US Drug Fugitive Caught in Mexico After 9 Years on the Run, FBI Says

Convicted drug smuggler Manuel Gortari-Redondo has been returned to the U.S., the FBI said.Getty/Stock

First Published: 2:43 PM PST, December 6, 2022

The fugitive has been extradited back to Arizona, but two co-conspirators, including his wife, are still at large, the FBI says.

A fugitive who outran authorities for nine years has been arrested in Mexico and returned to the U.S., the FBI announced.

Manuel Gortari-Redondo, 45, was extradited to Arizona after being arrested by Mexican law enforcement, the agency said. He was part of a Tucson-based drug-smuggling organization that sold marijuana to Nebraska's division of the Bloods street gang from June 2006 to July 2011, the FBI said.

Gortari-Redondo was convicted in absentia after vanishing on the third day of his 2013 trial, authorities said.

He was found guilty of charges including money laundering and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, authorities said.

His wife, Sandra Mendivil-Redondo, and another man, Mario Carmona Rodriguez, were also charged with being part of the organization and are still at large, the FBI said.

Gortari-Redondo was sentenced to 162 years in prison. Anyone with information on the other two fugitives is asked to contact the FBI, which is offering a $3,500 reward offered for each of them.

"The extradition of Mr. Gortari-Redondo is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond U.S. borders no matter how long it takes," said Akil Davis, special agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix field office.