'The Last Narc' Episode 3: Why was pilot Alfredo Zavala kidnapped and tortured alongside agent Kiki?
After Mexican-American undercover agent Enrique S 'Kiki' Camarena Salazar burned Rancho Bufalo, a marijuana plantation belonging to Mexican drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, the cartel was desperate to seek revenge — they would stop at nothing to avenge the loss of millions of dollars. The co-founders of the Guadalajara cartel, Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo had put all their collective power into finding the person behind the destruction of the plantation. After all, it was Quintero's largest crop.
In Episode 3 of the Amazon Prime docuseries 'The Last Narc', which explores the abduction, brutal torture and vicious killing of Kiki, details of this crime are revealed with a scathing clarity. Geneva Camarena, Kiki's wife, also reveals how she spent the last happy day with her husband. For years following the discovery of Kiki's body, the DEA had no idea where to begin their investigation. It was only after they brought Hector Berrellez on board that he sparked his large network of Mexican informants. In the docuseries, he sits down with Ramón Lira, René Lopez and Jorge Godoy explaining in detail how they solved the murder bringing to justice not just Kiki but also redemption for the informants' own sins.
After Kiki was kidnapped, Quintero and Carrillo initiated a search for Kiki's pilot Alfredo Zavala. He was captured barely a few hours after Kiki. Kiki would not have been successful in lighting up the marijuana plantation if it wasn't for Zavala. The Mexican pilot flew surveillance over Rancho and helped him capture images and video as proof.
Alfredo Zavala Avelars was a professional pilot for the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture. Not only was he a DEA informant regularly providing them with information about the comings and goings of Mexican drug lords but also a close friend of Camarena. Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán and the Los Dormidos were responsible for bringing him in. Brought in a house owned by Quintero, he was brutally tortured and murdered.
After the murders, Caro Quintero fled to Costa Rica but was later arrested and extradited back to Mexico, where he was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder. 'The Last Narc' reveals how Quintero continued to maintain his innocence, distancing himself from them altogether.
All four episodes of 'The Last Narc' are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
