Juan Pablo Quintero Martínez, known as “Pablito,” nephew of Rafael Caro Quintero, was arrested in the municipality Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico. He was arrested in the Rancho Blanco neighborhood over the killing of an individual in Mexico City last November. He will be investigated in connection to other federal crimes.

His uncle, Rafael Caro Quintero, known as “El Narco de Narcos” and one of the Cartel de Guadalajara’s founders, is on the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) most wanted list. Caro Quintero is wanted by the US for the torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena in 1985 and trafficking. He spent 28-years in a Mexican maximum-security prison and was released after the court concluded that he was tried improperly. The DEA is currently offering USD 20 million for information leading to his capture.

Caro Quintero now heads the Cartel de Carborca in Caborca, Sonora, which is embroiled in a war against the Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS) faction led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, collectively known as “Los Chapitos” in Sonora.

The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) reported that it had not received any judicial order to release Jesús Héctor Palma Salazar, known as “El Güero Palma, one of the founders of the Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS), despite multiple outlets claiming the founder would be released. Federal authorities confirm the news is “false.”

The SSPC confirms that Palma Salazar remains in the Altiplano prison.

Earlier today, Jalisco Prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solís confirmed they had received an official email from the Social Rehabilitation Directorate of the Federal Security Secretariat ordering Palma Salazar’s release and inquiring about any pending cases. Octavio Solís reportedly responded to the requested information via the same email. He added that information is confidential.

Palma Salazar worked as a hitman for Cartel de Guadalajara founder Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, known as “El Padrino” or “El Jefe de Jefes.” After meeting Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, he founded the CDS alongside El Chapo.

In 1978, the Arellano Félix brothers ordered Venezuelan trafficker Rafael Clavel Moreno to kill Palma Salazar’s wife and children. Clavel Moreno shipped the wife’s decapitated head to Palma and threw his two children off the Puente de la Concordia bridge in Venezuela. The hit on Palma’s family was later attributed to Félix Gallardo.

He was arrested in 1995 and extradited to the United States in 2007, facing a 16-year sentence. He was released in 2016 for good conduct. That same year, he was re-arrested in Mexico on two counts of homicide. He has yet to be charged and remains in the Altiplano maximum-security prison.