara Cristina Cosío Gaona. Mexican Judicial Police chief Armando Pavón Reyes, after receiving a US$300,000 bribe, reportedly allowed Caro Quintero to flee from the airport in Guadalajara in a private jet to seek refuge in Costa Rica. Pavón Reyes was fired shortly afterward and was charged with bribery and complicity in the Camarena murder.

Reader's Guide

Rafael Caro Quintero was born in La Noria, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, on October 24, 1952. His parents, Emilio Caro Payán and Hermelinda Quintero, had twelve children; he was the oldest son. His father worked in agriculture and grazing and died when Caro Quintero was 14. With his father's absence, he worked alongside his mother to care for his family. At age 16, he left La Noria and settled in Caborca, Sonora, where he worked in livestock grazing. Two years later, he worked as a truck driver in Sinaloa. He also worked at a bean and corn plantation in Sinaloa before deciding to leave his home state altogether to join the drug trade in the neighboring state of Chihuahua. When he was a teenager, Caro Quintero allegedly began to grow marijuana on a small scale at the ranch owned by his brother Jorge Luis. In less than five years, Caro Quintero managed to buy several other ranches in the surrounding areas and began to amass larger amounts of money and influence. He is said to have first worked for the drug traffickers Pedro Avilés Pérez and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo before forming the Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, and others in the late 1970s. He has been cited as a pioneer of the drug trade in Mexico and has been described as one of the pre-eminent drug traffickers of his generation. On April 4, 1985, Caro Quintero was arrested in Alajuela, Costa Rica, while sleeping in a mansion just 800 metres (1⁄2 mi) from Juan Santamaría International Airport and extradited to Mexico on charges of involvement in Camarena's murder. He was sentenced to 40 years for the murder of Camarena and other crimes. Caro Quintero was first imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 maximum security prison in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico. In 2007, he was transferred to another maximum security prison, Puente Grande, in Jalisco. In 2010, a federal judge granted him the right to be transferred to another prison in Jalisco. In the early hours of August 9, 2013, a court ordered the immediate release of Caro Quintero after he had served 28 years in prison. After a motion by a state judge and magistrate, Rosalía Isabel Moreno Ruiz, the Jalisco state court ruled that Caro Quintero was tried improperly in a federal courtroom for crimes that should have been treated at a state level. On August 14, 2013, a federal court granted the Office of the General Prosecutor an arrest warrant against Caro Quintero after the United States government issued a petition to the Mexican government.

Did You Know?

• Caro Quintero was born in La Noria, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, on October 24, 1952, and was the oldest son of twelve children.
• He was responsible for the kidnapping and torture of DEA agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena, Camarena's pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar, writer John Clay Walker, and dentistry student Alberto Radelat in 1985.
• On April 12, 2018, he was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, with a 20-million-dollar reward for information leading to his capture.
• Locals from Badiraguato recall that Caro Quintero financed the construction of a 40-kilometre-long highway in Badiraguato and helped electrify the area in the 1980s.
• He was arrested in Mexico on July 15, 2022, and extradited to the United States on February 27, 2025.