In my previous career as a CIA intel officer, I focused on counterdrug efforts.
Bringing Mexican cartel kingpins to justice was a big goal. So I gave a silent cheer when Mexico transferred 26 organized crime figures to the US this week.
Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch (FYI-he was President Claudia Sheinbaum’s chief of police when she was mayor of Mexico City) announced that Mexico’s Security Cabinet, in an act of “bilateral coordination” and “with full respect for our sovereignty, transferred to the United States 26 people linked to criminal organizations who represented a risk for the security of Mexico.”
The 26 in question are “leaders and managers” of the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), and Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas). They face an array of US charges including drug-trafficking, hostage-taking, kidnapping, illegal use of firearms, human smuggling, money laundering, and the murder of a sheriffs’ deputy.
Decoder ring, please
There are code words in Garcia Harfuch’s statement.
Sovereignty: Mexico doesn’t have the death penalty. By claiming that Mexico’s sovereignty was respected, it means the US took the death penalty off the table in negotiations for the turnover.
The 26 will make deals or go to trial. Expect to see many sentenced to life in prison.
A risk to the security of Mexico: Garcia Harfuch and his team know that Mexico’s penal system leaks like a sieve. Remember how El Chapo escaped twice from a maximum security prison? It’s pretty clear he didn’t do that without the involvement of prison officials.
Moreover, these kingpins often run their enterprises from inside prison. Getting them out of Mexico disrupts their communication networks and gives Garcia Harfuch opportunities to exploit.
Real life vs fiction
A similar situation underpins the plot of 43 MISSING, the 6th Detective Emilia Cruz mystery. Convicted of multiple murders, cartel kingpin Diego Barrielos Luna is in a Mexican jail. Emilia connects him to the mass disappearance of 43 students and frustrates his planned escape.
Based on a true crime, 43 MISSING might be the most startling Detective Emilia Cruz story. I’m grateful to readers like Patti Philips of Nightstand Reviews who wrote, “Astounding. Amato is thoroughly convincing in her version of what might have happened in real life . . . Stayed with me long after I finished the book.”
55 and counting
Including this week’s 26, Mexico has so far transferred 55 cartel kingpins to the US in 2025. In February, Mexico sent 29 to the US, including Rafael Caro Quintero, the convicted murderer of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.
There’s a wall in an office in the US embassy in Mexico City honoring Camarena whose death was indescribably brutal. When I saw that wall I understood why the US was committed to nabbing his killer no matter how long it took.
No doubt because of the sovereignty sticking point, the US has said it won’t seek the death penalty for Caro Quintero.
Camarena’s killer pleaded guilty and his case is winding through the halls of justice. Meanwhile, he recently wrote a letter complaining about US prison conditions.
Bad food, little sunshine.
Not even a good prison tattoo artist.
MY BACKSTORY— I learned a few things about danger, deception and resilience during a 30-year career with the CIA focusing on counterdrug efforts and technical collection. Now a mystery author, those lessons play out on the page, especially in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series set in Acapulco. Starting with Cliff Diver, the series is a back-to-back winner of the Poison Cup Award for Outstanding Series from CrimeMasters of America. I’ve also written historical and political thrillers, essays about the craft of crime fiction, and live with a very large white dog named Bear.
