Rafael Caro Quintero: Infamous Drug Lord's 'Forgotten Victims' Demand Justice

Before El Chapo made the Sinaloa Cartel famous, and before the Jalisco New Generation Cartel cut a bloody path in the Mexican underworld, there was the Guadalajara Cartel, led by Rafael Caro Quintero.

So, when he was finally arrested after years of hunting for him, it made many of his victims remember what he and members of his criminal empire did decades ago, stirring up forgotten memories.

His highest profile victims were U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar. However, he and his Guadalajara Cartel were responsible for much more deaths. According to ABC News, the gang killed as many as six United States citizens in Guadalajara around 1985, the same year as Camarena and Avelar were killed.

Relatives of Rafael Caro Quintero's 'Forgotten Victims' Speak Up

One of his American victims was writer John Clay Walker. His daughter, Lannie Walker, spoke up following the drug lord's recent capture and the news of his possible extradition to the United States.

According to Lannie Walker, her father moved to Guadalajara to finish a book. She told the Associated Press that while they were glad to hear he was finally captured, it still brought a lot of trauma to her and her family. She explained that she and her sister had lost almost 40 years of their time with their father, and his capture will not be able to make up for that.

Walker said that her father and his friend, a dental student from Texas, Alberto Radelat, walked into a high-end Guadalajara seafood restaurant called The Lobster. They were celebrating Walker's planned return to the United States. However, they did not know that Cara Quintero was holding a private party in one of the restaurant's backrooms at that time.

Walker said that her father had no involvement in the drug war, and he was only an innocent bystander. She added that he and his friend walked into the crosshairs of the cartel, who began interrogating them, questioning if they knew any DEA agents in Mexico. She also said that they tortured her father with an icepick for hours.

As for her thoughts on Caro Quintero's possible extradition, she said that if he is convicted and punished, it "would be a small amount of justice." They are still holding hope, though his release in 2013 had made them nervous about his fate.

Rafael Caro Quintero Extradition Likely Not To Be Fast

The United States has now filed an extradition request for the infamous Guadalajara drug lord. However, in another report, the Associated Press noted that this process might take some time.

Caro Quintero's lawyers are planning to have a drawn-out extradition process and have already intervened. A judge is currently reviewing the United States' extradition request and will be giving the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs whether or not it meets the requirements for extradition. With this lengthy process, his lawyers can bog it down with appeals. Even if the ministry decides that he will indeed get extradited to the U.S., his lawyers could still appeal it.

In the case of El Chapo, the extradition process took a year.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: 'Narcos' drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero captured in Mexico - Sky News