Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, aka ‘Don Neto’, one of the oldest drug trafficking chiefs in Mexicohe fulfilled his sentence of 40 years in prison for the murder In 1985 of the undercover agent of Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena, one of the crimes of more impact on the history of Mexican cartels and for which USA He still chases his authors.
‘Gift Net’founder of the powerful and already missing Guadalajara cartelhe is 94 years old. Due to your health problems, Since 2016 it had been put in house arrest.
The condemnation of ‘Don Neto’ culminated last Sunday, April 6 at its residence located in the Hacienda Valle Escondido urbanization, in Atizapán, State of Mexico.
However, Fonseca Carrillo still appears on the website of the DEA as “Fugitive” for “kidnapping and murder of a federal agent”according to the AFP agency.
Who is ‘Don Neto’?
‘Don Neto’ purged condemned for the murder of the agent of the Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena. (Photo: Héctor Martínez / El Universal / GDA).
Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo He was born on August 1, 1930 in Santiago de los Caballeros, Sinaloa. It was a central figure in the old Guadalajara cartelorganization that in the 1970s and 1980s controlled a good part of the Drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States.
Together with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, known as the head of bosses, and Rafael Caro Quintero, ‘Don Neto’ helped consolidate a more business and coordinated drug trafficking modelcapable of growing, processing and transporting large -scale drugs.
The criminal history of ‘Net Don‘dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when he began to traffic marijuana and poppy From Sinaloa to the United States.
It was formed in the drug business under the influence of smugglers and drug traffickers who operated on the call Gold trianglethe region between Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.
Subsequently, Fonseca moved to Guadalajaracity that would become a strategic headquarters of the drug trafficking for its geographical location and relative tranquility at that time.
His criminal career coincided with a stage in which Mexican drug trafficking went from being a fragmented and almost artisanal activity to an organized structure that began to replace the great Colombian cartels in the distribution of cocaine In the United States.
‘Don Neto’ was key in facilitating agreements between Colombian cartels and Mexican groups and made an intermediary for the use of drug trafficking routes.
The ability to ‘Net Don‘To negotiate and maintain order between different features of drug traffickers gave him respect and power among the gangsters of his generation.
The crime of ‘Kiki’ Camarena
Kiki Camarena was killed in Mexico.
But a bloody episode marked a before and after in his criminal career. ‘Don Neto’ was accused of being involved in the kidnapping, torture and murder of the agent of Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena, occurred in 1985.
Camarena had managed to infiltrate the operations of the Guadalajara cartel and helped the authorities discover a gigantic field of cultivation of dope in it Rancho El Bufalo, in Chihuahuawhich was destroyed.
The retaliation of the mafia was the Brutal Murder of Camarena.
The crime marked the beginning of the end of Guadalajara cartel as a dominant organization in Mexico.
Fonseca Carrillo was arrested in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, in April 1985shortly after the body of Camarena.
His arrest was one of the first great blows against the historical leaders of Mexican drug trafficking.
In 1989, ‘Don Neto’ was sentenced to 40 years in prison by drug trafficking, criminal association and for its involvement in the murder of Camarena.
Was held in the maximum security prison of Large bridgein Jalisco, and later transferred to other prisons.
After spending three decades in prison, in 2016 he was granted home arrest for health reasons and for his advanced age.
‘Don Neto’ He is also the drug trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentesringleader Juarez Cartel which was known as’The Lord of Heaven ‘ and who died while undergoing plastic surgery to change his appearance.
Tortured for 30 hours
An image of Kiki Camarena when he was in Marian in the United States. (DEA).
February 7, 1985, Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena He was kidnapped in broad daylight in Guadalajara When he left the United States Consulate, where he worked.
Armed men intercepted him and forced him to climb a vehicle.
Camarena had been infiltrated in the drug trafficking for years and had provided crucial information to US authorities.
As already mentioned, the agent of the DEA He signed his death sentence when he facilitated the location and destruction of the ranch The buffalo and all the drug in the place and that was valued at more than 8 billion dollars.
After being kidnapped, Camarena was taken to a security house from the Guadalajara cartel, where He was brutally tortured for more than 30 hours.
The mafia wanted to know how far the DEA had arrived in her investigations And how much Camarena knew about the links between drug trafficking and Mexican authorities.
The recordings of the interrogations to Camarenawhich were obtained years later, reveal The cruelty of torture and methods used to break it.
The body of Camarena It was found weeks later in a wasteland in La Angostura, Michoacán, along with that of the Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavalawhich had also been kidnapped.
Both corpses showed clear signs of torture: they had fractures, burns and blows on the head.
The murder of Camarena caused a diplomatic crisis between Mexico and the United States, as well as the call Legend operationthe biggest research in the history of the DEA.
The United States pressed the Mexican government to arrest those responsible, which led to the capture and condemnation of several chiefs of the cartel. In addition to ‘Don Neto’these are the other gangsters who purged prison:
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo He was arrested in 1989 and sentenced to 37 years in prison.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo in the only interview with Telemundo (Photo: Telemundo/ YouTube)
Rafael Caro Quintero He was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Freed in 2013 by a judicial ruling, he was recaptured in 2022. In February of this year, Mexico extradited him to the United States, where he will face drug trafficking charges and the murder of Camarena.
Rafael Caro Quintero.
Francisco Tejeda Jaramilloexagent of the Judicial Police, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his direct participation in the torture and murder of Camarena. After turning 31 years and four months of his conviction, he was released in 2016 for good conduct.
Juan José Esparragoza Morenoaka ‘El Azul’, was arrested in 1986 and sentenced to seven years and two months in prison. He obtained his freedom in 1992.
