Family of slain U.S. DEA agent sues cartel and 3 suspected drug kingpins over 1985 murder

The family of U.S. federal agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena has filed a lawsuit against the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico and three suspected drug kingpins over his brutal kidnap and murder in 1985.

Camarena, a 37-year-old agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, was abducted in broad daylight off the street of Guadalajara on Feb. 7, 1985. His pilot, Alfredo Zavala-Avelar, was kidnapped near the Guadalajara airport. Both men were interrogated and tortured in an effort to gain information on the DEA’s knowledge of the Cartel’s operations, the federal civil lawsuit says.

They were killed two days after the kidnapping and their bodies were buried in a shallow grave on a rural farm about 60 miles from Guadalajara, the lawsuit says.

His story was featured in the first season of the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico."

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a California federal court, seeks to hold Rafael Caro Quintero, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, and the Sinaloa cartel responsible for Camarena’s death. It was filed under a new designation by President Donald Trump that classifies the cartels as terrorist organizations.

"It has been 40 years since these men and their deadly criminal enterprise ended my husband’s life, which he dedicated to stopping traffickers from flooding our country with dangerous criminals, narcotics, and violence," Camarena’s widow, Geneva "Mika" Camarena, said in a statement.

She thanked the president, saying the designation "finally allows my family and me to seek justice."

"My brother Kiki gave his life to protect our communities from the scourge of drugs and violence these cartels unleashed on the United States. For decades, we have carried the pain of his loss, but also his courage," his sister, Myrna Camarena, said. "Thanks to President Trump’s bold action in designating the Sinaloa Cartel as a terrorist organization and getting Mexico to expel one of the men responsible for Kiki’s death, we finally have a chance to hold his killers accountable in a United States courtroom."

The lawsuit seeks compensatory, punitive, and treble damages, which allow the court to award up to three times the actual damages.

Following Trump’s order, Caro Quintero and more than 20 other Mexican drug cartel suspects were deported to the U.S. Caro Quintero was arraigned on Feb. 28 in New York on charges that include orchestrating Camarena’s death. He has pleaded not guilty.

The lawsuit alleges that Camarena and Zavala-Avelar conducted periodic surveillance flights studying the cartel’s marijuana growing operations. Camarena’s kidnapping was retaliation after Caro Quintero’s marijuana plantation was raided by Mexican and U.S. authorities.

Camarena and Zavala-Avelar were interrogated and tortured for over 30 hours before they were killed, the lawsuit says. Their bodies were found wrapped in plastic, blindfolded, bound and gagged on a farm in March 1985.

A forensic exam found that both men had extensive injuries and died from head and neck blows.

All three defendants were arrested in connection with the deaths and convicted in Mexican courts. They were each sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Caro Quintero was released in 2013 after a Mexican appellate court determined that the murder charges were incorrectly tried in a Mexican federal court, the lawsuit says. But Mexican authorities appealed the ruling, and an appeals court reinstated his conviction. An arrest warrant was issued, but Caro Quintero had already gone into hiding. He was arrested again in 2022 by the Mexican military after nearly 10 years on the run.  

Fonseca Carrillo successfully petitioned a Mexican court in 2016 to release him under house arrest because of his health and age. He and Felix Gallardo remain in Mexico, where they continue to serve their sentences.