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. From the shadows, he continues to lead CJNG with ruthless authority. Three other CJNG suspects were killed. His boss, Eddie Kane, Calumet's general manager, declined repeated requests for comment. These attacks brought him increased government attention and an extensive manhunt. Maciasand Sosa were convicted of meth trafficking and money laundering and are serving 31 and 15 years, respectively, in federal prison. But from the hospital, Garca Harfuch posted a tweet. The CJNG went from being a small, offshoot criminal gang to one of the leading criminal groups in Mexico. And, in a 2019 case pending in federal court,an accused cartel lieutenantconnected to Chicago drug trafficking settled into a $2 million Nashville condo. 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. [46], In the small town of Villa Purificacin, Jalisco, El Mencho's men shot down a Mexican Army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, killing 9 soldiers. Tipped off that a police caravan was on its way to grab El Mencho, CJNGhitmen hidalong the route in April 2015 and ambushed fourpolice vehicles. The Courier Journal's investigation into CJNG's surge comes during a recent wave of significantviolence among warring drug cartels in Mexico. Yet, no sooner had authorities busted Kentucky's CJNG ringthan the cartel replaced Macias, sending in another team. The other division refused El Mencho's request, prompting an internal war. That designation allowed the department to levy sanctions against Mexican businesses linked to the cartels, includinga sushi restaurant, a tequila business, shopping centers, a medical clinic, two newspapers and famed Hotelito Desconocido, visited by Hollywood stars. [14] In Mexico, he joined the local police forces of Cabo Corrientes and Tomatln in the state of Jalisco. The DEA's Donahue said many were taken toremote paramilitary camps where they were trained asassassins. He is wanted for drug trafficking, organized crime involvement, and undocumented possession of firearms. One byproduct of the cartels recruitment campaign was that teenage drug dealers and petty thieves suddenly found themselves working as transnational criminals. Unlike the drug cartels of Pablo Escobars Colombia, Mexican drug trafficking organizations have rarely targeted top officials, in part to avoid a clash with the state and in part because they have found bribery a more useful tool than assassination. Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera Cervantes rules the ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Pullup the seat. He shares intel with the DEA,but not his own people. A month later, Mexican authorities learned of ElMenchos new hiding spot andorganizeda secret mission to capture him. THE Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is in a bloodthirsty power grab across South America as experts warn they are creating an empire even bigger that El Chapo's. CJNG is a 13 billion drug empire led by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera Cervantes which has now consolidated power across almost the whole of Mexico. The body of local social media star Juan Luis Rosales, a.k.a "El Pirata de Culiacn", after he was shot and killed by Jalisco New Generation Cartel gunmen. Hisoffice has prosecuted Sinaloa and CJNG members. He got his first glimpse of CJNGs success when he was overseeing drug cases in Los Angeles, a key cartel hub. Antonio lived in the U.S. and was released from a Mississippi prison in 2001 after completing his sentence for property damage charges. Since then, several Mexican officials, including the governor of the western state of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro Ramrez, and the head of the countrys human rights commission, Rosario Piedra Ibarra, have said that they received death threats from the cartel. The teenager sneaked into the U.S. and triedto build a customer base as a street-level dealer. This short film details The Courier Journal's investigation into CJNG and its leader, El Mencho, began in early 2019 and what was uncovered. In the sinister messages, the mobsters announce that the state is against the Operativa Blica - the Jalisco New Generation Cartel 's armed militia . That fight has been waged across America over the past seven years, federal court records show: CJNG is also using a mix of street gangsand white-collar businessmen to move the drugs and hide the money. [15] He dropped out of primary school in fifth grade to work in the fields. Treasury Department officials stood with Sessions and announced more sanctions on businesses linked to CJNG and its affiliate, Los Cuinis. So instead of blaming, we should look for solutions.. Ciro Macias Martinez led a double life, working as a horse groomer by day and overseeing the flow of $30 million worth of drugs into Kentuckyby night before being imprisoned in 2018 for meth trafficking and money laundering, federal records show. Businesses in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Los Angeles would buy the goldand then send the payments through wire transfers to Mexico including to Parra Pedroza's precious metals business. . "If you provide information to the Mexican government, its probably the last thing you would say.". 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. 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. Just hours after the crash, the cartel carried out coordinated attacks in 39 cities, blowingup banks, gas stations and setting cars and semis on fire on major highways to slow down police reinforcements. Mexican marines almost captured El Mencho in October 2018. (24 November 2019). 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. [39] On 30 March, CJNG gunmen in Zapopan, Jalisco, ambushed a convoy containing Alejandro Solorio Archiga, Jalisco's security commissioner. During his arrest, the army confiscated multiple weapons. [49], According to the Mexican government, El Mencho may be hiding in the state of Jalisco, the CJNG's stronghold. CJNGmembers or associates would sell drugs to traffickers inWisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, California, Texas, Kentucky, Illinois and North Carolina. [64] 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. MEXICO CITY Before they allegedly tried to assassinate this city's police chief, the foot soldiers of Mexico's most powerful drug cartel already had left a bloody wake across the country. Implantation. CJNG has skirted Mexican and U.S. inspections at legal border crossings by hiding drugs in semitrailers hauling tomatoes, avocados and other produce, dumping at least 5 tons of cocaine and 5 tons of meth into this country every month, according to DEA estimates. Caller name: PABLO OSEGUERA. I've implanted you a fee which you must pay. [96] At the time of this arrest, El Mencho's wife was found to be financial chief of the CJNG.[97]. [14], Three weeks after the incident both men were arrested by the police. "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. In America,ElMenchoexpectscartel members and associates to avoid violence, hidewealth anddisguise their CJNG affiliations, agents say. [92], In April 2019, El Mencho's godson Adrin Alonso Guerrero Covarrubias was arrested on charges of drug trafficking and kidnapping. [25], In 2019 Kyle Mori, the head of the DEA team tasked with locating El Mencho, stated in an interview with Univision that he believed El Mencho had a net worth of at least $500 million and he could also be worth over $1 billion. The group then changed its name to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Spanish: Crtel de Jalisco Nueva Generacin, or CJNG). Initial reports stated that El Mencho was captured in the operation, but the Mexican government later confirmed that he was not in custody. The Jalisco cartel's violence has taken a horrific toll on the state and experts say it poses a threat to Mexico's government Skip to main content Skip to navigation Subscribe Histestimony helped convict a trafficker connected to CJNG in 2014. El Cholo afterwards retaliated by co-founding a new cartel called the Nueva Plaza Cartel. [14] 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. Link copied Feb. 21, 2020, 6:03 PM UTC his anguished parents asked. 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. [28] The government estimates that El Mencho's group has about US$50billion in total assets. On November 15, troops arrested Rosalinda Gonzlez Valencia, wife of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho," one of Mexico's most powerful drug traffickers and leader of the Jalisco Cartel . El Mencho and his cartel, with more than 5,000 members worldwide, have a clear-cut objective: "They want to control the entire drug market," said Matthew Donahue, who oversees foreign operations for the DEA. Young people who are immersed in addiction problems are easy prey for these organized crime groups.. [17][18], El Mencho relocated in the state capital, Guadalajara, with his father-in-law Jos Luis Gonzlez Valencia (alias "El Quini") and Romn Caballero Valencia. More unchecked opportunities. Many are committed by cartels. 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. MEXICO CITY (AP) The Mexican army on Tuesday arrested the brother of the country's most wanted drug cartel boss, Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, the Mexico Defense Department said. In Guanajuato and elsewhere, President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has debated how to respond to the cartels expansion and the surging violence it has brought. Eight soldiers and Morales partner died. El Mencho was left with few options; if he pleaded not guilty, his brother Abrahamwho already had felony drug sentences in his recordwould probably face life in prison. "That's the type ofterrorists were dealing with here.". In recent times El Mencho (real name Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes) has taken over from his one-time ally, the now-jailed Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, as Mexico's most feared crime boss. Further details Roberto Alderete revealed about CJNG remain hidden in sealed documents. (Video: Reuters). According to the DEA, the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation now controls 23 of Mexico's 32 states. Oseguera, who had a $10 million bounty placed on his head by U.S. authorities in 2018, has . Two months after his arrest, his first child was born. Pablo Escobar was a Colombian born drug kingpin who had a peak net worth of $30 billion dollars during his lifetime. Closethe air vents. His followers have spread tonearly all of Mexico's 32 states, including the cities ofGuadalajara and Tijuana, both crucial to moving drugs into the U.S. From there, ElMencho's empire went global, withasteady and growing customerbasein the U.S., as well as in Australia, Europe andJapan. She recruited helpers, too, and they frequently made deposits of less than $10,000 amounts small enough to dodge federal reporting requirements at bank branches in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee,as well asGreensboro and Winston-Salem,North Carolina. In 2020, it was reported that El Mencho suffers from kidney disease and had built a hospital in the village of El Alchuatl to help treat it. The cartels, including CJNG, are feeling empowered because of the rampantviolence in Mexico, said Paul Craine, a retired DEA supervisor who oversaw the U.S. hunt for El Chapo. A powerful and aggressive Mexican cartel appears to have made a plea to its enemies following hundreds of deaths in the country. Reporters Jonathan Bullington, Kala Kachmar, Chris Kenning andKarol Suarez contributed to this story. CJNG also has enlisted white-collar expertise. CJNG's plan tomove intosmall-town America and cashin on the country's addiction crisis played out in Lexington, Kentucky. "If that takes them killing other cartels or killing innocent people, they will do it.". U.S. officials have documented the cartels strategy of using extreme violence to overwhelm local populations. "my name is PABLO OSEGUERA member carte Jalisco New Generation and pimp of the domestic sexual service house I've been calling you cause you've been speaking to one of my girls which offered you her service and you only made her lose her time. 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. The CJNG set 39 buses, 11 banks, and 16 gas stations on fire. MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested the wife of the leader of Jalisco New Generation, one of the country's fiercest drug cartels. In September 2011, the emerging cartel left 35 corpses on a street in the heart of. All rights reserved. Hearing more details, the investigator, who asked not to be identified to protect his work, acknowledged to The Courier Journal: "Its a great strategy.". Chicago prosecutors allegein court filingsthat LuisAlderetewas ahigh-level cartel operativewhoshopped for a hitman on Facebook to take care of a gang member in Cairo, Illinois, to silence him. [28] Abigael was arrested by the Mexican Navy on 28 February 2015. He dropped out of sixth grade to helphis family pickavocados. The answer, The Courier Journal found, kept pointing to CJNG. 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"). Mexican officials, for their part, have been outspoken about the need for the United States to crack down further on the flow of guns south into Mexico. In June 2015, the Mexican military arrested El Menchos son and second-in-command, Rubn Oseguera Gonzles. A high-ranking state official in Jaliscosaid Americans are too quick to blame Mexico for the U.S. drug crisis. [23][24], As leader of the CJNG, El Mencho solidified his position and grew his organization through territorial expansion and by corrupting government officials.