Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes

In February 2020, El Mencho's daughter Jessica Johana known as "La Negra" was arrested in Washington D.C. when she went to see her brother Ruben that was extradited in the US for drug trafficking. She was charged with engaging in transactions or dealings in properties with businesses blacklisted by the Treasury Department and provided financial support to the CJNG.

In April 2019, El Mencho's godson Adrián Alonso Guerrero Covarrubias was arrested on charges of drug trafficking and kidnapping. Guerrero served as El Mencho's regional head in the Ciénega and northern Los Altos regions in Jalisco, along with southeastern Guanajuato.

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. This announcement was made public when the DEA and Mexican authorities prepared to reveal a new cooperation plan against organized crime, which included a stronger focus against their financial structure and the creation of a law enforcement group responsible for investigating international cases. The bounty derives from a new arrest warrant issued against him for his alleged participation in masterminding the kidnapping and murder of two agents of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), a branch of the PGR, in February 2018.

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$10 million from US$5 million. This increase was one of the largest ones approved in the history of the Narcotics Rewards Program.

In May 2018, El Mencho's wife Rosalinda was arrested on money laundering charges. Rosalinda was later released after granted a bail of 1.5 million pesos ($78,000) in September 2018, but remains criminally charged and will still face trial.

On 18 December 2017, seventeen year-old YouTuber star Juan Luis Lagunas Rosales, known as "El Pirata de Culiacán" (English: The Pirate from Culiacán), was gunned down in a bar in Jalisco by a group of four men armed with rifles, shortly after Lagunas Rosales published videotaped insults towards El Mencho. Police are investigating if El Mencho gave the order to execute him, but no charges have been filed.

In March 2017, infighting within the CJNG showed when El Mencho ordered the murder of high-ranking CJNG member Carlos Enrique Sánchez, alias “El Cholo.” The plot to murder El Cholo, who was targeted by El Mencho after murdering a CJNG financial operator nicknamed “El Colombiano”, failed and El Cholo afterwards retaliated by co-founding a new cartel called the Nueva Plaza Cartel. CJNG co-founder Erick Valencia Salazar also split with El Mencho and became a high-ranking leader in the Nueva Cartel. They also have formed a rivalry with El Mencho and the CJNG as well.

On 27 October 2016, the OFAC sanctioned nine more individuals for providing material and financial assistance to El Mencho and González Valencia and their respective groups, the CJNG and Los Cuinis. This sanction was also result of another investigation done by the Treasury and the DEA office in Los Angeles. 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. The individuals sanctioned were El Mencho's brother Antonio; his son-in-law Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez; five of González Valencia's siblings: Arnulfo, Édgar Edén, Elvis, Marisa Ivette, and Noemí; businessman Fabián Felipe Vera López; and attorney María Teresa Quintana Navarro. All their U.S.-based assets were frozen, and U.S. citizens were prohibited from doing business with them.

In addition, Mexican authorities suspected in 2016 that Omar Eleazar Oseguera Cervantes was part of the CJNG leadership structure. Though he has identical last names as El Mencho, he was listed as his son-in-law and not as one of his brothers. He reportedly works as one of his top security chiefs. El Mencho's brother-in-law Elvis González Valencia was arrested in 2016 as well. He had served as the CJNG's lead financier. He was later released in December 2016.

El Mencho was able to make the CJNG one of Mexico's most profitable criminal gangs. The government estimates that El Mencho's group has about US$50 billion in total assets. This success was shared with Abigael González Valencia, his brother-in-law, who headed a drug trafficking group known as Los Cuinis, allied to the CJNG. Abigael was arrested by the Mexican Navy on 28 February 2015. Part of El Mencho's success in the drug trade had to do with his ability to strategize market and consumer changes. Initially, the CJNG produced methamphetamine, but then he moved to heroin production when the consumer demand changed.

On 19 March 2015, in Ocotlán, Jalisco, CJNG gunmen ambushed a Federal Police convoy. The total death toll was 11; five police officers, three civilians, and three CJNG gunmen. The attack was a response by the CJNG to protect El Mencho, who was reportedly in the area for a meeting. On 23 March, Heriberto Acevedo Cárdenas (alias "El Gringo" and "El Güero"), one of El Mencho's close associates, was killed in a shootout with the Federal Police in Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco. Three other CJNG suspects were killed. According to government sources, Acevedo Cárdenas directed CJNG cells in Zacoalco, Tlajomulco, Cocula, Tapalpa and Atemajac de Brizuela, Jalisco.

A month later on 1 May 2015, the Mexican government launched Operation Jalisco, a military-led campaign that intended to combat organized crime groups in Jalisco and capture their respective leaders. The announcement came after a series of violent attacks from the CJNG in previous weeks. The day the operation was inaugurated, intelligence reports stated that El Mencho was in Tonaya, which prompted an offensive to apprehend him. 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.

On 8 April 2015, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned El Mencho under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ("Kingpin Act") for his involvement in international drug smuggling operations. 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. The sanction extended to the CJNG, his brother-in-law Abigael González Valencia, and Los Cuinis. As part of the sanction, all the U.S.-based assets and/or assets in control of U.S. individuals on behalf of El Mencho, González Valencia, the CJNG, and Los Cuinis, were frozen in the U.S. In addition, the act prohibited U.S. citizens from engaging in business activities with them.

On 17 September 2015, the OFAC sanctioned five businesses in Jalisco for financially supporting the CJNG and El Mencho's operations. This sanction was a result of another investigation done by the Treasury and the DEA office in Los Angeles. All the U.S.-based assets of these businesses were frozen, and U.S. citizens were prohibited from doing business with them. The businesses were a sushi restaurant in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, a tequila company in Guadalajara, a rental cabin business in Tapalpa, and an advertising firm and agricultural company, both in Guadalajara. According to the report, the diversity of these businesses showed that the CJNG was successful at penetrating the economy.

Marín was accused in a California court, but the charges are not available to the public. Antonio lived in the U.S. and was released from a Mississippi prison in 2001 after completing his sentence for property damage charges. He was arrested in Jalisco on 4 December 2015, by the Mexican Army and Navy for working as one of El Mencho's top financial operators. According to the Mexican government, Juan and Miguel are involved with the CJNG. Juan was charged in Michoacán for burglary, but the case was later dismissed.

Rosalinda González Valencia is the wife of El Mencho. They have three children: Jessica Johana, Laisha, and Rubén Oseguera González (alias "El Menchito). Jessica Johana is married to Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez (alias "El Ojo de Vidrio"), first arrested on 1 May 2015. He was released on 1 July for lack of evidence, but was re-arrested again on 6 April 2016, for his involvement in the CJNG. El Mencho's son Rubén was regarded by the Mexican government as the second-in-command in the CJNG prior to his arrest in 2014. He was released from prison on several occasions for lack of evidence, but was re-arrested each time by the police for additional charges.

Three weeks after the incident both of them were arrested by the police. In court, El Mencho insisted that he was innocent. He said he was not involved in the heroin deal and that the undercover agents were lying about him handling the drugs. The prosecution insisted that both siblings were working together. El Mencho was left with few options; if he pleaded not guilty, his brother Abraham—who already had felony drug sentences in his record—would probably face life in prison. His defense understood that if he decided on a jury trial, they would likely win the case. He decided to plead guilty and protect his brother from life imprisonment. He was sentenced to 5 years and imprisoned at the Big Spring Correctional Center in Texas, which houses a large population of illegal immigrants.

Their operational capacity in Mexico is concentrated in 8 states: Jalisco, Colima, Guanajuato, Nayarit, and Veracruz, where it holds a firm grip of drug trafficking operations, and Morelos, Guerrero and Michoacán, where it fights competing rival drug groups. Between 2014 and 2016, the only region in the country where the CJNG lost its territorial presence was in Mexico City. Internationally, the CJNG reportedly has ties with criminal groups in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. On an international scale, the CJNG is mainly focused on trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine.

On 25 August 2012, a unit of the Mexican Federal Police based in Tonaya, Jalisco, responded to an anonymous tip stating that there was an organized crime cell present in a rural community close by. When the security forces got to the area, a shootout broke out between the two parties. 6 CJNG gunmen were killed in the firefight. Initial reports stated that El Mencho was captured in the operation, but the Mexican government later confirmed that he was not in custody.

On 27 September 2011, Mexico's Office of the General Prosecutor (PGR) issued an arrest warrant for El Mencho and offered MXN$2 million for anyone who can help provide information that leads to his arrest. He was accused of organized crime involvement and illegal possession of firearms. In March 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, based on the previous investigations by the DEA, indicted El Mencho for several charges, including drug trafficking and for being leaders of a "Continuing Criminal Enterprise". El Mencho and Abigael were accused of coordinating shipments of cocaine and methamphetamine from South America via Mexico to the U.S. They also stated that the CJNG and Los Cuinis coordinated the collection and delivery of the drug proceeds from the U.S. to Mexico. In addition, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas is looking to convict El Mencho for drug trafficking offenses.

On 6 April, CJNG gunmen blocked a road in San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco, with a burning vehicle and opened fire at a convoy of the Federal Police, killing 15 policemen and wounding 5 more. The incident was the deadliest single-attack on the Mexico's police force since 2010. That same day, Miguel Ángel Caicedo Vargas, the police chief of Zacoalco de Torres, was killed by CJNG hitmen.

On 28 October 2009 the Milenio Cartel's top leader Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia (alias "El Lobo") was arrested. On 6 May 2010, his brother Juan Carlos (alias "El Tigre") was arrested too. Two months later, Coronel was killed in a shootout with the Mexican Army. Following their downfalls, the Milenio Cartel began to rupture and El Mencho tried to take over its leadership structure.

In 2007, the DEA discovered that El Mencho was involved in a cocaine operation that went through Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and ended in the U.S. They also uncovered a second cocaine shipment from Colombia, Mexico, to the U.S. In 2009, the DEA detected that El Mencho was involved in another cocaine shipment originating from Ecuador. Two more shipments were then detected in 2013 from Mexico then the U.S. In 2014, however, the DEA noticed a radical shift in the CJNG's modus operandi; El Mencho was discovered to have coordinated a methamphetamine shipment that went from Mexico to Australia then to the U.S by leveraging China-based gangs.

In the Milenio Cartel, El Mencho started as a member of the assassin squad that protected the drug lord Armando Valencia Cornelio (alias "El Maradona"). On 12 August 2003, his boss was arrested by Mexican authorities. Around the same time, a rival criminal group known as Los Zetas, with the backing of the Gulf Cartel, carried out an armed offensive against the Milenio Cartel in Michoacán. The attack forced the Valencia family to exile in Jalisco.

Since the 2000s, the DEA office in Los Angeles, California, tracked El Mencho's activities and detected that the CJNG had expanded its drug trafficking operations internationally. In 2000, the U.S. government discovered that El Mencho was involved in a cocaine and methamphetamine operation internationally. Five years later, they discovered he had used firearms to facilitate his operations.

El Mencho has five brothers: Juan, Miguel, Antonio, Marín and Abraham. In the 1990s, Abraham in California was given a 10-year sentence. In 2013, Mexican authorities accused him of murder in Michoacán. The charges were later dropped and the case was closed.

In 1989, El Mencho was arrested again in San Francisco for selling narcotics. He was deported to Mexico several months later, but re-entered the U.S. and resettled in San Francisco. In September 1992, he was arrested again, this time on federal drug charges in Sacramento, California. According to court records, El Mencho and his brother Abraham were at a San Francisco bar known as Imperial to carry out a heroin deal: five ounces for US$9,500. Abraham was in charge of the transaction, while El Mencho acted as a lookout. El Mencho was 26-years-old at that time and much younger than Abraham, but he was savvy enough to recognize that the transaction was a set-up by the police. He told his brother that the men who they gave the heroin to handed them perfectly stashed dollar bills instead of giving them loose ones. Through a wiretap conversation, the police overheard El Mencho warning his brother to never do business with them again since they were undercover cops.

In 1986, he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was arrested by the San Francisco Police at the age of 19 for stolen property and carrying a loaded gun. Two months after his arrest, his first child was born. According to border entry records, El Mencho crossed the U.S.-Mexico border several times during the late 1980s under other aliases. The DEA and Mexican investigators believe that it was during this time that he became involved in meth production and trade in California's Central Valley alongside his brother-in-law Abigael González Valencia (alias "El Cuini").

Born into poverty in Mexico, El Mencho grew avocados and dropped out of primary school before immigrating illegally to the U.S. in the 1980s. After being arrested several times, he was deported to Mexico in the early 1990s and worked for the Milenio Cartel. He eventually climbed to the top of the criminal organization and founded the CJNG after several of his bosses were arrested or killed.

El Mencho grew up in a poor family that cultivated avocados. He had five brothers: Juan, Miguel, Antonio, Marín, and Abraham. He dropped out of primary school in 5th grade to work in the fields. At the age of 14 he started guarding marijuana plantations. A few years later, he decided he wanted a better life for himself and immigrated illegally to the U.S. state of California in the 1980s. To conceal his identity in the U.S., he used a different names and combinations, like "Rubén Ávila", "José López Prieto", "Miguel Valadez", "Carlos Hernández Mendoza", "Roberto Salgado", among others.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (American Spanish: [neˈmesjo oseˈɣeɾa seɾˈβantes] ; born 17 July 1966), commonly referred to by his alias El Mencho ([el ˈmentʃo] ), is a Mexican suspected drug lord and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group based in Jalisco. He is the most-wanted criminal in Mexico and one of the most-wanted in the U.S. Both governments are offering up to MXN$30 million and US$10 million, respectively, for information that leads to his arrest.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes was born on 17 July 1966 in the rural community of Naranjo de Chila in Aguililla, Michoacán, Mexico. His first name is cited as "Rubén" and/or "Nemesio". He has alternative aliases like "Nemecio", "Rubén Acerguera Cervantes", "Lorenzo Mendoza", and "Nemesio Oseguera Ramos". Some sources state that his birth-given name was Rubén but that he changed it to Nemesio in memory of his godfather. He is widely known by his alias "El Mencho", a nickname that derives from the phonetic derivation of Nemesio.