Genaro Ruiz Camacho

Who was Genaro Ruiz Camacho?

Genaro Ruiz Camacho, Jr., aka Geno Camacho, was a cannabis smuggler in Texas who was linked to five murders and eventually executed by the state of Texas.

On May 20, 1988, David L. Wilburn, 25, unwittingly interfered when Camacho and two accomplices tried to kidnap Sam Wright, 57, Evellyn Banks, 31, and Banks's 3-year-old son Andre. Wilburn was shot in the back of the head. After the murder, Wright managed to escape, but Camacho and his accomplices kidnapped Evellyn and Andre Banks and killed them three days later. After this, he fled to Mexico.

The FBI learned via an informant that Camacho had escaped to the town of Arcelia, in Guerrero State, Mexico. They requested that he be extradited to the United States, but the Mexican authorities claimed that Arcelia and the surrounding area were under the total control of heavily armed drug lords, and that any arrest attempt would result in a bloodbath. Instead, the FBI set up a sting operation to lure Camacho back to the United States. Camacho was arrested as he crossed the border near McAllen, Texas. He was convicted of the murder of Wilburn and the kidnapping and murder of Evellyn and Andre Banks, and sentenced to death.