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U.S. Treasury Sanctions Mexican Drug Lord's Family

By Michel Marizco / Senior Field Correspondent
Published June 12, 2013 at 3:34 PM PDT
This story was published more than 10 years ago.
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Mexican Drug Lord's Family
The U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of 18 people linked to a Mexican drug lord who has been in prison for nearly 30 years.

The U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of 18 people linked to a Mexican drug lord who has been in prison for nearly 30 years.

The 18 people and 15 businesses sanctioned Wednesday are tied to Rafael Caro Quintero. He is known as one of the godfathers of today’s Mexican cartels.

He began as a drug lord in the 1970s. In 1985, he was arrested and convicted for the kidnapping and murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena.

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The Treasury Department’s sanction targets Quintero's wife and children. It includes close family friends involved in money laundering. The sanctions also apply to their businesses, including a gas station, restaurants construction companies and a resort spa.

The designation prohibits U.S. citizens from doing business with those accused.

Michel Marizco
Senior Field Correspondent Michel Marizco (Tucson) has reported along the Southwest border for the past decade, most of that in Arizona and Sonora. Before joining the Fronteras Desk, he produced stories in the field for CNN Madrid, the BBC, 60 Minutes Australia, and the CBC. His work now focuses on transnational trafficking syndicates, immigration, federal law enforcement and those weird, wild stories that make the U.S.-Mexico border such an inherently fascinating region. He is a contributing author on Shared Responsibility: U.S.-Mexico Policy Options for Confronting Organized Crime and an occasional writer at High Country News. In his spare time, he works with Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, assisting in the ongoing investigations of journalist killings in Mexico.
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