Former Guadalajara Cartel leader Rafael Caro Quintero and one of the leaders of the Juárez Cartel, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, known as El Viceroy, will return to federal court in Brooklyn, New York, this week to pursue the drug trafficking charges against them.
The former will do so to find out if the US Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty, and the latter, with the prosecution already open to negotiations, will seek the defendant’s surrender.
Both were handed over by the Mexican government to the US government in February, in an unprecedented act in which the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) handed over the two drug lords, along with twenty others, who were wanted by Washington without the protection of the extradition treaty in force between the two countries.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes will appear before Judge Joan Azrack in Brooklyn court on Tuesday, June 24, to face charges of organized crime, cocaine trafficking, use of firearms, and money laundering.
The brother of Amado Carrillo, who led the Juárez Cartel after his brother’s death 28 years ago, has already received an approach from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a plea deal, which could result in a reduced sentence or less severe prison terms.
Meanwhile, Rafael Caro Quintero, known as “El R1,” former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, will appear before Judge Frederick Block on Wednesday, June 25th. That date was set as the deadline for the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether it will seek the death penalty against the Mexican if found guilty after a trial.
Unlike “El Viceroy,” Caro Quintero has not received, at least publicly, an approach from the Attorney General’s Office for a plea deal that would offer him any prison benefits.
