Sajid "El Cadete" Quintero Navidad, Cousin of Rafael Caro-Quintero, Sentenced to Time Served in San Diego

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

"El Cadete" is a cousin of RCQ and has been connected to CDS, Caborca Cartel, and was the head of Sonora for the BLO until his arrest in late 2017.

A high-ranking Mexican drug cartel member who admitted to coordinating the importation of massive amounts of cocaine and heroin into the United States was sentenced Wednesday in San Diego federal court to time already served in prison. Quintero Navidad pled guilty to all three counts in January 2018, admitting to being a leader and organizer. He agreed to forfeit $1 million in drug proceeds.

Sajid Emilio Quintero Navidad, 41, who goes by the moniker “El Cadete,” was once identified as a Beltran Leyva Organization boss who controlled important drug routes in the state of Sonora, which shares a border with Arizona. His notoriety grew in 2012 when he was identified on banners as being the one responsible for a spate of gangland violence in Hermosillo, Agua Prieta, and Nogales. In Sinaloa, he is linked to the attack of singer Javier Rosas who was injured in March 2015, and the murder of singer Tito Torbellino but Quintero Navidad will not face charges for those criminal acts in the US.

Since 2014 Quintero Navidad has been the head of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel in Sonora, responsible for the trafficking of drugs in the Sonora-Arizona corridor. Federal Authorities have detected relationships between leaders, lieutenants, and associates involved in money laundering for the criminal groups of Rafael Caro Quintero and the Beltran Leyva Cartel.

In August 2014, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Quintero Navidad as a “Special Designated Narcotics Trafficker,” pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. As part of that designation, OFAC identified Quintero Navidad as a Mexico-based narcotics trafficker who coordinated the transportation of ton quantities of cocaine from South America through Mexico and onto the United States.

He is also the nephew of infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was arrested in Mexico in July after trying to evade capture for nine years. Caro Quintero, who was behind the 1985 murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, had until his recent arrest been trying to regain territory in Sonora, resulting in bloody turf battles.

Quintero Navidad was arrested in October 2017 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, about a month after being indicted on conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine for importation, conspiracy to import the drugs, and conspiracy to launder money.

The time-served sentence issued Wednesday is equivalent to around 69 months — that’s factoring in the time he has served in federal prison since his arrest, along with custody credits. He is a Mexican citizen and could be deported upon release.

Prosecutors said in court documents that the investigation into Quintero Navidad stretched over two years and involved wiretaps on more than 100 BlackBerry smartphones. Few details in the case have been released, with many documents, including sentencing memorandums, filed under seal.

For years, the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had considered him a “special designated narcotics trafficker” under the so-called Kingpin Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens and businesses from financial transactions with him and also freezes any of his finances in the U.S.

Quintero Navidad was formerly a member of the Sinaloa drug cartel and a close associate of one of its leaders, fugitive Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia, but he later changed alliances and joined the Beltran Leyva group.

Sources San Diego Tribune, DOJ, Borderland Beat