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Friday, March 12, 2021

The New Chapo: An Inside Look at the Hunt for El Mencho, Mexico's Bloodiest Drug Lord

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Note to readers: This article was published by NBC News last month. It includes an exclusive interview with the DEA and a video in the references section.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ('El Mencho') is the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).


GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Sometimes, the decapitated bodies are hanging from bridges. Other times, the mutilated torsos are just discarded on the street. Often, the carnage comes with a calling card: “CJNG” in scrawled lettering.


The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación likes to send a message.


To those who have been tracking the resurgence of the Mexican drug war in the last few years, the cartel’s rise is particularly troubling — it is as brazen as it is ruthless. The Drug Enforcement Administration now believes the CJNG is responsible for tons of meth and fentanyl flowing into the United States each month.


“CJNG is our No. 1 priority right now,” said Bill Bodner, the special agent in charge of the DEA's Los Angeles field division, who oversees a group of agents specifically tasked with tracking down the cartel’s leader.


Still, that man — Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho” — has successfully eluded U.S. federal authorities so far.

Multiple American and Mexican law enforcement officials tell NBC News the CJNG's head has filled the void after the 2016 capture of the notorious “El Chapo” Guzmán — who led the rival Sinaloa cartel. The CJNG has swooped in, these sources say, and it’s now considered the deadliest cartel in Mexico.


“The Zetas were very feared,” Bodner said. “But they met their match.”


Hunting a Ghost 

The DEA has touted a $10 million reward for information leading to El Mencho’s arrest. But so far, authorities have come up empty.


The CJNG has only existed for about a decade, but it rose to power much more quickly than the rival Sinaloa cartel. Its influence now stretches across six continents and 28 of Mexico’s 32 states. Major U.S. cities — including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and New York — are all affected by the CJNG’s drugs, DEA officials said.


El Mencho has been indicted in U.S. federal court on charges of drug trafficking, corruption and murder.


But following his trail has been difficult. At one point, the DEA believed he might be hiding in the mountains, but it has been challenging to pin him down.


In many ways, he’s been a “ghost,” one source said.


The cartel leader was born in the tiny Mexican town of Naranjo de Chila in 1966 and lived for a time in California; he was arrested in the U.S. in the 1980s for selling drugs. He eventually made his way back to Guadalajara and began working for the Milenio Cartel, a subsidiary of the Sinaloa cartel. He rose through the ranks, before splintering off into his group around 2010. The resulting group, the CJNG, would quickly unleash a new wave of violence on its rivals. After 2016, when El Chapo was captured, the bloodshed intensified.


CJNG members interrogate rival gangsters before they are killed

El Mencho’s shadowy history doesn’t reveal much — except perhaps why it’s been so hard to find him.


“El Mencho seems to be a lot more disciplined than Chapo was,” Bodner said. “El Chapo liked to live the flashy lifestyle — the cars, women, nice restaurants, alcohol. El Mencho is content to stay away from that stuff, to work out, to eat right, to stay off the radar.”


One of his few known vices: his reported love of cockfighting, which has earned him another nickname — “The Lord of the Roosters.”


Family ties 

El Mencho’s American-born son, Ruben Oseguera González, was arrested in 2015 and is now being held in a maximum-security prison in Mexico as U.S. authorities ask for his extradition on drugs and weapons charges.


According to the Mexican newspaper El Universal, in 2019 González’s attorneys accused a DEA agent of bribing a local magistrate to intervene and speed up the process — an allegation the agency vehemently denies.


“They're trying to slow [the agent] down on this case,” Bodner said. “This is a tactic by a defense attorney trying to slow down an investigation into a cartel that’s trying to put up roadblocks to stop us from extraditing a person — who is a U.S. citizen, by the way.”


The battle between the DEA and cartels in Guadalajara has raged for decades. It was recently featured in the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico," which told the story of agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1985.


'We are at war' 

With his face obscured in darkness, the man vividly remembered the last time he spoke to his son.


It was more than a year ago. Almost 400 days of agony have followed: the searing pain of a parent who knows their child has been murdered – but can’t find the body.


“I didn’t believe human beings could do this,” he said in an interview. “We are at war.”


For security reasons, he asked that his face not be shown, nor his name used. That’s a common request in Mexico, where the government just announced that more than 61,000 people have disappeared amid the ongoing drug war -- and where homicides topped 31,000 in 2019, the deadliest year in memory.


He wore a ball cap, a mustache and a tired smile. He worked as a chiropractor but his family owned a ranch in rural Mexico, which had been handed down through the generations. Until, he said, dozens of cartel members seized it to make meth.


“The government can’t handle them,” he said.


This map shows the areas of influence of major Mexican cartels. The CJNG is in Yellow and has presencen in: Texas, California, Arizona, Washington, Florida, New York, etc.


Across social media, the CJNG has posted gruesome displays of beheadings and executions. Other postings are propaganda videos meant to recruit new members. One former Mexican intelligence official said the cartel grooms potential recruits from a very young age — in their early teens — with easy access to drugs, promises of money and jobs. CJNG business cards with popular logos like Louis Vuitton are openly handed out. In some neighborhoods, cartel members employ Robin Hood-type tactics, handing out food and other supplies to poor communities. The young men who are lured into joining are immediately tortured and forced to become sicarios, or assassins, for the cartel. By the time they get older, they’re willing to torture and decapitate their own victims.


The ruthlessness of the attacks has drawn comparisons to the Islamic State militant group.


“In terms of violence, yes,” Bodner, the DEA agent, said. “They may not have a religious ideology, but the violence is the same.”


'Stain of blood' 

The DEA gave NBC News rare access to one of its secret labs that analyzes drug seizures at an undisclosed location. The agency is seeing more methamphetamine cross the border — and much of it is attributed to the CJNG. Unlike marijuana or heroin, meth doesn’t require huge swaths of land or good weather. The labs can be built in isolated areas — and the synthetic drug can be much more profitable.


At the DEA’s lab, technicians combed through the chemical composition of the meth.


“It’s much more pure (than before),” said Bodner, the DEA agent.


In Mexico, the security commissioner of the state of Guanajuato said in an interview that Americans’ addiction to drugs fuels the demand — which in turn fuels the cartels and their violence.


“Unfortunately, with each dose consumed, there comes the stain of blood,” Sophia Huett said. “And it’s something we cannot deny.” 

Source: NBC News; NBC News Video

47 comments:

  1. I guess now that Trump is out of office, the American MSM will cover the Mexican DTOs atrocities more......or not, we shall see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 12;57
      nope they will not
      they will deny it
      dont you remember Dems didnt even know what Coyote meant
      where have you been ?

      Delete
    2. Are you a dummy the leftist media is going to help cover up for Mexico. Remember hugs not bullets, Mexico liberal president proudly shouted..

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    3. @2018 hrs.: x1000.
      @1257 hrs.: "or not" is the correct answer.

      M.F.

      Delete
  2. Chasing a ghost 👻.

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  3. How many times are you going to recycle this story?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the first time we publish this specific story.

      Did you read the "Note to readers" on the top?

      Perhaps the info in this report isn't news to you, but we cannot assume that for every reader. We have a diverse audience and many may be new to El Mencho's background, etc.

      Delete
    2. 1:39 if you don’t like don’t read lol I never try to miss out on learning a new thing about this mencho guy. greetings from Canada bb.

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    3. These clown ass journalists just re write a story and say it’s new 😂 haha!

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    4. @4:56, As if any of the "news" outlets you have decided are "legitimate" don't do the same thing. How dare you Borderlandbeat compile the useful information on a specific topic, that's not well covered,from all over the place, into one location. You should be ashamed you are keeping people from all over the world informed on this topic.

      PS- Welcone back and thank you for your hard work, many of us deeply appreciate what you do.

      Delete
    5. This site is the best around for narco information. I've seen local news stations in Houston mention a low level narco and tell the people he was a kingpin and the sheeple believe that b.s. I've been reading articles from BB for over 10 yrs and no one comes close to the level of information. You could always go to infobae or blog del narco if you really want to see reposted garbage with misinformation

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    6. @10:11 agree ... besides, I’m all about reading what major US media outlets are writing about Mencho. The disclaimer was included at the top, I guess because “MX” knew some idiots would complain. But there are still thousands of readers I’m sure don’t know much about Mencho. Also, BB is supposed to also serve as a repository for narco news in general. Discriminating what gets included versus what doesn’t because it may hurt an idiot’s feelings is a slippery slope.

      - El Choclo

      Delete
  4. Is this the same dude who cry not to be kill by EL CHANGO MENDEZ if he is he a coward.

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    Replies
    1. No, this is the guy who was crying when he was been taken into custody by the usa

      Delete
    2. This is the guy who killed changos brother and is still a free man.

      Delete
  5. 31,000 homicides in 2019? Incorrect the homicides in 2019 was 35,000+

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  6. This fucking guy built a hospital around the area where he hides. They know where he he is they scared of going to get him.

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  7. He’s elusive because he ain’t like the snitchaloas showing off and flossing their stuff in front of all the poor people , people resent that.. mencho keeps it low profile , and doesn’t make the regular people feel inferior... snitchaloas are a bunch of show off mofos .. arriba michoacan vali..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honest question.. why do Michoacános say vali???

      Delete
    2. Es un tiple de la region, asi como los de sinaloa que no probuncian bien la "s", como para decir " ese vato" dicen "eje vato"
      Aji hablan loj de jinaloa

      Delete
  8. I never understand why they call him the bloodiest capo. Looks like no one on here lived through the 79's and 80's with GDL cartel! Guess since there wasnt social media back then its different! I can tell you GDL, CDS Federation, Zetas, CJNG are all equal! Just now you have cheerleaders calling the other side violent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michoacán always has the most ruthless crowd for sure!

      This article is about your papi Mencho who is from Michoacán.

      I don’t care for Mencho but one thing for sure is that otros estados don’t even come close to MICHOACÁN!

      Delete
    2. Purepecha. Aztecs could never conquer that area. Always lost.

      Delete
    3. Purepecha my ass just another name for Mayan

      Delete
    4. @12:48 Read about the Tarascan culture.

      Delete
  9. Chicas, Champagne and flash was Sapos demise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @7:23 He 'shoulda listened to Frank.

      Delete
  10. MENCHO makes CHAPO look like a school girl in comparison..
    This GUY is straight BUSINESS..
    while CHAPO was out looking for LITTLE girls TO take their virginity, MENCHO was making his PLAZAS stronger and expanding..
    Just SAYING..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This dude was CHAPO ass cleaner lets not forget that 😀

      Delete
    2. 10:17 whose ass was chapo cleaning at the begining? Cause chapo wasnt always at the top lets not forget that, i gives mencho props cause he came from the bottom to now been bigger than chapo and smarter, this guy is a true gost he never went hiding into an ok ther country when thigs got hot with other cartels, lets just say he did get kicked out of michoacan, but chapo got kicked out of mexico😉

      Delete
    3. 10:17 CHAPO never bossed MENCHO around, if ANYTHING they both benefited FROM their alliance at one point.. Well, UNTIL chapo figured OUT MENCHO was getting bigger and expanding from JALISCO into OTHER states.. Chapo sent his SICARIOS to COLIMA to kill him but they failed.. That is WHEN MENCHO went independent and not LONG after THAT chapo got caught the 3rd TIME.. CDS and CJNG were already having PROBLEMS
      CDS saw MENCHO's potential and wanted TO STOP him before HE got to BIG..
      Why do you THINK CJNG still had ALL their PLAZAS when THEY went independent?
      JALISCO, COLIMA, Guanajuato were CJNG main PLAZAS.. Cholo turned on MENCHO for fear of getting KILLED and THAT'S the ONLY REASON CDS is able to step foot in that PLAZA (let's not forget that)

      Delete
    4. @10:17 I agree with everything you said except the fact that Guanajuato was Marros territory and before that was zetas. Marro was part of the zetas until the CDN was created and he just went his own way. Just recently became CJNG territory

      Delete
    5. MARRO was with CJNG at one point
      I remember WHEN they were after MENCHO in 2015 and they shot 2 HELICOPTERS in JALISCO.. (media say it was ONE but it was actually TWO) MENCHO sicarios were burning CARS and busses and causing RUCKUS in cjng PLAZAS.. That included GUANAJUATO.. Look it UP, I'm sure BB has that ARTICLE

      MARRO didn't WANT to take ORDERS from MENCHO and I'm sure he was taxing HIM TOO, he thought he could take on CJNG and win.. MENCHO sent his nephew to TRY to negotiate a deal between them TWO.. MARRO killed MENCHO nephew and refused to WORK with CJNG.. DUMB move

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    6. @2:28 To this day CJNG doesn't fully control Guanajuato or anything else. It's facts amigo.

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    7. 11:20 those are real facts, just like the fact that cds doesnt fully control sinaloa or sonora or any other other state they have precense on

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    8. @12:53 Exactly, so people shouldn't believe CJNG is all mighty, they are another bunch of espanta pendejos with their own political backing interests, like everyone else.

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    9. FACT is CJNG has MORE presence in Guanajuato and MARRO guys keep getting BUSTED or KILLED..

      Delete
    10. 2:39 exactly, just like people shouldnt believe cds is all mighty, they are another bunch of espanta pendejos with their own political backing interrsts, just like cjng and every other cartel!😉 dont hate on one cartel and praise another! At the end every cartel is the same! Mostly cause they are mostly made up of ignorant people who always have felt less than others and once they get a little power they cant handle it and end up beem worse than the people who they hated, its a never ending cicle of ignorance

      Delete
  11. The mexican toto riina

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  12. El Mancho is dead, he died from overdose!! He's in HELL now!

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    Replies
    1. Maybe El MANCHO but El MENCHO is still alive 😆

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  13. We will get him this time! We are so close

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    Replies
    1. They all have a expiration date given to them; just a matter of time.

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  14. All i know is media outlets take BB stories and publish without giving credit where credit is due. Thats all im saying.

    BB changed the game is journalism.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Specializing in Meth, paying in species, pushing its mandatory distribution and consumption all over México are some of the symptoms of a CHEAP ASS cartel.

    ReplyDelete
  16. More than many Mexican drug lords, this guy seems to have appeared out of nowhere. His history would make for an entertaining story.

    M.F.

    ReplyDelete

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