Mexico Drug Lord Gets 34 Years in Prison
A Mexican court has sentenced drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero to 34 years in prison on charges of drug trafficking, smuggling arms into Mexico and forcing peasants in Chihuahua state to work on a marijuana plantation, a court spokesman said Friday.
Caro Quintero is wanted in the United States in connection with the 1985 murder of U.S. drug enforcement agent Enrique Camarena.
The conviction and sentencing were handed down Thursday during an unpublicized session of Mexico City’s 1st District Court at the city’s Northern Penitentiary, where Caro Quintero has been held since his 1985 arrest. He faces a separate trial in Mexico in connection with the kidnaping, torture and murder of Camarena.
On Thursday in Los Angeles, former Mexican detective Raul Lopez-Alvarez was convicted of taking part in the murder of Camarena.
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