The former leader of a Mexican drug cartel has been extradited from Mexico to Denver to face charges, including racketeering and narcotics trafficking, the U.S. Justice Department said today.
Miguel Caro Quintero was the purported leader of the now-defunct Sonora Cartel, a Mexico-based drug-trafficking organization that funneled tons of marijuana into the United States during the 1980s and 1990s, according to federal investigators.
Caro Quintero made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Denver late Thursday.
A federal indictment alleges that the cartel funneled marijuana from Mexico to a farm near Longmont and a house in Westminster, which the cartel used as marijuana storage and distribution facilities. The cartel also allegedly bought numerous vehicles from Colorado dealerships, which they used to transport the marijuana.
Large quantities of marijuana were distributed by the ring in Colorado, California, Illinois and New York, according to federal investigators.
At one point, said investigators, the cartel had more than $1.5 million in its possession in Boulder.
Caro Quintero and his older brother, Rafael Caro Quintero, were identified as significant foreign narcotics traffickers under The Kingpin Act in June 2000.
Prior to his extradition, Caro Quintero had served a prison sentence for drug-related crimes in Mexico.
Rafael Caro Quintero was accused of being the mastermind behind the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent Enrique Camarena in 1985 and was prosecuted by the Mexican government.
“The extradition of former kingpin Miguel Caro Quintero, who reigned with impunity for too long, is a victory for the citizens of both the United States and Mexico,” said DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart. “After serving time in a Mexican prison, Caro Quintero will now answer for his crimes with the one consequence kingpins fear most — extradition to the United States.”
The case in Colorado is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
Caro Quintero also faces charges in Arizona.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
