LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A man who was among the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and suspected of killing four people in Los Angeles County was returned to the area today.

Jose “Joe” Luis Saenz, 37, was escorted to Los Angeles by FBI agents and arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at about 7 p.m., according to the FBI’s Laura Eimiller.

Saenz told reporters that he was “not guilty for life” as he was put into a car.

Saenz was arrested late Thursday in Guadalajara, Mexico and expected to be arraigned next week, Eimiller said.

Saenz was described as an enforcer and hit man for a Mexican drug cartel.

Saenz was charged in 1998 with murdering two men in Los Angeles’ Eastside, according to FBI documents.

Two weeks later, Saenz kidnapped, raped and murdered his girlfriend, the mother of his child, according to the FBI.

Saenz was also wanted for the 2008 killing of a Whittier man, and the shooting and wounding of a second man on the same night, according to the FBI.

Saenz is also expected to face federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to the FBI.

Eimiller described Saenz’s capture as a carefully-orchestrated maneuver.

“It was done with many precautions working with Mexican police agencies,” Eimiller told City News Service. “Several days were spent observing him to assure the safety of officers and others in his neighborhood.”

FBI documents describe Saenz as “armed and extremely dangerous” and has “expressed a willingness to kill law enforcement officers if confronted with arrest.”

“He was very difficult to find,” said Eimiller. “It took a lot of determination.”

Details of what led the FBI and Mexican law enforcement agencies to Saenz are expected to be revealed at a joint news conference Monday.

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