The man referred to as “The Boss of the Bosses” and “The Godfather,” Félix Gallardo, has been behind bars since 1989 for the abduction and murder of Camarena.
The 76-year-old was given a 40-year jail term in 1989 by a judge for offenses including racketeering, possessing a handgun, and bribery. But it wasn’t until 2017 that a judge sentenced him to 37 years in prison after finding him guilty of killing the special agent.
Due to Félix Gallardo’s ill health, a judge of the Seventh District of Federal Criminal Proceedings court authorized last week that the remainder of his sentence be carried out inside of his house.
He will still have to serve out the remainder of his term for the murder of Camarena even if his sentences for racketeering, possessing a handgun, and bribery finish in 2029.
The DEA was contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (pictured in a 2021 interview with Telemundo) was granted home confinement last Tuesday. Known as ‘The Boss of the Bosses’ and ‘The Godfather,’ the 76-year-old has been in prison since 1989 when he was arrested and then sentenced to 30 years for racketeering, firearm possession and bribery. In 2017, a court handed him a 40-year prison term for the 1985 murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Kiki Camarena
The investigation led by DEA agent Kiki Camarena brought down the Guadalajara Cartel, but not before he was kidnapped, tortured and killed by the criminal organization in 1985
A prior request to complete the remainder of his sentence at home was denied by a Mexico City court February 20, 2019.
In an August 2021 jail house interview with Telemundo, Félix Gallardo complained about his failing health, indicating ‘half of my body (is) paralyzed.’
He lost vision in his right eye and is deaf in his left ear. In addition, he has undergone eight hernia removal surgeries. He also injured his arm during a fall inside prison.
Félix Gallardo was a federal police officer before he founded the Guadalajara Cartel with Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, the latter who is awaiting extradition to the United States for Camarena’s killing.
Camarena died at the age 37, leaving behind a wife and three children, including one who is now a judge in California.
As the leader of the defunct Guadalajara Cartel, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo groomed Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and Amado Carrillo Fuentes who is also known as ‘The Lord of the Skies’
The body of DEA agent Enrique Camarena was flown in a casket from Mexico to an Air Force base in California on March 8, 1985, a month after he was abducted and killed by the Guadalajara Cartel
Shockingly, the frail cartel boss told the network that he had no idea who Fonseca Carrillo and Caro Quintero were – the trio started out smuggling marijuana to the United States before they formed a partnership with Pablo Escobar to ship cocaine to America.
‘I don’t know them,’ he said. ‘We did not meet on the street. These people and I have never chatted.’
Additionally, Félix Gallardo groomed some of Mexico’s most powerful drug lords like Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, Amado Carrillo Fuentes who is also known as ‘The Lord of the Skies,’ Héctor Luis ‘El Güero’ Palma Salazar and his nephews, the Arellano-Félix brothers.
Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero (center) was arrested by security forces in Sinaloa on July 15. He now awaits extradition to the United States, where he is accused of killing DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985
Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo was one of the Guadalajara Cartel’s three founders
Félix Gallardo, who is portrayed in the hit Netflix series Narcos: Mexico, has always distanced himself from Camarena’s killing.
The cartel sought revenge on Camarena after the Mexican military raided a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation in 1984. Caro Quintero accused Camarena for a raid and his henchmen kidnapped him in Guadalajara on February 7, 1985.
Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala, who was employed by the Mexican government and the DEA, was kidnapped the same day in a separate incident.
The tortured bodies of Camarena and Zavala were located on March 5, 1985, wrapped in plastic and dumped at an abandoned property in La Angostura, a city in the state of Michoacán.
‘It is a very sad subject. This Mr. Camarena, whoever they were, whoever did it, the perpetrators and masterminds are behind bars; they’ve paid with their lives in prison, and they’ve had a very rough time,’ Félix Gallardo told Telemundo. ‘I’m not aware why they’ve linked me to that crime. I never met that man. Let me reiterate: I’m not into weapons. I’m really sorry because I know he was a good man.’