Rafael Caro Quintero
| Rafael Caro Quintero | |
|---|---|
Photograph taken in 2011 | |
| FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive | |
| Charges | Drug trafficking |
| Reward | $20,000,000 |
| Alias | "El Narco de Narcos" "El Número 1" |
| Description | |
| Born | October 24, 1952 La Noria, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico |
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Occupation | Farmer, drug lord, trafficker |
| Status | |
| Penalty | 40 years (28 years served) |
| Status | Extradited to the United States |
| Added | April 12, 2018 |
| Caught | July 15, 2022 |
| Number | 518 |
| Captured | |
Rafael "Rafa" Caro Quintero (born October 24, 1952) is a Mexican former drug lord who co-founded the now-disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers in the late 1970s. He is the brother of fellow drug trafficker Miguel Caro Quintero, founder and former leader of the defunct Sonora Cartel.
Having formed the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s, Caro Quintero worked with Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Pedro Avilés Pérez by shipping large quantities of marijuana to the United States from Mexico. He was responsible for the kidnapping of United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, Camarena's pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar, the American writer John Clay Walker, and dentistry student Alberto Radelat in 1985. 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. Caro Quintero was wanted for his involvement in drug trafficking as well as the 1985 murders. 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.