Strip club slaying suspect returned to Boston

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

A fugitive who allegedly killed a 28-year-old man in a shootout last year in a Chelsea strip club is back in Boston today after his rendition from Mexico, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office said today.

Jesse Camacho

Jesse Camacho, a 21-year-old East Boston man, is a purported gang member who goes by the nickname “Fat Jesse.” After the shootings, in which two other people were also wounded, he fled to Los Angeles before traveling to Mexico, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 25, 2008, Camacho got into an argument inside King Arthur’s Lounge in Chelsea before taking out a gun, firing at least seven times, authorities said. Jeff Santiago of Everett was killed and a 41-year-old club employee from Charlestown and a Santiago's 29-year-old friend were also wounded.

Camacho was apprehended on Oct. 30 in Mexico City. Local, state, federal, and international officials worked together for more than four months to arrange Camacho’s extradition to the United States. Camacho was brought into Logan International Airport Friday night.

It is not unusual, said district attorney's spokesman Jake Wark, for rendition processes to take several months.

“Unfortunately, [it is] not uncommon for these proceedings to take such a long time,” he said. “We used every diplomatic lever available to us.”

In a statement, Conley thanked Chelsea Police, the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Department of State, and the Mexican Agencia Federal de Investigación for their work in Camacho’s arrest.

Camacho is to be arraigned Monday in the Magistrate’s Session of Suffolk Superior Court.

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