*

Mexico sends 29 cartel leaders to US, including Caro

Quintero

*

Legal questions arise over mass expulsion

*

Caro Quintero faces drug trafficking charges in US

*

Mexico seeks to head off Trump tarrifs over fentanyl

(New throughout, adds White House comment, details on possible

death sentences, lawyer comment)

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) -

Mexican drug lords faced criminal charges in the U.S. on

Friday, with some looking at a possible death penalty, as court

proceedings commenced and the defendants' lawyers accused Mexico

of failing to follow legal procedures with forced expulsions.

First to face U.S. justice is

Rafael Caro Quintero, labeled a bloodthirsty cartel boss by

prosecutors after he spent decades in Mexican prison for the

murder of a U.S. DEA agent. Caro Quintero was set to face his

arraignment in a New York court on Friday afternoon on drug

trafficking charges that could trigger a death sentence.

The White House called him "one of the most evil cartel

bosses" on Friday. The statement cited an order issued last

month by U.S. President Donald Trump labeling several Mexican

drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

On Thursday, Mexico's government expelled Caro Quintero and

28 other suspected cartel members as part of its biggest

handover in years. Trump had threatened to order 25% tariffs on

Mexican goods starting on March 4 over slow progress on stemming

fentanyl as well as U.S.-bound migrant flows.

Caro Quintero is expected to make his first court appearance

around 1:00 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) before U.S. Magistrate Judge

Robert Levy in Brooklyn.

Thursday's mass transfer featured mostly aging gang leaders

such as Caro Quintero, the 72-year-old co-founder of the

Guadalajara Cartel, who reigned over Mexico's criminal

underworld decades ago.

While some of the other drug lords likely continued to run

criminal rackets from behind bars, according to security

analysts, Mexico's volatile gangland leadership has mostly moved

on.

The handover included some relatively younger leaders

accused of moving large quantities of fentanyl into the U.S.

Caro Quintero spent 28 years in prison in Mexico after being

convicted of murdering former DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena,

one of the most notorious killings in Mexico's narco wars.

He denied involvement in Camarena's murder and was released

in 2013 on a technicality. He was indicted in absentia in

Brooklyn federal court in 2020 on drug trafficking and weapons

charges, and recaptured by Mexican authorities in 2022.

The violent story of the capo and murdered DEA agent

featured prominently in Netflix's ( NFLX ) 2018 "Narcos Mexico" series.

In a court filing ahead of Caro Quintero's arraignment,

prosecutors asked Levy to detain him pending trial, pointing to

his ordering the murder of Camarena. The filing notes that Caro

Quintero believed Camarena was responsible for the seizure of a

ranch he owned in Mexico near the U.S. border.

FORCED TRANSFERS

Caro Quintero will appear in the same Brooklyn courthouse

where notorious Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman

was convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2019. Guzman is

serving a life sentence at a maximum-security U.S. prison.

U.S. prosecutors accuse Caro Quintero of directing marijuana

and cocaine shipments while he was behind bars, and returning to

drug trafficking after his 2013 release. He later developed

networks to ship drugs across the U.S., according to the filing.

If convicted, Caro Quintero could face a mandatory minimum

sentence of life in prison or even the death penalty.

"To protect his operation, the defendant used violence

freely," the prosecutors wrote, adding that he ordered beatings

and executions of those suspected of stealing or disloyalty.

Also appearing in Brooklyn federal court on Friday will be

Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, accused of being the one-time Juarez

Cartel boss. While that cartel is largely inoperative now, he

was charged in 2019 with drug trafficking and ordering the

murders of rival cartel members.

The other suspects expelled from Mexico on Thursday face

charges in other U.S. states or in Washington, D.C.

Lawyers for some of them accuse Mexican authorities of

trampling on their clients' rights, and call their forced

transfer to U.S. custody blatantly illegal.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, another five of

the alleged gang leaders could also face the death penalty. In

the past, such a sentence has almost always been prohibited as

part of legal extradition deals between U.S. and Mexican

officials. Mexico prohibits state-ordered executions.

Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a defense lawyer in New York

who has handled international drug trafficking cases, argues

that any violation by Mexican authorities of the defendants'

right to contest their expulsion would not interfere with their

prosecution in the U.S.

"Once Mexico delivers them here, there's absolutely no

issue for the U.S. prosecutors - unfair as that might seem," he

said.

Meanwhile, the politically charged criminal case against

another senior Mexican drug lord, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, has

been proceeding in New York also.

Until he was turned over to U.S. agents last year by a son

of Guzman, Zambada was arguably Mexico's top fugitive drug lord.

Since last July, the Mexican government has unsuccessfully

sought his extradition back to Mexico.

Zambada, the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel alongside

Guzman, is also awaiting a U.S. trial. A lawyer for the

septuagenarian Zambada told Reuters this week he would be

willing to plead guilty if he is spared the death penalty.