Passed over for promotion, ElMenchoteamed withhis in-laws who ran an affiliatedcartel and forged his own criminal organizationin early 2011 CJNG. U.S. officials have mapped the rapid expansion of the cartel, known as CJNG for its initials in Spanish. A month later, Mexican authorities learned of ElMenchos new hiding spot andorganizeda secret mission to capture him. The DEA and Mexican investigators believe that it was during this time that he became involved in meth production and trade in Redwood City California (San Mateo County) alongside his brother-in-law Abigael Gonzlez Valencia (alias "El Cuini"). He was not a millionaire," Beaumont said. And, in a 2019 case pending in federal court,an accused cartel lieutenantconnected to Chicago drug trafficking settled into a $2 million Nashville condo. As before, all of the U.S.-based assets of these businesses were frozen, and U.S. citizens were prohibited from doing business with them. That made the assassination attempt against Garca Harfuch and news of threats against prominent officials particularly startling. Cartel members fired hundreds of rounds and hurled grenades and jugs of gasoline. Why is The Courier Journal reporting on a deadly Mexican drug cartel? In Mexico, El Mencho is a household name. [60] In addition, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas is looking to convict El Mencho for drug trafficking offenses. The violent CJNG is widely viewed as the most powerful gang in Mexico alongside the Sinaloa Cartel. [72], In March 2017, El Mencho ordered the murder of El Cholo, a former CJNG member who betrayed the CJNG by joining the Nueva Plaza Cartel and conspiring against his former allies. [54], In 2007, the DEA discovered that El Mencho was involved in a cocaine operation that went through Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and ended in the United States. A judge scheduled her. Five were arrested, and one alleged gang member died in. In cases in which immigrants resist the cartel's offer, CJNG members often threatened violence to them or their loved ones back in Mexico, according to court cases and law enforcement officials. The total death toll was 11; five police officers, three civilians, and three CJNG gunmen. He is wanted for drug trafficking, organized crime involvement, and undocumented possession of firearms. Though local politicians have been frequent targets, state governors and federal officials have not. Photos of Cartel Jalisco New Generation leader Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera and methamphetamine confiscated in a local operation are displayed at a news conference at the DEA San Diego office . . December 1, 2021 Today, the U.S. Department of State is announcing a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, an alleged high-level member of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG - Jalisco New Generation Cartel). They got "Shorty," but Mexican authorities are dragging their feet on the fate of another 150 jailed drug traffickers awaiting extradition to the United States, a federal source told The Post. [65], On 16 October 2018, the Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury announced a joint law-enforcement measure against the CJNG, and increased El Mencho's bounty to US$10million from US$5million. [81] Jessica Johana is married to Julio Alberto Castillo Rodrguez (alias "El Ojo de Vidrio"), first arrested on May 1 2015. [23][24], As leader of the CJNG, El Mencho solidified his position and grew his organization through territorial expansion and by corrupting government officials. Brenda and Karl Cooley of Louisville certainly didnt know his name when their son Adam overdosed on fentanyl in March 2017. Mexico's Defense Ministry arrested Antonio Oseguera, brother of Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG) leader Nemesio Oseguera, alias 'El Mencho', this Tuesday at 5:20 a.m. (local. Throughout Mexico, more than 40,000 children and adults remain missing. [62], On 15 August 2018, the PGR announced they were offering up to MXN$30 million to anyone who provides information that leads to El Mencho's capture. Members of a cartel cell inKansasCity, withdrug houses in both Kansas and Missouri between 2013 and 2016,splurged on $10,000ticketsto rapper Pitbulls concertand a Louis Vuittonpurse. For 53-year-old El Mencho, success did not come early. Because it's here, A short film: What Courier Journal uncovered about Jalisco New Generation Cartel's El Mencho. This year, despite the novel coronavirus, the violence has continued near record highs. But in America, few know who he is or why his rise to power matters. "[101] La Vaca was also reported to have defected from the CJNG because of El Mencho's death.[101]. August 4, 2022 CJNG sicarios posed with their faces uncovered in a series of 2021 photos. In the absence of conclusive testimony from suspected attackers, the question of why the cartel would attempt such a high-profile killing remains unanswered. In June 2015, the Mexican military arrested El Menchos son and second-in-command, Rubn Oseguera Gonzles. The U.S government has crippled dozens ofbusinessesthat supported CJNGandsentElMenchosson and chief financial backer to prison, along with members of his inner circle. The populist leader campaigned under the slogan Abrazos, no balazos Hugs, not Bullets suggesting that he would not launch a military offensive to curb the Jalisco cartels influence. Ransom-seekers and other cartelsare responsible for many of those disappearances,with CJNG to blame for thousands,DEA agentssay. [80], Rosalinda Gonzlez Valencia is the wife of El Mencho. Even if U.S. and Mexican investigators can track El Mencho's location, capturing him won't be easy. A high-ranking state official in Jaliscosaid Americans are too quick to blame Mexico for the U.S. drug crisis. This sanction was a result of another investigation done by the Treasury and the DEA office in Los Angeles. The drug cartel fought back against the Mexican army in the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato, blocking roads and setting fires to cars. But the extradition of close associate Juan Padilla 'El . Lpez Obrador said the decision averted unnecessary bloodshed, but it was widely seen as a sign of governmental weakness. [69], On 27 October 2016, the OFAC sanctioned nine more individuals for providing material and financial assistance to El Mencho and Gonzlez Valencia and their respective groups, the CJNG and Los Cuinis. His name was Pablo Oseguera. "We have a problem of corruption. American officials have described Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez as a former second-in-command of the fast-growing and ultra-violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Its much more an ecosystem than it is a vertically integrated organization, said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst who writes a well-known column in Mexicos El Universal newspaper. In September 2011, the emerging cartel left 35 corpses on a street in the heart of. Further details Roberto Alderete revealed about CJNG remain hidden in sealed documents. The group then changed its name to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Spanish: Crtel de Jalisco Nueva Generacin, or CJNG). How a Mexican cartel turned a rural area into a hidden cocaine hub, One mistake trapped a desperate dad in a Mexican drug cartel's web. I've implanted you a fee which you must pay. On April 13, 2017, federal agents arrested Maciason his way to Calumet Farm. His boss, Eddie Kane, Calumet's general manager, declined repeated requests for comment. But when police interviewed suspects in the attack, they said, the men all claimed to be guns for hire, some of them low-level members of local criminal groups who had been armed and paid by the cartel. They believe he does not stay in one place for long, and travels across several municipalities in Jalisco and into the states of Michoacn, Colima, and Nayarit. ", "Thats kind of hard to believe, but its true.". The trail of viole Three other CJNG suspects were killed. Flames leftMoralesdisabled and disfigured. [4][8] He has alternative aliases like "Nemecio", "Rubn Acerguera Cervantes", "Lorenzo Mendoza", and "Nemesio Oseguera Ramos". "We consider this cartel to be one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations on the face of the Earth, and it is doing unimaginable damage to the people of this nation," Sessions said. In addition, the act prohibited U.S. citizens from engaging in business activities with them. Sometimes the authorities and media try to build these guys up as criminal masterminds, but thats not whats going on, Hope said. Beginning in 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department designated El Mencho a "kingpin," along with his brother-in-law, Abigail Gonzlez Valencia, leader of the Los Cuinis cartel. "What are they doing way out in the middle of nowhere?" CJNG even established a cell in south-central Virginia, buying or renting a cluster of modest homes in Axton an unincorporated community of roughly 6,500. Americans who may not know of CJNG today should take note, Dodds said. In the hours after the attack, senior Mexican officials, including the mayor of Mexico City, refused to speculate on who might have been responsible. An unscrupulous drugs cartel has issued an open letter in a bid to win over terrified locals. Attackers in armored vehicles opened fire with high-caliber weapons, gunning down officers driving five SUVs. CJNGs rapid rise heralds the latest chapter in a generations-old drug war in which Mexican cartels are battling to supply Americans insatiable demand for narcotics. This sanction was an attempt by the U.S. government to disrupt the inner circle of complicit family members within the CJNG and Los Cuinis and affect their finances in Mexico's domestic economy. Both are now in prison for money laundering, and her sister, who has two children living in Kentucky, faces deportation. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has become Mexico's most powerful criminal organization, dominating the trade in fentanyl and methamphetamines and protecting its business by attacking Mexican . The killing was ordered after Rosales dissed JNGC leader Oseguera Cervantes a.k.a El Mencho on social media (GRAPHIC) [10][11] He is widely known by his alias "El Mencho", a nickname that derives from the phonetic derivation of Nemesio. After the attacks were over, the government confirmed that El Mencho was in the area and had evaded capture. Throughout 2019, reporters analyzed thousands of court records of more than 100 criminal drug cases around the country and talked to more than 150 federal drug agents, police officers, defense attorneys and prosecutors. When presenting the reportJalisco New Generation Cartel, mafia without borders" which has 10 chapters, Rodrguez Morales assured that the organization led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho"manages the export of Colombian cocaine after the dismantling of the large drug cartels in that South American country. [76][77], El Mencho has five brothers: Juan, Miguel, Antonio, Marn and Abraham. Agents say Macias didn'tinvolveCalumet in his drug crimes. The violence of 2015 was a wake-upcall,saidTerryCole, a former New York City police officer who oversees DEA agents in Guadalajaraas the assistant regional director forNorth and Central America. Pablo Escobar was a Colombian born drug kingpin who had a peak net worth of $30 billion dollars during his lifetime. We believe that we are very far from achieving the goal of reducing the flow of weapons that nurture organized crime and that generate violence in our country, said a senior Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly about the issue. [17] The blockades were placed in strategic routes to prevent police reinforcements to come in or leave Guadalajara. [101], In February 2022, there were unconfirmed reports stating that El Mencho had died from respiratory arrest while undergoing treatment in a private hospital in Guadalajara. The daughter of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho," will plead guilty in the United States.. It also identified at least two dozen "cells," which the DEA defines as places where cartel members set up shop to do business and live in the communities. [13], El Mencho grew up in a poor family that cultivated avocados. Theyre also working to train Mexican police to improve the country's solve rate for kidnappings and murders, which is less than 5%. With a $10 million reward on his head, he's on the U.S. Drug Enforcement. Following their downfalls, the Milenio Cartel began to rupture and El Mencho tried to take over its leadership structure. [16] It was in this criminal group where El Mencho would become a leading figure in organized crime. . He promised hugs, not bullets. Now Mexicos AMLO is facing an outcry over soaring violence. Immigrants, some fleeing criminal violence themselves, can be victimized by cartels on both sides of the border and unfairly targeted by U.S. political rhetoric or perceptions stoked by cartel crime. Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. Check Jalisco New Generation Cartel Reviews below. 2023www.courier-journal.com. Moreover, the U.S. lacks the authority to make arrests in foreign countries, said Evans, a senior DEA official. In Guanajuato, many analysts think the administration is merely waiting for one cartel to destroy the other so that relative peace can return under the monopoly of a single group. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has killed judges, congressmen, dozens of police officers and thousands of civilians. He decided to plead guilty and protect his brother from life imprisonment. In September 1992, he was arrested again, this time on federal drug charges in Sacramento, California. Critics say the Mexican president, known as AMLO, seems more concerned about using federal troops to keep South Americanimmigrants out of his country than challenging the cartels. The direct attacks of the CJNG against Mexico's security forces earned El Mencho a reputation among authorities as "principal enemy" of the state and as a dangerous criminal. [26] Internationally, the CJNG reportedly has ties with criminal groups in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. "When they shot the helicopter out of the sky is when everyone respected CJNG as a powerhouse cartel and a rival of Sinaloa,"Donahue said. [20] Two months later, Coronel was killed in a shootout with the Mexican Army. This article was published more than2 years ago. "Theyre killing the next generation, and one of them was my son," Brenda Cooley said. Corts Zavala, who is the citys top security official, spoke a week after gunmen targeted a drug rehabilitation facility in his city, killing 28 people. Macrons retirement reforms undermine the French republic, Defying attacks, arts return to Somalia with first TV drama in 30 years, Divorced and remarried, these Afghan women are outlaws under Taliban rule. El Mencho was deported in 1997and then traveled to Tijuana. The investigation documented how in each new community, CJNG uses local traffickers who can blend in to sell their drugs, with no regard for their race or ethnicity. Villegas Ortiz had become famous in presiding over the case that enabled the extradition to the United States of Rubn Oseguera, known as El Menchito, a son of the head of the Jalisco cartel. Before they called themselves Jalisco New Generation, they were known as the Matazetas or Zeta Killers. Entire familieswho resisthave been slaughtered, Donahue said. Young people who are immersed in addiction problems are easy prey for these organized crime groups.. He was deported to Mexico several months later, but re-entered the U.S. and resettled in San Francisco. The prosecution insisted that both siblings were working together. Theyre kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now with the murders going up, the drug trafficking going up, traffickers gaining more money to be able to corrupt more people and to have international influence and contacts, Donahue said. [21], The Milenio Cartel split into two. He got his first glimpse of CJNGs success when he was overseeing drug cases in Los Angeles, a key cartel hub. But DEA agents across the border are sharing intelligence and working with their Mexican counterparts to devise ways to dismantle CJNG and arrest its leaders. [57] He was accused of organized crime involvement and illegal possession of firearms. Though he has the same last name as El Mencho, he was listed as his son-in-law and not as one of his brothers. "My family knows Im not that person. In eightmonths, Sosas crew laundered about $1million for CJNG,stacking drugs and cash behind a wall of their trailer. Rosalinda Gonzlez is suspected of running the finances of her husband's Jalisco New Generation Cartel. His notoriety is also a result of his aggressive leadership and sensationalist acts of violence against both rival criminal groups and Mexican security forces alike. So instead of blaming, we should look for solutions.. In a Chicago money-laundering case, a Guadalajara businessman working with CJNG urged an informant to settle his drug debt quickly, describing how cartel members settled another mans debt: "They chopped off his fingers.". Some analysts think that El Mencho, thought to be hiding in the mountains of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan, is sick with a liver problem and that the attack might have been a show of force from someone trying to ascend through the cartels ranks. As a young adult, he and his older brother, Abraham Oseguera Cervantes,sold heroin to two undercover police officers at a San Francisco bar in 1992 and were sent to federal prison on drug trafficking charges. Its fighters once shot down a military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. While officials can't say how much of the U.S. drug trade comes from CJNG, they predict the powerful organization is poised to supplant the more well-known and established Sinaloa Cartel as the world's most powerful drug trafficking organization. "I still expected that they would be in markets in the Southwest, a little bit into some of the other major corridors, such as Atlanta and Chicago, Evans said. In court, El Mencho insisted that he was innocent. [84][85], In addition, Mexican authorities suspected in 2016 that Omar Eleazar Oseguera Cervantes was part of the CJNG leadership structure. In a Nov. 5 tweet, after nine people including six children with dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship were killed by cartels(though different ones than CJNG), President Donald Trump vowed to assist Mexican officials "in cleaning out these monsters. Three people were killed. El Mencho eventually joined the Milenio Cartel, gaining a reputation as a cunning sicario, or hitman, and then a boss of hitmen in Guadalajara, Jalisco's capital city. It has to do, without a doubt, with the work that is being carried out to guarantee peace and tranquility both in Mexico City and in the country, Lpez Obrador said. [10][16], In 1986, he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. (24 November 2019). [99][100] In 2022, Insight Crime reported that El Mencho had in fact not been seen for years amid concerns about his poor health. [14], In 1989, El Mencho was arrested again in San Francisco for selling narcotics. Rubn Oseguera Cervantes aka El Mencho and his wife Rosalinda Gonzlez Valencia have managed to stay under the radar for a long time. He shares intel with the DEA,but not his own people. "But its a little different when you go to Boise, Idaho, and other small towns where they dont have the resources to really focus on an international cartel.". [43] That same day, Miguel ngel Caicedo Vargas, the police chief of Zacoalco de Torres, was killed by CJNG hitmen. [14] He had five brothers: Juan, Miguel, Antonio, Marn, and Abraham. All their U.S.-based assets were frozen, and once again U.S. citizens were prohibited from doing business with them. Provided by McCracken County Sheriff's Department. More unchecked opportunities. Last year, when the arrest of alleged Sinaloa cartel member Ovidio Guzmn, El Chapos son, drew cartel fighters into the streets of Culiacan, authorities opted to release him. It was an arrangement that allowed for rapid growth; rather than building a trafficking infrastructure, it co-opted and reshaped an existing one. Two months after his arrest, his first child was born. The sanction was joint investigation conducted by the Treasury and the DEA office in Los Angeles as part of a larger effort with their Mexican counterparts to sanction drug trafficking groups in Mexico. MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested the wife of the leader of Jalisco New Generation, one of the country's fiercest drug cartels. . Pointing to more than 70,000 Americans who overdosed and died in 2017, Coleman said, Were fighting a war for our families, and (the cartels) are winning.. According to prosecutors, Alderete is a lieutenant of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," the shadowy and brutal cartel leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel who's a . There, amid the lush pastures and white rail fences, a Mexican immigrant with asinister secret quietly groomed prized thoroughbreds at historic Calumet Farm, according to court records. "That's the type ofterrorists were dealing with here.". Unlike his reclusive father, the 25-year-old lived in a luxury high-rise apartment in downtown Guadalajara and often stepped out in designer clothes to eat in fancy restaurants. "If an agent saw him, we couldnt say, 'Hey, were gonna grab El Mencho right now, take him and put him into custody.' En mars 2020, le cartel de Jalisco Nouvelle Gnration tait implant dans vingt-quatre des trente-deux tats du Mexique. Yet, no sooner had authorities busted Kentucky's CJNG ringthan the cartel replaced Macias, sending in another team. On 12 August 2003 his boss was arrested by Mexican authorities. He told his brother that the men to whom they gave the heroin handed over perfectly stacked dollar bills instead of loose ones. Under his command, the CJNG became one of Mexico's leading criminal organizations. The Courier Journal could not say with certainty who supplied the drugs that killed Adam Cooley. [41][42] The incident was the deadliest single attack on the Mexico's police force since 2010. As the security forces moved to the area where El Mencho was allegedly hiding, a gunfight broke out between law enforcement officials and gunmen of the CJNG. In December 2022, El Mencho's brother Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Tony Montana," was arrested during an army raid in Guadalajara. Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the DEA's field office in . "Big cities have big police departments and DEA, FBI and (Homeland Security Investigations) and an ability to look at intelligence and focus on their cells and contacts, said the DEA's Donahue. "If he was, I didnt charge him enough.". The unending stream of narcotics has contributed to this countrys unprecedented addiction crisis, devastating families and killing more than 300,000 people since 2013. I've implanted you a fee which you must pay. Alton Strupp and Matt Stone, Louisville Courier Journal. He's a recluse, a cockfighting high-roller, a former cop and a maniac. [59] El Mencho and Abigael were accused of coordinating shipments of cocaine and methamphetamine from South America via Mexico to the United States. The arrest took place on early Tuesday morning in Tlajomulco, Jalisco, when military . Theyve got their money," Williams said. These are young people who were engaged in other types of crimes such as petty theft, and then suddenly we see them at incidents related to organized crime, said Pedro Alberto Corts Zavala, the secretary of security in the municipality of Irapuato, Guanajuato state. We're guests in their country.. The Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin - CJNG) is a criminal group that has evolved as a result of killings, captures and rifts in older cartels.
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