An alleged Mexican drug kingpin whose brother was involved in the death of a federal drug agent is expected to plead guilty to an organized-crime racketeering charge in the next two months.
A 1990 federal indictment says Miguel Angel Caro-Quintero funneled tons of marijuana into the U.S. in the 1980s as a leader of the notorious Sonora Cartel.
In Colorado, the cartel moved hundreds of kilograms of marijuana to a farm near Longmont and a storage house in Westminster, the indictment says. The cartel reportedly had $1.5 million in its possession in Boulder and bought cars from Colorado dealerships to transport the marijuana to Mexico.
Caro-Quintero’s attorney, Walter Nash, and federal prosecutors filed a joint disposition notice to U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer on Monday night that says a deal has been worked out.
The notice says that the attorneys will ask the court permission to consolidate Caro-Quintero’s other federal criminal cases, filed in Arizona.
It appears Caro-Quintero’s Arizona cases, which include allegations of trafficking drugs between the U.S. and Mexico, may be resolved with the plea deal in the Colorado case.
Caro-Quintero, 46, was extradited to Colorado in February from Mexico. At his first court appearance in Denver, U.S. marshals surrounded the courtroom and brought a bomb-sniffing dog to the hallway.
Before his extradition to Colorado, Caro-Quintero was serving time in Mexico for drug-related crimes.
Caro-Quintero’s brother, Rafael, was accused of plotting the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique Camarena in 1985. Rafael Caro-Quintero was convicted and sentenced to prison for the murder.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
