October 24, 1952 - Rafael Caro Quintero
One of the architects of the Guadalajara Cartel, Caro Quintero helped build the organizational framework that would eventually splinter into several of Mexico's most enduring criminal enterprises. His cartel's reach extended well beyond drug trafficking when, in 1985, his agents abducted, tortured, and killed DEA agent Enrique Camarena — an act that drew sustained American pressure on Mexico and reshaped U.S.-Mexico law enforcement relations for decades. His release after 28 years, on a procedural ruling, provoked an immediate diplomatic crisis and illustrated the persistent tensions between Mexican judicial processes and U.S. counternarcotics interests.
From Wikipedia
Rafael "Rafa" Caro Quintero (born October 24, 1952) is a Mexican former drug lord who co-founded the now-disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers in the late 1970s. He is the brother of fellow drug trafficker Miguel Caro Quintero, founder and former leader of the defunct Sonora Cartel.
Having formed the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s, Caro Quintero worked with Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Pedro Avilés Pérez by shipping large quantities of marijuana to the United States from Mexico. He was responsible for the kidnapping and torture of United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, Camarena's pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar, the American writer John Clay Walker, and dentistry student Alberto Radelat in 1985. After the murders, Caro Quintero fled to Costa Rica but later that year was arrested and extradited to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder. Following his arrest, the Guadalajara Cartel disintegrated, and its leaders were incorporated into the Tijuana Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, and Juárez Cartel.
After serving 28 years in prison, Caro Quintero was freed in August 2013 after a state court concluded that he had been tried improperly. The day after his release, amid pressure from the United States government to re-arrest him, a Mexican federal court issued an arrest warrant against Caro Quintero.
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