Local News in Brief : Drug Dealer Admits Arranging Escape
A cocaine dealer admitted arranging reputed drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero’s escape from Mexico after U.S. narcotics agent Enrique Camarena was murdered, according to testimony Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court.
Arturo de la Torre said his friend Jesus Felix Gutierrez told him that he and another man hired a pilot to fly Caro Quintero to Costa Rica after the murder in February, 1985.
Caro Quintero allegedly orchestrated the torture and murder of Camarena and the agent’s pilot, Alfredo Zavala. Caro Quintero and four other men are jailed in Mexico for the killing.
Three men are standing trial in Los Angeles. Felix Gutierrez, who is serving a 15-year term for cocaine trafficking, is now accused of engineering Caro Quintero’s escape from Mexico. Raul Lopez Alvarez and Rene Verdugo Urquidez are charged with participating in the torture and murder.
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