"Together with our federal partners at the DEA, the US Marshals Service, and the US Department of State, we are committed to bring to justice this dangerous criminal and cartel leader responsible for the brutal murder of a DEA agent," FBI Deputy Director Bowdich said in the release on Thursday.
Bowdich of the FBI also explained the decision at an earlier press conference with officials from the DEA and US Marshals service — three units of the Justice Department — along with Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary James Walsh, who announced the $20 million reward.
Caro-Quintero ordered and participated in the kidnapping of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar in 1985 in retaliation for Camarena's investigation that led Mexican authorities to raid a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation owned by Caro‐Quintero, according to the release.
The FBI has added Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero to its “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list. A $20 million reward is being offered. It's first time a DEA fugitive has made the FBI's most-wanted list. pic.twitter.com/pLX2bOhbLm
— Keegan Hamilton (@keegan_hamilton) 12 апреля 2018 г.
Camarena was subsequently tortured by cartel members and died two or three days later, according to published reports following the abduction.
Caro‐Quintero is widely regarded as one of the Mexican godfathers of drug trafficking. As a founder of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s, he continued as one of main suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana to the US market following Camarena's murder, according to the release.
