FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday that the agency took eight men from Mexico into U.S. custody this week, all wanted for murder and drug-trafficking charges. Two of them were former FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
“The FBI and our partners will scour the ends of the earth to bring terrorists and cartel members to justice,” Patel said in a statement. “The era of harming Americans and walking free is over.”
The eight men included Rafael Caro Quintero, a former FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive wanted for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar in 1985. The FBI said, “Caro‐Quintero is widely regarded as one of the Mexican godfathers of drug trafficking and helped to form the Guadalajara Cartel in the late 1970s. Allegedly, he became one of the primary suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to the U.S., and oversaw the cartel in Costa Rica and the U.S. and Mexico border.”
Also apprehended was Alder Marin Sotelo, who faces homicide charges related to the August 11, 2022, killing of law enforcement officer Deputy Ned Byrd of the Wake County, North Carolina Sheriff’s Office. Marin-Sotelo was indicted of first-degree murder on August 23, 2022.
Jose Rodolfo Villareal-Hernández, also known as “El Gato,” is another former FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive who was apprehended. He is allegedly responsible for stalking and orchestrating the murder-for-hire of a 43-year-old male victim on May 22, 2013, in Southlake, Texas, according to the FBI. Villarreal-Hernandez previously held a high-level position in the Beltran-Leyva Organization (BLO) Drug Cartel, and is believed to have overseen the importation of large quantities of cocaine into the U.S., as well as committing violent acts within the Republic of Mexico and the U.S. to maintain his organization’s power and status. He was arrested on January 7, 2023, in Atizapán de Zaragoza, Mexico.
Jose Angel Canobbio-Inzunza, also known as “Guerito,” was a key leader and the finance manager of the Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Chapitos faction, according to the FBI. He allegedly trafficked narcotics, controlled an armed enforcement group, and managed corrupt relationships on the cartel’s behalf, the FBI said. He was arrested last week in Sinaloa by the Mexican Army.
Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra is facing drug-trafficking charges with up to life imprisonment out of the District of Columbia, according to the FBI. The case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office.
Andrew Clark, a Canadian citizen residing in Mexico, allegedly ran and participated in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California to Canada and other locations in the United States, the FBI said.
Luis Geraldo Méndez Estevane is facing several federal charges — including murder, racketeering, and drug conspiracy — in the Western District of Texas, according to the FBI. Mendez was a high-ranking Barrio Azteca lieutenant and was responsible for the March 13, 2010, murder of two U.S. consulate employees in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Detention Officer, according to the agency.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the former leader of the Juarez Cartel, faces narcotrafficking charges in the Eastern District of New York. He is responsible for the trafficking of narcotics into the U.S. and also assisted in perpetrating significant violence throughout Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, area, the FBI said.
A spokeswoman for Patel said in a statement: “Under Kash’s leadership, the FBI is once again putting American safety first, ensuring that no criminal enterprise—no matter how powerful—can operate without consequences. The message is clear: Justice will be served, and the era of lawlessness is over.”
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