June 7, 1988 12 AM PT. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 7, 1985, D.E.A. There is too many ghosts behind me, Godoy said. They claimed the DEA official accepted money from the cartel. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. A few of the men charged in the case remain fugitives. FBI scientists made such claims for years in front of judges and juries. . He was likely injected with drugs to ensure he remained conscious throughout the ordeal. Camerena was an undercover DEA agent that was captured and tortured by a cartel in the 80s. The tape was also used in the federal trial against the three Mexican cartel bosses who ordered his kidnapping. "Shortly after Kiki's death, Congressman Duncan Hunter and high school friend Henry Lozano launched Camarena Clubs in Kiki's hometown of Calexico, California. Several movies, short films and television series have documented the story of Kiki Camarena, right from 'Drug Wars: The Camarena Story' (1990), 'Heroes Under Fire: Righteous Vendetta' (2005), 'Miss Bala' (2011), and the original Netflix drama 'Narcos'. They told her they were investigating the claim, but she said they did not provide details. ', Camarena is pictured with wife Mika and two of their sons shortly before his death, Camarena's disappearance made worldwide headlines in February 1985, and sparked fury from the Reagan Administration. Seventeen years elapsed, however, before prosecutors informed Verdugo that the testimony linking him to a hair found at the murder scene exceeded the limits of science. By then, Verdugo had been in prison for 32 years. The case eventually reached theU.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that lvarez was not entitled to relief. The tape helped authorities identify Camarena's voice pleading with the culprits in his murder. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. (1988, July 31). Camarena, 37, who was known by the nickname Kiki, served in the U.S.Marine Corps before moving into law enforcementand becoming a DEA agent in 1975. Camarena opens the show in a scene that shows hes been abducted. In Fresno, the DEA hosts a yearlygolftournament named after him. In 2004, the Calexico Police Department erected a memorial dedicated to Camarena. [, Mexican police had destroyed evidence on Camarenas body. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), By the early '80s, Ronald Reagan was the new President and the agency was in full force. The Reagan administration would immediately expand the war on drugs, and the U.S. would later see a major increase in arrests and incarceration for drug use as he pushed for wide-scale crackdowns, per Britannica. The highly publicized abduction and murder in 1985 was one of the darkest moments in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history and provided the plot for the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico." View these interviews at
This new chapter in Narcos' story, as . Sara Coso was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, the daughter of Secretary of Education Octavio Csar Coso Vidaurri and the niece of Governor Guillermo Coso Vidaurri. eventAction: 'view' In later years, DEA agent James Kuykendall, who was Camarenas supervisor in Guadalajara, has spoken out about the CIA and the Kiki Camarena murder. ga('ads.send', { The shows depiction of his kidnap and torture was nowhere near as brutal as the real event and it is right that Kiki should be remembered as a hero who give his life in what I sometime feel is the pointless War on Drugs. Full Context. Moreover, the Enrique S. Camarena Foundation is committed to the prevention of drug use, trafficking, and violence. The money goes toward scholarships. These psychos were obviously baying for blood Mod blood, to beexact. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. The cartel enforcers took Camarena to a house on a street called Lope de Vega, where witnesses said they put him on a bed in a guest house at the rear of the property and interrogated him about raids on the cartels supplies and the informants who helped lead agents to the drugs. Speaking Tuesday at a virtual conference on the drug trafficking case against former army chief Salvador Cienfuegos, Ignacio Morales Lechuga, attorney general during the latter half of the 1988-94. Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story about the arrest of Dr. Humberto lvarez-Machan in Los Angeles for the murder and kidnapping of DEA agent Enrique S. "Kiki" Camarena Salazar. I want the truth to be out. His skull, jaw, nose, and windpipes were crushed. U.S.officials turned to some cartel associates to helpillegallyarm and equip rebelsbattlingthe Sandinista government in Nicaragua in what came to be known as the Iran-contra affair. if(document.querySelector("#ads")){ Camarena is pictured left. Mika Camarena, whose given name is Geneva Camarena, was high school sweethearts with Kiki. At this point, nothing would surprise me.. In season 2, an enraged DEA jacks up its efforts to dismantle the cartel and get cartel figures to prosecution, even going so far as abducting a doctor accused of being affiliated with the cartel and assisting in Camarenas death. Camarena was tortured at Gallardos ranch over a 30-hour period, then murdered. Since I had represented some people involved in drug prosecutions in federal court in my hometown of Laredo, I was thunderstruck when I heard about the Camarena case. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Malone had credibility problems as a witness. The U.S. government effectively closed the border with Mexico to pressure its reluctant Mexican counterparts. LOS ANGELES The gunmen were waiting forEnrique Camarena. Three ribs on the left side were broken. Due to the difficulty ofextraditingMexican citizens, the DEA went as far as to detain two suspects,Humberto lvarez Machan, the physician who allegedly prolonged Camarenas life so the torture could continue, and Javier Vsquez Velasco; both were taken bybounty huntersinto the United States. Click here to order :https://tinyurl.com/2p9b958v. Was he really abducted? The Netflix series details the background of the case and how this horrendous crime unfolded. After his military service, he moved back to his hometown of Calexico, California to work as a fireman and then became a police officer in the Calexico Police Department. Michael Pena is pictured playing the DEA Agent at right. By 1985, which is when Narcos: Mexico roughly starts, he was extremely close to unlocking a multi-billion dollar drug pipeline, the DEA says. }); Enrique (Kiki) S. Camarena was born on July 26, 1947, in Mexicali, Mexico. Kiki and Fredy were tortured for information for a period of over 30 hours, resulting in their deaths. In the late stages of Narcos: Mexico, ambitious DEA agent Kiki Camerana was finally murdered after being tortured for several days. Gallardo was sentenced to 37 years in 2017 for the death of Camarena by a Mexican court (as well as the murder of Alfredo Zavala, a Mexican pilot), according to The Times. U.S. agents working in Mexico reported being tailed by cartel operatives, and one agents car was shot up by machine gun fire outside his house. It was in 1975 that he first joined the DEA and in 1981, he was assigned the Guadalajara office. And revealing as well! Caro-Quintero was convicted by a Mexican court but freed on appeal and is on the FBIs most-wanted list. In its spin-off, 'Narcos: Mexico' goes on to show the Guadalajara cartel's ascent as Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo (Diego Luna), Rafael Caro Quintero (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), and Don Neto, aka Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo (Joaqun Cosio), join hands. Enrique S. Camarena Jr. was 11 when members of a narco-trafficking cartel tortured and murdered his father, nicknamed "Kiki," in Mexico in February, 1985 -- a tragic milestone in a drug war . In theNetflixdramaNarcos, Camarenas death and its aftermath are recapped in news footage in the first season episode The Men of Always. Camarenas son, Enrique Jr., a county judge in San Diego, declined to comment through a spokesman because judicial ethics rules dont allow him to comment on open cases or investigations.. Merely days before he was set to be transferred to San Diego, Kiki Camarena was kidnapped while on his way to lunch with his wife. Image below of Book cover and outline of my storyYou can pre-order via this link on Amazon https://t.co/QAjG1d3u6HVisit my blog for more info: https://t.co/cpdGDOXdgy pic.twitter.com/71z7bgjwQ5. We are helping law enforcement get the word out about drugs to our youth, parents and schools., Kiki Camarenas son, Enrique Camarena is now a judge in California after serving as a deputy district attorney for years. Meanwhile, alleged henchmen Rene Verdugo and Juan Matta-Ballesteros were also jailed for their involvement, before a judge disputed forensic evidence and threw out their convictions in 2017. Two former US law enforcement agents and an ex-CIA contractor have told an American television network that Enrique "Kiki" Camarena - the undercover DEA agent whose 1985 torture and murder in. On February 7, 1985; DEA Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and his pilot Fredy Zavala were kidnapped by agents of the Direccin Federal de Seguridad, allegedly on behalf of Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the leaders of the Guadalajara Cartel. eventAction: 'click_image_ads' The Amazon Prime series provides the real backstory of what happened to Camarena and why. As he lay dying, a cartel doctor was ordered to keep him alert by administering drugs.. Camarenas body was found in a rural area outside the small town ofLa Angostura, in the state of Michoacn, on March 5, 1985. U.S. authorities offered a $20 million reward for his capture. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. They were mostly guys in their early 30s who had joined the DEA with the patriotic aim of winning the war on drugs. The ending is a sad one, and what happened to Kiki Camarena would change the face of Mexican drug cartels forever and lead to the emergence of El Chapo. Season 1. After getting the information, the criminals murdered Agent Camarena and buried him. Lawyers for both said they were not permitted to discuss the details. The designers and the don: How two interior decorators took the fall for the Cali Cartel. Whether anything comes of the investigation remains uncertain,but the allegations were too alarming to ignore, officials said. . (606) 8.5 2020 X-Ray HDR UHD TV-MA. Along with pilot Freddy Zavala, Kiki is interrogated, tortured, and ultimately executed. Prosecutors and agents confirmed to Camarenas widow, Mika, that witnessesprovided the accounts allegedly connecting the CIA operative and DEA official to the plot, she said in an interview. They blindfolded him and, between questions, beat and burned him. But on his way from the building to his vehicle, he was abducted by armed men who shoved him into a car. See : The Loyalist Mod Death of a fella Mod and a Catholic Friend, See: True story behind Netflixs Narcos: Mexico. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ In order to maintain control and enforce these anti-drugs laws, a new federal agency was born. In November 1988,TIMEmagazine featured Camarena on the cover. An internal Justice Department investigation in 1997 found he had testified falsely before Congress. He left the FBI in 1999 but remained on contract for more than a decade doing background investigations. Camarena's captors beat and burned him, before using a power tool to drill into his skull. Caro Quintero, the drug boss chiefly responsible for Camarena's death, was recently released from a Mexican prison in the middle of the night, more than a decade early. hitType: 'event', It was the 7th of February, 1985. He is telling the story of his father,DEA agent Enrique Camarena and story of #RedRibbonWeek #inspiringyoungminds Thanks for your fathers and your service to our communities .#msasdonaroll pic.twitter.com/2rAEDOOVgM, Principal Serce (@mr_serce) October 23, 2018, He told NBC San Diego of his dad, You know, I think about him every day. Kiki Camarena was born Enrique (Kiki) S. Camarena on July 26, 1947, in Mexicali, Mexico. The U.S. is offering a. Accused cartel boss Rafael Caro-Quintero has been wanted in connection with Camarenas death since he was indicted in 1987. There is too many ghosts behind me. Ernesto Don Neto Fonseca and Rafael Caro Quintero were other cartel leaders involved. An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story, JFKs Remarkable Peace Speech that Sealed His Fate, Why They Hated Kennedy, and Why They Killed Him, Conservative Mental Dichotomy on the Draft, An Old-Line Conservative Weighs in on the JFK Assassination. This video is for entertainment purposes only. He worked on the case for four years, until 1985. Michael Malone, a longtime FBI agent and prolific expert witness, testified that hair samples taken from two suspects on trial in Camarenas murder Rene Verdugo and Juan Matta-Ballesteros matched hair recovered from the guest house where Camarena was tortured;therefore, it was compelling evidence putting both men at the scene of the crime. James Kuykendall was there, and when it comes to the reality of the drug business this is the real thing! Carlos Somonte/Netflix. So, why would drug dealers go after and kill Camarena, a fairly low-level drug agent? In the early afternoon hours of February 7, 1985, Camarena was leaving his post based in the U.S. Consulate office in Guadalajara to meet with his wife. }); }); Also found was the body of his pilot, Zavala Avelar. They then forcibly brought him to the United States to stand trial in federal district court. Fonseca, who was convicted in the 1985 kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena . Wrapped in plastic, his ribs were broken, skull crushed and a hole drilled into his head. But after Berrellez figured out what was really going on, he was taken off the case. . A federal court tossed their convictions in 2017. Indirectly, they (the CIA) have got to take some of the blame. He alleged the CIA protected the DFS for decades, and stated, The DFS just got out of hand., Kiki Camarena Death: The Real Story of the DEA Agents Murder, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. He had called at 1.30pm from his office at the American Consulate in Guadalajara . eventAction: 'click_ads' The Tragic Death Of DEA Agent Kiki Camarena, Wikimedia Commons/United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). At this point, nothing would surprise me. He also worked as a Special Agent on the original Imperial County Narcotic Task Force (ICNTF). Trump and US face logistical nightmare if he follows through with threats, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { A school, a library and a street in his home town ofCalexico, California, are named after him. Enrique Camarena (July 26, 1947 - February 9, .