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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 imports from Mexico 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.”
“This is bigger than Chapo for me and every other DEA Agent,” Donovan added, referring to Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, whom he’s credited with capturing. “This was personal.”
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 no longer just criminals,” Donovan said. “They are terrorists.”
“I do think that drug trafficking as we know it will change,” he said.
“This action is part of the work of coordination, cooperation and bilateral reciprocity within the framework of respect for the sovereignty of both nations,” the Mexican government said.
Donovan noted the transfer of custody of a Mexican drug lord is easier if they’re labeled a terrorist since they don’t have the legal protections of someone being extradited.
The Justice Department said it will evaluate whether terrorism charges are appropriate for the 29 individuals.
Quintero is following the same path as “El Chapo,” who was moved to the US and held in 2017 at the maximum-security wing of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He was sentenced in US District Court to life in prison.
Donovan said he sees the parallels between “El Chapo” and Quintero’s path to US custody.
The arrest of RCQ could bring some closure to the slain DEA agent’s wife who is still alive and son who is a San Diego-based judge, sources said.
There are pending charges in New York, Texas and California against Quintero but none are for murder, sources said.
“When he goes to trial the Kiki homicide will come out and the fact he ordered the killing will be revealed,” Donovan said.
“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels. We will not rest until we secure justice for the American people.”
The transfer of custody of the cartel members was announced by both the US and Mexican government on the same day Trump announced that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican goods on March 4.
“Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled,” the president added.
