A slain U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent’s family is now suing the cartel boss long accused of ordering his murder 40 years ago.
The Sinaloa Cartel, which has long been linked to drug trafficking routes through Arizona, is also a named defendant.
U.S. authorities pursued Rafael Caro Quintero for years, and he was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2022. But he remained out of reach until Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to extradite him last month.
Beyond the criminal charges he’ll face in New York, Enrique "Kiki" Camarena’s family is seeking damages for Caro Quintero’s role in the agent’s kidnapping, torture and murder four decades ago. The DEA says Camarena "was extremely close to unlocking a multibillion-dollar drug pipeline" when he was kidnapped and killed in Mexico in 1985. He was 37.
Filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows victims of terrorism to sue for damages, the suit also takes aim at the Sinaloa Cartel as a whole.
In it, the family says the group played a key role in Camarena’s death and has continued its criminal operations with ties to his killers.
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