This profile is based on a nine-month investigation by The Courier Journal, including a review of state and federal court records and interviews with U.S. drug agents and Mexican police, businessmen, college students and victims' advocates.
What is ElMencho’sreal name?
He was born Rubén OsegueraCervantes on July 17, 1966, in the small farming city ofa*guilillain the western state ofMichoacán. He later adopted the nameNemesio, some say to honor his godfather. It was shortened to ElMenchoand has no other known meaning.
Why is ElMenchoso dangerous?
He’s a powerful drug kingpin with 5,000 members spread across every continent except Antarctica. His brutal cartel, theCártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, known as CJNG, is blamed for kidnappings, torture, murders, cannibalism and the spread of fentanyl — which has surpassed heroin as America’s deadliest illicit drug.
El Mencho's American empire: A ruthless Mexican drug lord’s empire is devastating families with its grip on small-town USA
Why is El Mencho in the news now?
The CJNG cartel is blamed for frequent attacks on police, including the Oct. 14 ambush and massacre of 13 officers in Michoacán. And with his key rival, Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, finally sentenced this summer to life in a U.S. federalprison, more attention turns to ElMencho.
Why should Americans be concerned?
CJNG isspread out across America, beyond large cities.
They’re planting roots by buying and renting property in midsize cities such as Kansas City, Kansas, and Lexington, Kentucky—and even in rural unincorporated communitiessuch as Axton, Virginia, with fewer than 7,000 residents.They blanket communities with dangerous drugs, including fentanyl.
Why was ElMencho’srise to power unusual?
Unlike some cartel leaders who inherited leadership positions from family dynasties, ElMencho’sparents were farm workers who carved out a living inAguililla, a city of fewer than 20,000 people in Michoacán—known as the world'savocado capital.
He dropped out of school after the sixth grade to pick avocados.
Has El Mencho ever been in America?
Yes. Court and prison records show he sneaked into the U.S. at least three times and was repeatedly deported.
Around age 19,ElMencho, his brother and other friends and family lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, so he used it as a home base while he tried to build a drug-trafficking business.
San Francisco police caught him trying to sell a meager street-level sized stash of crystal meth in 1986. He was deported to Mexico. Within months, he came back to the U.S. and ended up back in a San Francisco jail in 1989, then was deported a second time months later.
Back in the U.S. a third time,he got in much bigger trouble.
ElMenchoand his older brother,Abraham Oseguera Cervantes, sold heroin for $9,500 to two undercover officers at the Imperial Bar in San Francisco in 1992. Both ended up in a federal prison, where ElMenchoserved more than four years before he was deported again.
How did ElMenchobecome a rising cartel star?
ElMenchomade his way to Tijuana, theprominentborder townfor American tourists and feuding Mexican cartels.
There, he grew his drug-smuggling business into San Diego. Quickly, he made a name for himself at the main entry point into the U.S. that acts as a popular drug plaza for cartels wanting to export their product across the border.
Members of the Arellano-Félix organization, based in Tijuana, decided ElMenchowas getting too powerful. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Mexicosay the cartel easily could have killed him, but they entered a “gentlemen’s agreement,” ordering him to leave.
Despite his criminal past,ElMenchojoined the police force inTomatlán, a small city south of Puerto Vallarta in the western state of Jalisco.
How did ElMenchofind the money to grow his army?
Eventually, ElMenchoreturned to his nativeMichoacán, where he joined theMilenioCartel, an entrenched criminal organization operating since at least the early 1990s.
ElMenchohad made a strategic alliance by marrying Rosalinda González Valencia. Her siblings formed a branch of theMilenioCartel known as LosCuinis. They forged relationships with Colombian cocaine suppliers to bring shipments into Mexicoenroute to the U.S. Over time, they amassed wealth that helped bankroll ElMencho’srise, according to U.S. Justice Department reports.
Was ElMenchoa hitman?
Yes,Mileniotapped ElMencho, a skilled sicario — or assassin — to lead one of its cells in Guadalajara as a cartel lieutenant. As a boss, he inspired loyalty while leading his own team of assassins.
ElMenchoand his team targeted members of the Los Zetas cartel. They became known as LosMatazetas,or Zeta Killers, vowing to protect residents from the brutal cartel that consisted largely of former special forces operatives. Locals didn’t know that ElMenchowould later prove even more violent.
As early as 2010, U.S. drug agents stationed on the front lines in Mexico could sense that ElMenchowas an emerging threat, there and in America. Their Mexican police counterparts felt it, too.
How did ElMenchostage a bloody coup for control?
TheMilenioCartel moved its headquarters to Guadalajara, the country’s second-largest city, after a series of attacks by rival cartels. The city, dubbed the Mexican Silicon Valley, is renowned for its colonial plazas of ivory buildings and terracotta roofs — and as the birthplace of powerhouse cartels.
ElMencho, who moved to Guadalajara, rose through the ranks ofMilenioand expected to be rewarded with thetop position. But when some of the cartel’s leaders were arrested or killed in 2008 and 2009, ElMencho wasn't promoted. Neither were his brothers-in-law, who headed LosCuinis.
Incensed, they plotted revenge in 2009 and 2010 along withMatazetasand others who were unhappy withMilenio’snew leadership. In a pivotal time in cartel history known as “The Resistance,” ElMenchospearheaded the deadly coup, with the financial backing of his brothers-in-lawinLosCuinis.
They splinteredMileniointo two factions—those for ElMenchoand those against. ElMenchoemerged as the victor in early 2011, and his new cartel was born, christened the Cártel Jalisco NuevaGeneración.
Whatdoes El Mencho control?
ElMenchonow controlsseveral key drug trafficking routes and hubs in Mexico and givesorders to the “capo,” or plaza boss,similar toa mafia lieutenant.
His cartel dominates much of Guadalajara and controls the outskirts of the state of Jalisco as well other states such asColima and Michoacán. CJNG has spread to the majority of Mexico's 32 states, withan increasing presence inTijuana and Mexico City.
As the boss, ElMenchoset the piso, or tax, that business owners and independent drug traffickers had to pay the capos for protection.
ElMenchoalsoassumedcontrol of corrupt police officers and politicians.
The drug lord had officially launched his ambitious plan to lead the world’s dominant drug trafficking organization.
Why is ElMenchoso powerful?
One key to ElMencho’ssuccess is his discipline. He doesn’t do drugs or drink alcohol to avoid foolish mistakes made byother cartel leaders. He exercises daily, staying in fugitive fighting shape.That enabled him to avoid capture by staying on the run for days in rugged mountains.
He’s also rarely seen, staying in remote compounds that make it harder for police to breach. He spends time on ranches riding horses, racing motorbikes.
He uses extreme violence — acid baths, decapitations and even cannibalism — to inspire fear and compliance. His cartel members post many of these gruesome deaths on social media.This includes videos of torture and murder posted on YouTube, threats broadcast on Twitter and Facebook, and even images of bodies hanging from bridges on Pinterest.
CJNG specializes in corrupting police and officials — and killing the incorruptible.
How doesElMenchocompare with El Chapo?
DEA agents say El Mencho is more organized and violent than El Chapo.
ElMenchois like a ghost, rarely seen in public.That’s why photos of him on wanted posters are old and blurry.
Even though he commands a billion-dollar enterprise, hedoesn’t flashhis wealth like historic kingpins known for buying marbled mansions and zipping through the streets of Guadalajara and Mexico City in Lamborghinis andBugattis.
ElMenchowouldn’t want that lifestyle anyway, according to DEA agents in Mexico who have spent years studying his army and chasing him. They believe he’s most content atop a horse in the mountains of Jalisco, hours away from the bustle of its capital city. He is more drawn to power than money.
He does indulge in betting on bullfights and co*ckfights. There have been reports he once lost $100,000 ona singlebet. That’s certainly possible, agents said, but they aren’t sure if that’s true or just part ofElMencholore spreadby those who glamorize him and thenarcolife.
What is ElMenchocharged with in the U.S.?
ElMenchois the lead defendant in a federal indictment returned in the District of Columbia in 2017 accusing him of leading a continuing criminal enterprise.
He also is charged with conspiring to send large amounts of drugs into the U.S. and using firearms during these drug trafficking crimes.ElMenchoalso faces meth trafficking charges from a 2013 federal indictment in Gulfport, Mississippi.
What is ElMencho'sson charged with in the U.S.?
Rubén Oseguera González, El Mencho's son, is charged in a two-count indictment returned in the District of Columbia in 2017 accusing him of conspiringto send large quantities of drugs into theU.S. andusing a firearm during his drug-trafficking crimes.
How did police capture ElMencho’sson without a fight?
The son, known as"ElMenchito," was next in line to take over CJNG, until his capture.
He’s his dad’s namesake, but the two are different in many ways that made the son more vulnerable.
In June 2015, the Mexican Army and federal police arrested ElMenchitoin Zapopan, west of Guadalajara. Police found two assault rifles, one engraved with the acronym "CJNG 02 JR" and the other with "Menchito."
He had been arrested the previous year but was released by a judge. ElMenchitoremains jailed awaiting his extradition to the United States.
He tried to dodge charges by claiming he isn’t ElMencho’sson by birth, aclaim DEA agentssay is untrue.
How has ElMenchoavoided capture?
He’s been on the move for years to dodge the manhunts that began within a year of his 2011 rise to power. He has been known to surroundhimself with men willing to die for him.
U.S. drug agents and Mexican authorities have teamed to root out ElMencho’shiding spots at least three times. Police raided his secret compounds in 2012and 2018—both times in rural Jalisco. But he always found a way to escape.
During the 2012raid, a DEA intelligence analystsaidEl Mencho ordered cartel members to stay inside the house and fire at police. He and his son, Menchito,escaped into the mountains while four cartel members died.
Mexican military also learned ElMencho’shiding spot and headed to get him in two military helicopters on May 1, 2015, but his men shot down one of the helicopters with a Russian-made rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Where is ElMenchonow?
Investigators believe he is likely hidden under a jungle canopy or in the mountains in rural areas of the western states of Jalisco, Colima or his nativeMichoacán.
They expecthim to be insulated by layers of security, guards who are paramilitary trained and heavily armed.
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