Yoanna Fonseca is the daughter of Mexican drug lord Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, commonly known by his alias Don Neto. She is one of four children born to Don Neto and an unnamed mother. Yoanna’s father founded the Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Rafael Caro Quintero, becoming a leader within it. Very little information is available about Yoanna’s personal life due to her family’s criminal activities. However, it can be confirmed that she has two sisters named Ofelia Fonseca Núñez and Esther Fonseca Valencia as well as a brother named Ernesto Rafael Fonseca Valencia, who is also involved in organized crime. Additionally, she has two nieces from her uncle Rafael Fuentes: Angélica Carrillo Fuentes and Guadalupe Carrillo Fuentes.
Her Father, Don Neto
The exact date of birth for Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, also known as Don Neto, is disputed. The generally accepted belief is that he was born on August 1, 1930, in Santiago de los Caballeros in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico. However, according to the DEA, his year of birth may be 1942 instead. In the 1970s, as U.S. officials increased their vigilance of drug trafficking from Colombia into Florida, Carrillo realized that Mexico had the potential to convert coca leaves into cocaine and become an entryway into America. With the death of Pedro Avilés Pérez in a shootout with the Federal Judicial Police, Carrillo took control of drug trafficking routes. Simultaneously, Mexico’s Operation Condor program saw Sinaloan narcos relocate to Guadalajara, resulting in a power shift across the country.
In 1980, the three infamous drug traffickers, Carrillo, Quintero and Gallardo united in the city of Jalisco. Quintero had known Carrillo since his days in Sinaloa while Gallardo was already corrupting government officials to become bribed assets. This collaboration led to La Federación becoming operational with Colombia utilizing its infrastructure for trafficking cocaine.
The DEA, in 1981, sent Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena to infiltrate the cartel and discovered that it was using its leverage to demand up to 50% of the cocaine being moved from Colombians. Over the next four years, he even found and destroyed Rancho Búfalo’s marijuana crops, as well as learned that Gallardo was laundering $20 million a month through a Bank of America in San Diego. Tragically though, the cartel uncovered Camarena’s identity; who eventually lost his life for this endeavour. On February 7, 1985, an armed group kidnapped him from outside the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara. Sadly, a month later his body was found on the outskirts of the city with a drilled hole in his skull and broken ribs. This tragedy prompted Mexico’s government to launch Operation Leyenda, designed to end the reign of terror caused by infamous cartels and bring their leaders to justice.
In 1985, Rafael Caro Quintero was linked to the murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena and admitted his involvement in the case. He denied killing Camarena himself but confessed to being outraged by the fact that he had been beaten. The Mexican judicial system found him guilty of Camarena’s murder and sentenced him to a 40-year prison term for his actions. In July 2016, due to his advanced age and deteriorating health condition, Caro Quintero was moved from prison to house arrest with nine years left on his sentence.
