Mike Vigil: RCQ Will Fall Before He Dies Of Old Age

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Infobae

"He will fall before he dies of old age", Mike Vigil's warning to Caro Quintero, "the Narco of Narcos"; also known as RCQ and Rafa. The Mexican drug trafficker is pointed to for the recent violent events in Sonora, a place that would be challenging other criminal organizations.

Rafael Caro Quintero, the "Narco de Narcos" , is the trafficker for whom the United States Government offers a higher reward, well above that offered by other drug traffickers, such as Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, CJNG's Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes "El Mencho" and that of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

For the US, his head is priced at USD $20 million, but, in addition, it also means a kind of trophy, since he is accused of the murder of former DEA agent Enrique Kiki Camarena Salazar, in 1985, a crime for which he was imprisoned in Mexico for more than 29 years.

One of the US agents who has not stopped the persecution of Caro Quintero is Mike Vigil, former director of the DEA and a personal friend of Camarena.

                                    Vigil in his time as an undercover agent in Latin America 

Vigil describes the "Narco de Narcos" as a man with little education, but very intelligent , and that despite having been in prison for almost three decades, he has the ability to make marijuana trafficking a business again, and even more so for the criminal organization that he was allegedly leading from Sonora, along with his brother Miguel, who in 2019 was deported to Mexico after serving a sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.

"Caro Quintero was a hit man, bloodthirsty, cunning, he has no education, but he is intelligent and the thing that he knows, the most important aspect that he has, is that he can manage between cartels, he knows how to deal with leaders, and they respect him in the cartels for the death of Kiki Camarena, ” Vigil said in a telephone interview with Infobae México .

He assured that despite the fact that the use of marijuana in the US is legalized in different states, for consumers it is an expensive product , since a cigarette in states like North Carolina can be priced at $ 150, while Caro Quintero could sell the kilo between USD $300 and $400.

                                 "Kiki" Camarena, the DEA agent killed in 1985 (Photo: file)

In addition, he has the knowledge of how to produce the drug in the desert , which for him and his criminal organization would imply lowering costs.

Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested in 1985 in Costa Rica, accused of the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar, who had managed to infiltrate the then-powerful Guadalajara Cartel, founded by him, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo.

In August 2013 he was released after alleged flaws in his process were found, since then he is considered a fugitive from Justice, both in the United States and in Mexico.

                               The drug trafficker was released in 2013 (Photo: Cuartoscuro)

And although in an interview he gave to journalist Anabel Hernández in 2016, he stated that he was retired from the world of drugs, Vigil stated that “it is the only business he knows, he is not going to get involved in legitimate work. The only way he can sustain himself is with the drug traffickers. 

Obviously he is already very old, and he is not going to be the great capo that he was when he was one of the leaders of the Guadalajara Cartel, but he can make a lot of money, he knows the marijuana business very well, he knows the routes, and in a while You can have nothing in the United States buyers. "

Vigil assured that the "Narco de Narcos" and his brother would be operating in Sonora thanks to an alleged negotiation with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada , of the Sinaloa Cartel, who considered that it was dangerous to have him in Sinaloa, since it was probable that the authorities could reach him if they tracked Caro Quintero.

His departure from Sinaloa, Vigil added, was also due to differences with Los Chapitos, sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, who in addition to being related to the group of Los Salazar, in Sonora "do not want Caro Quintero to get in, because they do not need another person to fight with. Somehow they think he can take over because Mayo Zambada is old and sick with diabetes, and they think Caro Quintero can be a threat, they don't want to see him in a big position, they can see him as a partner, but not as a leader".

Questioned about the recent bloody events in Sonora, which is attributed to a criminal organization calling itself the Caborca ​​cartel, allegedly headed by Caro Quintero, he replied that in the 1980s he was "more bloody than Ernesto Fonseca and Félix Gallardo".

He assured that until now there is information that he has been seen in both Sinaloa and Sonora, and since his head has a million dollar price, it is a fact that he will be arrested, "with that reward he will fall before he dies of old age."

His departure has not escaped the eyes of the United States government, even a record by the court of the Southern District of New York ensures that  the drug trafficker , originally from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, is one of the business partners of the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro , who is also accused of drug trafficking.

Among other accusations that Rafael Caro Quintero faces, one that he himself refers to,  has been maintaining the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel since 1980 , even from prison, which would have generated hundreds of millions of dollars.