US requests extradition of Mexican convicted of killing DEA agent

The U.S. government has requested the extradition of Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug lord who was convicted of killing a narcotics agent, officials said. Caro Quintero, 60, was convicted in 1985 but was freed from a Mexico prison early Friday after an appeals tribunal issued an unusual ruling based on a technicality, the Los Angeles Times reported. U.S. officials said they have presented Mexican prosecutors with a request for Caro Quintero's arrest based on alleged crimes he for which he has been charged in California. A Mexican federal judge approved the request and ordered his arrest, the Times said. The charges against Caro Quintero include conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, committing violent crimes in aid of racketeering and committing murder and kidnapping in the 1985 killing of Enrique Camarena, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Caro Quintero, a co-founder of one of Mexico's first modern drug cartels, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the killing, and served 28 years before being freed Friday.