DEA places “El Mencho” and “El Alfredillo”, as the first and third most wanted fugitives

Chivis Martinez  Borderland Beat  TY SD  Zeta Tijuana

"He has made few mistakes, he has a lot of experience on the street, that has made it very difficult for us to lead the investigation to arrest him," he acknowledged. ..“He is an intelligent man, he is very good at what he does: he is avoiding being caught."...“El Mencho” does not assume unnecessary risks and has a behavior similar to that of Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo”....

The Administration for Drug Control (DEA), of the United States Department of Justice, placed Michoacáno Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”, alleged leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG ) as their number one target on their top 10 most wanted fugitive list.

After "El Mencho", the third most wanted,  is Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, "El Alfredillo", son of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, alias "El Chapo", who in September 2018 was included in the list of the ten most wanted fugitives by the DEA.

 The Sinaloan bosses Rafael Caro Quintero, “El Príncipe”, and Ismael Zambada García, “El Mayo”, are in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Tuesday, March 10, the DEA placed billboards on various roads in Los Angeles, California, where a reward of $ 10 million is offered to anyone who provides information that leads to the capture of "El Mencho."

The family circle of the CJNG leader has been weakened with the extradition to Washington of Rubén, "El Menchito", and the arrest of Jessica Johanna, "La Negra", both with the last names Oseguera Gonzalez and sons of the Michoacán kingpin.

Rubén and Jessica, product of the marriage that “El Mencho” maintains with Rosalinda González Valencia, alias “La Jefa”, were the main financial operators of her father's criminal group, one of the fugitives most wanted by the security agencies.

According to the DEA, Oseguera Cervantes heads the CJNG, one of the five most violent criminal associations in the world. In 2019, the Government headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, cataloged the “El Mencho” cartel as the most dangerous and violent in Mexico.

At the end of July last year, the DEA indicated that alias “El Mencho” is hidden in the Madre del Sur and Occidental mountains, between Colima, Jalisco and Michoacán, entities “controlled” by its criminal organization.

Hides in obscurity like El Mayo

"He hides in mountainous areas in Jalisco, Michoacán and Colima. We believe that he is no longer in the cities, "said Kyle Mori, special agent assigned to the DEA office in Los Angeles, California, in charge of the team that searches for" The Lord of the Roosters "or" El Gallero ", as they also nickname "El Mencho".

"Trying not to compromise the investigation that began eight years ago, when the federal agency noticed the rapid growth of the CJNG in Mexico, Mori pauses for a long time when he is asked in which specific place 'El Mencho' is hidden, if in luxury, humble homes or even in caves, "said Univisión, who reported the fact.

“I will say this: it is a combination of many things. I don't think he’s in one place for long, nor in the same type of house. It is a combination of everything you can imagine […] He definitely moves constantly, ”replied US Federal Agent Mori.

According to DEA intelligence reports, cited by Univisión, Oseguera Cervantes has created his own 'Golden Triangle', similar to that of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo”, in a fertile region for the cultivation of marijuana and poppy, between Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa, where he hid for many years as a fugitive from justice.

"El Mencho", meanwhile, could be hidden, according to the US authorities, in an area that has an extensive territory where narcotics are planted and there are clandestine laboratories, in addition to having two important ports: Manzanillo, Colima, and that of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.

It is through these two ports that the CJNG receives chemical precursors to make synthetic drugs. In addition, its area of ​​influence includes Guadalajara, Jalisco, the third largest city in the country, "and whose thriving economy allows it to hide its money laundering operations."

Univisión recalled that in a corrido performed by the group Los Plebes del Rancho, it was already noticed that “El Mencho” had become the new 'Lord of the mountain', with; “Few know his face / rare fall to the towns / he moves between the mountains / from up there everything moves”.

According to agent Mori, Oseguera Cervantes has achieved in a few years what it took Guzmán Loera decades, since "He has made few mistakes, he has a lot of experience on the street, that has made it very difficult for us to lead the investigation to arrest him," he acknowledged.

“He is an intelligent man, he is very good at what he does: he is avoiding being caught. It is like a game of cat and mouse: he makes some movements and we have to do ours to capture him, ”the DEA agent said.

According to the US government agency, “El Mencho” does not assume unnecessary risks and has a behavior similar to that of Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo”, current leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who has been in the illicit drug trafficking business for more than 50 years , without ever having stepped into a prison.

“You have heard stories of 'El Chapo' entering a restaurant, who take away cell phones from diners, pay everyone's bills and disappear in Culiacán [Sinaloa]. 'El Mencho' will not do that, ”said Mori.

“['El Mencho'] does not mind living in the mountains as a rancher. That complicates his  capture.

Where was 'El Chapo' captured? Always in the cities [in Mazatlán, in 2014, and in Los Mochis, in 2016]. 'El Mencho' won't do that, ”the DEA special agent insisted.

Mencho doesn’t do drugs, and has taken violence to a new level

In addition, Oseguera Cervantes does not use drugs, is in good health, his physical condition is enviable and he has the discipline of a military man, Mori said. "All of these factors contribute to his running his cartel like a business," said the US federal official.

“They carry out many violent acts [the members of the CJNG]: beheadings, dispose of bodies in acid, public executions, rip out people's hearts, kill women and children, put bombs on people. It happens almost every day […] 'El Chapo' was violent, but 'El Mencho' has taken him to a new level ”, Mori explained.

According to the US Department of Justice, the Michoacán kingpin has achieved, through violence and bribery, the expansion of the CJNG in 23 of the 32 Mexican states, as well as in several US cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, El Paso, Laredo, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, New York, Denver, Atlanta and Chicago.

In addition, the CJNG has expanded its operations to all the continents of the planet in just a decade, making it the largest criminal organization in Mexico and equalizing the distribution of narcotics by the Sinaloa Cartel in the United States.

The DEA estimates that the criminal organization led by "El Mencho" already has more than 5,000 members, "not counting independent distributors, gang members with whom they have made agreements or corrupt police officers who protect them."

Super Cartel

"Combining all these things they almost create a super cartel [...] In my opinion, the CJNG is moving more drugs to the United States, is responsible for more violent acts in Mexico and is moving a larger volume of money than the Sinaloa Cartel" said the special agent.

According to Univisión, to search for “El Mencho” Mori is supported by nine anti-narcotics agents, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), and the US Marshals.

"For this reason, the Los Angeles DEA office has the most robust case against Oseguera Cervantes and this is where the communication channels related to the reward offered to arrest the kingpin are based," the US newspaper reported.

A poster offering $ 10 million hangs on the wall of his office, in a downtown building that houses several federal agencies, Univision said. “He also has smaller pamphlets with the reward offered by one of the most wanted drug traffickers. Their main objectives are written on a blackboard: the name of this and his accomplices ”.

"There are Mexican police and military that work too much, shoulder to shoulder with us, every day," Mori stressed about the cooperation that the authorities of Mexico and the United States have on a daily basis, with the aim of capturing the Michoacán kingpin.

"Other circumstances have occurred in recent years in which we have come very close to catching him [Oseguera Cervantes]. But being very close is not the important thing, but capturing it and making sure that it faces justice in the United States, ”said Mori.

According to the DEA agent, the US government takes several actions to approach "El Mencho" and hit his criminal organization, including intercepting the supply of chemical precursors from Asia, signing his assets and figureheads.

In addition to infiltrating the CJNG with informants and wiretapping, Mori says that they also have identified some methods that the Michoacán kingpin uses to communicate from the mountains with his trusted people.

“In the past we have used BlackBerry phone technology to infiltrate the highest level of your organization. We have used many informants over the years, ”the DEA special agent told Univision. "I do not know if we are going to catch him tomorrow [to 'El Mencho'], but I am sure that his day will come," Mori said.

The CJNG emerged in 2007, as an armed arm of the Sinaloa Cartel, from which it separated in 2010, and was the "priority objective" of the Mexican Federal Government led by Enrique Peña Nieto, who wanted to "dismantle" the criminal group, according to the words of the former head of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), Alfonso Navarrete Prida.

On October 16, 2018, the U.S. Government It increased from 5 to 10 million dollars the reward it offers for those who provide information to capture “El Mencho,” the alleged leader of the CJNG, a criminal organization that also charged 15 new charges.

“This is one of the highest [perks] we have. We hope that this reward in the end will play a vital role in bringing 'El Mencho' to justice, ”said Kirsten Madison, the then Assistant Secretary of State for Law Enforcement Affairs of the US State Department.

In Mexico he operates in more than half of the territory, where it controls more than 100 clandestine laboratories for the production of methamphetamine, the then-US attorney general abounded, who also assured that the CJNG is pouring large amounts of drugs, making it one of the most dangerous worldwide.

"Such organizations have to be confronted and have to be defeated," said the then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who together with Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Uttam Dhillon; and other officials announced sanctions against people allegedly related to the CJNG in Washington.

A day earlier, the US Government announced the creation of a specialized working group to combat "transnational crime", which represents the "greatest threat" to that country, such as certain gangs and drug cartels, including that of Sinaloa and the CJNG, in addition to the group Lebanese terrorist Hezbollah.

On August 15, 2018, through the then Attorney General's Office (PGR), the Mexican Federal Government offered a reward of up to 30 million pesos for information that is "truthful and useful" to locate and arrest Rubén o Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”.

Regarding the reward, the PGR indicated that the information on “El Mencho” would be received at its offices in Paseo de la Reforma number 75; in the email denunciapgr@pgr.gob.mx , and in the telephone numbers (55) 53 46 38 67 and in the (55) 53 46 00 00, extension 3825, in Mexico City; and on 01 800 831 31 96, from anywhere in the country.

"El Mencho", and / or "El Gallero" and / or "El Señor de los Gallos", was born on July 17, 1964 or 1966, in the town of Naranjo de Chila, in the municipality of Aguililla, Michoacán. His criminal career began towards the end of the 80s of the last century, when he emigrated to northern California, in the United States, to traffic heroin.

Oseguera Cervantes was arrested in 1992 and spent three years in an American prison. Deported, he returned to Mexico, where “El Mencho” consolidated himself as one of the main operators of the Millennium Cartel, and later formed the CJNG, together with the González Valencia brothers.

52-year-old “El Mencho”, who is a fugitive from justice, has various arrest warrants in Mexico and a provisional arrest warrant for extradition to the United States, issued since February 2015 by a federal judge From Mexico City.

The last time the Michoacán capo was close to being arrested was on May 1, 2015, when a group of armed men at his service repelled an operation on the road to Casimiro Castillo-Villa Purificación, in the state of Jalisco, and shot down a helicopter of the Mexican Air Force (FAM).

The CJNG, which is primarily engaged in transporting synthetic drugs to the United States. It emerged in 2007 as an armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel, from which it separated in 2010, and is now the "priority objective" of the Mexican Federal Government, which wants to "dismantle" the criminal group, in the words of the then head of Segob, Navarrete Prida.

Earlier, on March 27 of this same year, Brian McKnight, the new agent in charge of the DEA office in Chicago, Illinois, declared that alias "El Mencho", is the new public enemy number one of said US city.

Family of El Mencho

His brother-in-law, Abigael González Valencia, alias “El Cuini”, leader of the Los Cuinis criminal group, partners and administrators of the CJNG's economic resources, is being held at the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (CEFERESO), No. 1, El Altiplano , in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, where he was transferred at the end of July 2019, at the risk of an alleged leak.

Abigael is one of the 18 González Valencia brothers, and in the cartel structure led by El Mencho, he appeared as the second in power and only below his brother-in-law, until his arrest on February 28, 2015, in a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, from where he was transferred to El Altiplano.

On June 26, 2018, elements of the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) and the Federal Police (PF) carried out an operation in the Parque Virreyes subdivision, in Zapopan, Jalisco, where they arrested the brothers Arnulfo and Ulises Giovanni. González Valencia, brothers of El Cuini.

Before, on May 27, 2018, Rosalinda González Valencia, El Mencho's wife, was arrested by elements of the Mexican Navy Secretariat (Semar), in Zapopan. While on January 2, 2016, Elvis González Valencia, was detained in a private hospital located in the same municipality, after being shot in San Miguel El Alto. However, in December of that same year he was released.

On April 21, 2016, Gerardo González Valencia was detained in Montevideo, Uruguay, and was designated by the federal authorities as one of the CJNG financial operators. Likewise, José Luis González Valencia, alias La Chepa, Camarón or Santy, was arrested in Brazil in December 2017.

On April 19, 2018, elements of the Semar, in coordination with the PGR, arrested José Luis Gutiérrez Ochoa, alias “El Tolín”, son of José Luis Gutiérrez Valencia, in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit state, "Don Chelo", and brother-in-law of Rubén Oseguera González, "El Menchito", the latter is the son of "El Mencho".

At the end of last May, despite the sanction imposed by the Federal Judicial Council (CJF) on a circuit judge for dictating judgments allegedly committed to organized crime, three magistrates of a Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters granted an injunction to Oseguera González, son of the CJNG leader.

The college members revoked the protection that had been denied by a Unitary Court with residence in Zapopan, Jalisco, and decided to grant the protection of justice in favor of the alleged drug trafficker, who is being prosecuted in two different cases for the crime of organized crime.

The defense of the son of "El Mencho" claimed the formal prison order that was issued to the young man from Michoacán in the Sixth District Court of Criminal Proceedings in the State of Jalisco, after his arrest on June 23, 2015, and that in Appeal was upheld by the Third Unitary Court of the Third Circuit.

A few days before the end of the Barack Obama government, the Federal Court of the District of Columbia, in Washington, ordered the arrest of "El Menchito". The capture was released last December 14 for possession and use of a firearm, as well as for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, with the knowledge that it would reach the United States.

Known by the DEA with the aliases of "Rubencito", "El Rojo," El Ruso "," Junior "and" El Niño ", the US justice attributes these charges to him, because there are indications that since 2011 he imports and distributes drugs in that country.

That was the first time that the Justice Department filed charges against “El Menchito”, who is a US citizen, despite the fact that since January 2014 he has remained in prison most of the time.

“El Menchito” was first detained on January 30, 2014 in Zapopan, Jalisco, but on December 1 following a federal court released him. The Army and Navy arrested him again on June 23, 2015 and since then he has been in prison.

To date, criminal proceedings have been initiated against Oseguera González for organized crime in the hypothesis of committing crimes against health, violation of the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives, as well as bribery.

Superseding Indictment released February 2020:

El Mencho Second Supersedin... by Chivis Martinez on Scribd