EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – One of the three leaders of the Guadalajara cartel linked to the torture-slaying of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985 has been released in Mexico, according to news reports.
Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, aka "Don Neto," on April 5 completed a 40-year prison sentenced on kidnapping and murder charges imposed by a judge in Mexico and was released from custody, the Mexico City daily Reforma reported.
Fonseca, 94, reportedly suffers from multiple illnesses including an intestinal tumor, is losing his sight and has arthritis. He served the last nine years of his sentence under house arrest, according to Mexican and U.S. sources.
Reforma quoted an unnamed Mexican official as saying Fonseca served out his incarceration, has no pending charges and is free to move about the country.
Border Report reached out to the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C., for comment and confirmation and is awaiting a response.
Court records show Fonseca has pending charges in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for violent crime and racketeering, aiding and abetting, conspiracy to kidnap a federal agent and felony murder of a federal agent.
The 1987 case remains active, but the last recorded entry dates back to 2020.
Brutal assault was retaliation for massive marijuana seizures
Fonseca was one of the co-leaders of the Guadalajara cartel along with Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo at the time of Camarena’s murder.
The DEA agent and his Mexican pilot were abducted on Feb. 7, 1985, in Guadalajara in retaliation for investigations that led Mexico to seize and destroy multi-million dollar amounts of marijuana at a 2,500-acre field in Chihuahua.
Cartel leaders tortured the pair for two days before murdering them, court records show. Their bodies were found on March 5, 1985; the three drug lords were arrested by Mexican authorities between 1985 and 1989.
Felix is due to serve his 40 years in a Mexican prison at the end of the decade. Caro Quintero was extradited to the United States last February and faces multiple charges in a New York courtroom where prosecutors reportedly are considering asking for the death penalty.
'Don Neto' named in Camarena family civil lawsuit
The family and the estate of Camarena on March 20 filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California praying for relief.
The family seeks relief from their past and future pain and suffering and the estate also petitioned for compensation – for the injuries and death inflicted on Camarena by Caro Quintero, Felix and Fonseca.
The agent’s estate demands “damages in an amount to be determined by a jury” for the agent’s assault and battery, including punitive damages, interest and court costs. The lawsuit includes a claim for wrongful death, according to court documents obtained by Border Report.
The suit alleges Caro Quintero was the drug kingpin “responsible for a murder conspiracy targeting those who posed a threat to his organization, including DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena.”
Mexico arrested Felix four years after the killing and convicted him of the actual kidnapping and murder.
Mexican police arrested Fonseca in the resort of Puerto Vallarta a month after the bodies were found. He kept recordings of Camarena’s interrogation and torture in his home, court documents show.
The plaintiffs include the agent’s widow, Geneva A. Camarena, individually an on behalf of the Estate of Enrique S. Camarena, the agent’s children, his sisters and the estate of his late brother Ernesto Camarena.