NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty against Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero in a sprawling case that includes the 1985 killing of an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Saritha Komatireddy confirmed that capital punishment remains on the table as a possibility when pressed by a judge hearing the case in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday.
The top count Caro Quintero faces — leading a continuing criminal enterprise — carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment, with the possibility of the death penalty, prosecutors have said.
“A determination has not been made but it is going through the process,” Komatireddy said as dozens of DEA agents packed the courtroom.
Judge Frederic Block, in response, tapped a lawyer with experience in federal death penalty cases to serve as special counsel to Caro Quintero.
Elizabeth Macedonio appeared alongside the 72-year-old former drug kingpin in court Wednesday.
She previously represented the late Vincent Asaro, the New York mobster acquitted in the notorious 1978 Lufthansa Airlines heist at John F. Kennedy Airport that was dramatized in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”
Block also said he would weigh whether it’s appropriate for Caro Quintero to continue receiving court-appointed, taxpayer-funded legal representation as his family has not hired their own lawyer.
He asked representatives for Caro Quintero to complete financial disclosure forms and for prosecutors to help the court review them. Block set the next court date for June 25.
Caro Quintero, who has pleaded not guilty to a range of drug-related charges, didn’t speak in court and his lawyers didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
He appeared alongside his codefendant, Ismael Quintero Arellanes, his nephew and former top lieutenant.
Linda George, Quintero Arellanes’ lawyer, told the judge her client continues to discuss a possible plea deal in his case, which involves his role relaying messages and orders between Caro Quintero and members of the drug operation — as well as helping him avoid capture as his personal bodyguard and head of security.
Quintero Arellanes, who was known as “Fierro,” is also due back in court June 25.
Caro Quintero was among 29 imprisoned cartel figures expelled from Mexico by the country’s government in a bid to stave off the Trump administration’s planned tariffs on Mexican imports.
Long known as one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals, he was head of the Guadalajara cartel that eventually joined the syndicate known as the Sinaloa cartel, the largest drug trafficking organization in the world.
Prosecutors say Caro Quintero, also known as the “Narco of Narcos,” was responsible for channeling tons of heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine into the U.S. over decades.
He also orchestrated the torture and killing of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who he blamed for a raid on one of his marijuana plantations. The death was dramatized in the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico.”
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
