Handcuffs Used on Notorious Drug Lord Extradited to US Belonged to DEA Agent He Famously Had Kidnapped and Executed

Notorious Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero has been extradited to the United States along with 28 other prisoners requested by the U.S. His appearance before a court in New York is set to be marked with symbolism, as the handcuffs he will wear are the ones that belonged to Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, the DEA agent he famously had kidnapped, tortured and killed in 1985 over his investigation of the Guadalajara cartel.

Mexican outlet Grupo Fórmula posted on X pictures of the handcuffs, which have "Camarena" engraved in cursive letters. They were given to authorities by the son of Camarena, also named Enrique, now a judge in California.

The images will likely provide closure to a story that began over 40 years ago when Camarena, a Mexican-born U.S. naturalized citizen, managed to infiltrate the Guadalajara cartel, one of the first transnational criminal organizations in the country. The cartel was led by Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who together oversaw the trafficking of marijuana and cocaine to the United States.

After tipping off U.S. and Mexican authorities about the location of key cartel locations, including a 2,500-acre plantation in Chihuahua, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara in 1985. He was tortured for over 30 hours and finally murdered, his body later found in a rural area in Michoacan.

The killing sparked a diplomatic clash between the U.S. and Mexico, with the former accusing the latter of helping the cartel. The U.S. launched "Operation Leyenda," the largest DEA homicide investigation ever carried out. Mexican authorities ended up arresting Caro Quintero in 1985 in Costa Rica. Felix Gallardo was apprehended four years later. The story was brought back to the spotlight in the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico."

Although he walked free in 2013 when a court overturned his 40-year sentence, Caro Quintero was arrested for a second time in 2022 in the state of Sinaloa.

While he was free, "El Narco de Narcos" founded the Caborca cartel in 2017 and quickly expanded its reach from Sonora to other states across Mexico. The Caborca Cartel currently operates in the states of Quintana Roo, Chihuahua, Baja California Sur and in the State of Mexico, where they have an ongoing fight with the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) as well as La Unión Tepito for control of certain territories.

Caro Quintero's case will be brought before the Eastern District of New York. "Federal prosecutors will evaluate if the additional charges of terrorism and violence are appropriate based on the policy established in Executive Order 14157, and if the capital punishment is available based on Executive Order 14164," the Department of Justice explained in a document.