🇲🇽🇺🇸 MEXICO SECRETLY FLEW 55 CARTEL BOSSES TO U.S. IN MILITARY OPERATION
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 24, 2025
Mexico just pulled off 2 cloak-and-dagger operations this year, secretly transferring 55 of its most dangerous cartel leaders to U.S. custody.
The prisoners had no idea where they were going. Some… pic.twitter.com/s8Fc2MSpFc
Mexico just pulled off 2 cloak-and-dagger operations this year, secretly transferring 55 of its most dangerous cartel leaders to U.S. custody.
The prisoners had no idea where they were going. Some thought their bribes had paid off and they were being freed.
Instead, they landed in America facing life in maximum-security prisons.
"Welcome to America!" the DEA's interim chief told them as they disembarked.
These aren't street-level dealers. They're the top echelons of the Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation, and Zetas cartels.
Rafael Caro Quintero, charged with killing DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985, is among them.
The Treviño brothers, who killed 18 prison officers from behind bars and controlled a network of 600 inmates across Mexican prisons, are now in Virginia.
The operation required 2,000 Mexican special forces, decoy convoys, frozen bank accounts, replaced prison staff, and new catering companies to prevent poisoning.
Officials feared if word leaked, cartels would stage escapes, trigger riots, or assassinate their own leaders to prevent them from talking.
Why the sudden cooperation? Trump administration pressure, including threats of punitive tariffs if Mexico didn't crack down on drug trafficking.
Now these cartel bosses face a choice: cooperate with U.S. authorities and potentially get reduced sentences, or keep silent like El Chapo and spend 23 hours a day in a windowless cell for life.
El Chapo's son chose cooperation. His godfather, El Mayo Zambada, faces life at his January 13 sentencing.
A third transfer is already under discussion.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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