CNN
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Mexico has extradited 29 alleged criminals to the United States, among them the so-called “narco of narcos” Rafael Caro Quintero, many accused of murder and several alleged members of cartels now designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
The accused men were taken from prisons and jails around Mexico on February 27 and flown to the US to face a variety of charges in court, according to the US Department of Justice. Analysts told CNN en Español that this is likely the largest single extradition of its kind in the history of US-Mexico relations.
Here’s what you need to know about the extradited men and the accusations leveled against them.
Rafael Caro Quintero
Caro Quintero is the most high-profile individual among the 29 extradited. Known as the “narco of narcos” and pursued by the US for 40 years, the erstwhile leader of the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel is alleged to have been among those responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and others. When news broke of his extradition on February 27, the DEA’s Los Angeles office tweeted out a portrait of Camarena with the caption “Justice Served!”
Caro Quintero appeared before a judge in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon, pleading not guilty to charges related to the decades-old killing of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and other drug-related charges.
Caro Quintero has already spent 28 years in prison in Mexico for his alleged role in Camarena’s murder before he was released on a technicality in 2013. That year, the Mexican Supreme Court overturned the decision that freed him.
Added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives in 2018, Caro Quintero returned to drug trafficking as a senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, according to the FBI. The Sinaloa Cartel is now considered a terrorist organization by the US.
In July 2022, Caro Quintero was captured by the Mexican Navy during an operation in which a navy dog found him hiding among some bushes.
“Caro Quintero, a cartel kingpin who unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the United States and Mexico, has spent four decades atop DEA’s most wanted fugitives list, and today we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States where justice will be served,” DEA Acting Administrator Derek S. Maltz said in a February 27 press release.
Judge Robert M. Levy clarified in court that Caro Quintero was expelled from Mexico under a provision within the national security law, which permits the Mexican government to remove an individual without undergoing the formal extradition process.
Alder Marin-Sotelo
Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother were charged with the murder of Wake County, NC sheriff’s deputy Ned Byrd in August 2022 . Prosecutors accuse Marin-Sotelo of shooting and killing Byrd during a traffic stop.
In May 2023, while awaiting trial in a Virginia jail, Marin-Sotelo and another inmate managed to escape, with Marin-Sotelo fleeing to Mexico. He was captured there less than a week after his escape. His sister was later arrested and pleaded guilty in federal court to help him escape by paying $2,500 to arrange for the getaway car, according to court documents.
According to CNN affiliate WRAL, Marin-Sotelo’s extradition back to the US took a long time due to a treaty between the two countries that allows to refuse extradition if the accused might face the death penalty. Prosecutors in North Carolina eventually agreed not to seek the death penalty in September 2023 in an effort to speed the process along.
Court documents indicate that both Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother are scheduled for arraignment in court on March 3.
Andrew Clark
Clark is the only Canadian citizen among the 29 prisoners. Known as “El Dictador,” or “the Dictator,” Mexican authorities captured Clark in Mexico in October 2024, and soon after the US Department of Justice hit him with a 16-count superseding indictment.
The DOJ alleges that Clark was one of two figures at the head of a massive drug-smuggling ring bringing “hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States,” according to a department press release in October 2024.
He’s further alleged to have ordered numerous murders. Clark’s accused co-conspirator is a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder, Ryan Wedding, who remains at large in Mexico, according to the FBI.
José Ángel Canobbio Inzunza
Also known as “El Güerito” and/or “El 90,” Canobbio is allegedly the leader of the armed group Los Chimales. According to Mexico’s top security agency, Canobbio was the second in command of the criminal group Los Chapitos – a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons.
In November 2024, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Canobbio “for allegedly manufacturing cocaine, fentanyl, and other drugs in Mexico and importing them into the United States,” according to the DOJ.
Norberto Valencia González
Valencia is accused of money laundering as a financial operator for the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, according to a press release from Mexico’s federal security agency SSPC. US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s statement on his extradition says that he faces “up to life imprisonment.”
In 2019, a Chicago grand jury accused him of drug related crimes and money laundering, according to court documents obtained by CNN.
José Alberto García Vilano
Known by his nickname “La Kena,” Mexican authorities say Garcia is accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. Allegedly, Garcia was the leader of the Los Ciclones group in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, one of the Gulf Cartel’s offshoots. In a February 28 press release, the Justice Department said that Garcia was charged with drug trafficking and money-laundering-related crimes.
The Gulf Cartel is infamous for allegations that it kidnapped four American tourists in Tamaulipas in 2023, killing two. Authorities believe the cartel had mistaken the tourists for Haitian drug traffickers.
Evaristo Cruz Sánchez
Alias “El Vaquero,” according to SSPC, Cruz is accused of drug trafficking as a regional leader of the Gulf Cartel – one of the six Mexican cartels now considered terrorist organizations by the US government.
In the same press release announcing Garcia’s capture, the Justice Department said that it charged Cruz in a “nine-count indictment for his involvement in drug trafficking between 2015 through 2021.”
Miguel and Omar Treviño Morales
Alleged former leaders of Los Zetas, like other members of the cartel, who often take on nommes de guerre beginning with “Z,” these two brothers are known by their respective aliases “Z-40” and “Z-42.” Founded by former members of the Mexican Special Forces and once powerful, according to InSight Crime, the Los Zetas cartel is currently weak and fragmented.
Miguel is allegedly the founder of the Cartel del Noreste – now considered a terrorist group by the US. Before his capture in 2015, Omar was considered a potential successor, according to InSight Crime in 2021.
Who are the remaining 20 prisoners?
The other 20 prisoners are all accused members or lower-level leaders of cartels and other criminal groups in Mexico, according to a press release from Mexico’s top security agency. Among them are alleged members of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), Cartel Del Noreste, and the Sinaloa Cartel – all now considered terror organizations by the US government.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Lindsey Knight, Polo Sandoval and Christina Maxouris contributed reporting.
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