DENVER—A former leader of Mexico’s powerful Sonora drug cartel is prepared to admit he supplied tons of marijuana that were smuggled into the United States, his attorney said Wednesday.
Miguel Angel Caro Quintero was set to plead guilty Wednesday to charges of racketeering and conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, said attorney Walter Nash.
But U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer told federal prosecutors they need to be more specific about what alleged crimes Caro Quintero planned to acknowledge, and he rescheduled a plea hearing for Oct. 23.
“It needs to be something that when I question Mr. Caro Quintero about it, there aren’t going to be any qualifiers,” Brimmer said.
Mexico extradited Caro Quintero earlier this year to face charges he smuggled marijuana in half-ton quantities into the United States in 1987. The indictment alleges he and his associates dealt with large amounts of cash and that associates once carried $1.5 million in seven grocery bags in Boulder.
Caro Quintero pleaded not guilty to the charges in March.
Jeff Dorschner, a U.S. attorney’s office spokesman, said he could not say what Caro Quintero’s possible jail sentence could be or discuss details of any possible plea agreement because nothing has been accepted by the judge.
Nash said at Wednesday’s hearing his client was ready to acknowledge supplying marijuana for shipment but that he wasn’t aware of what happened to the drugs once they crossed the border.
The Sonora Cartel was responsible for smuggling thousands of tons of marijuana and cocaine into the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s. Caro Quintero took over the cartel after his brother, Rafael Caro Quintero, was arrested for the 1985 torture-slaying of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena Salazar near Guadalajara, Mexico.
Rafael Caro Quintero is serving a 40-year prison term for Camarena’s slaying.
On Wednesday, Miguel Caro Quintero, 46, was led into court and immediately nodded and smiled to a man he called his son. He clasped his arms across his chest and nodded again as if to mimic a hug.
“Can I see my son?” he asked his attorneys in Spanish when the hearing ended. “I just want to give him a hug.”
As he was led away from the courtroom, Caro Quintero told the man: “Take care of yourself. I love you very much.”
The man declined to comment after the hearing.
