Federal Judge Joan Azrack summoned Mexican drug trafficker Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, alias “El Viceroy”, to a new pre-trial hearing for next October 20, after failing to reach an agreement with the United States Attorney's Office.
Azrack presided over a technical hearing in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York in which the parties highlighted “productive” progress in the talks on a plea agreement for “The Viceroy”, but asked the magistrate for more time.
The 63-year-old Mexican, who has been in a Brooklyn detention center since he was extradited last year, attended the hearing dressed in khaki prison attire and an orange T-shirt.
In the session, which lasted about ten minutes, the Prosecutor's Office and the defense referred to the negotiations in positive terms but requested a new three-month extension to continue working on it.
After being asked by the judge, the accused agreed with the new extension.
Despite pleading not guilty to all charges in February of last year, the Prosecutor's Office and his defense began negotiations to reach an agreement with which “El Viceroy” would avoid going to trial. Since then, the judge has granted several extensions of the deadline to continue working.
The Prosecutor's Office announced that it will not request the death penalty for the accused, so he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Carrillo and his partner Rafael Caro Quintero were extradited from Mexico in February 2025 to face judicial proceedings in the US for drug trafficking, something that was interpreted as a response to the demands of US President Donald Trump to redouble his fight against drug trafficking.
“El Viceroy” had already been sentenced in Mexico to 48 years in prison after consecutive sentences of more than 20 years each.
Carrillo was the heir to the leadership of the Juárez Cartel, one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the late 1990s, after the death of his older brother Amado Carrillo, alias “El Señor de los Cielos” due to complications from plastic surgery.
He faces charges of continued criminal organization, conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, use of weapons for drug crimes and laundering proceeds from drug trafficking.
