Bureau of Public Affairs | Notorious Mexican cartel leader convicted of international drug trafficking and firearms offenses

A federal jury today found Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez, also known as El Menchito, guilty of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, knowing and intending to have them imported into the United States, and of using, carrying and brandishing firearms, including destructive devices, in furtherance of the drug trafficking conspiracy. The jury trial lasted two weeks in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between 2007 and 2017, Oseguera-Gonzalez, 34, led an international drug trafficking organization that was responsible for importing large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico into the United States. Oseguera-Gonzalez was the second-in-command of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), based in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The CJNG is one of the most dangerous drug cartels in Mexico. Oseguera-Gonzalez personally used firearms, destructive devices, assassinations and kidnapping to control the drug trafficking organization. Oseguera-Gonzalez also ordered his subordinates to shoot down a Mexican military helicopter so he could evade capture by Mexican law enforcement.

“El Menchito led the Jalisco Cartel’s efforts to use murder, kidnapping, and torture to build a self-proclaimed ’empire’ by manufacturing fentanyl and flooding the United States with massive amounts of deadly drugs. Today, fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “El Menchito now joins the growing list of high-level cartel leaders that the Department of Justice has convicted in a U.S. courtroom. We are grateful to our Mexican law enforcement partners for their extensive cooperation and sacrifice in bringing leaders of the Jalisco Cartel to account.”

“Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez pioneered the production of fentanyl in Mexico to build his father’s Jalisco Cartel into one of the world’s most powerful drug syndicates. His crimes caused horrific violence and death in the United States, Mexico, and around the world,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that our prosecutors and agents, working with our Mexican law enforcement partners, will relentlessly pursue justice against the leaders of the drug trafficking organizations that are destroying lives and poisoning our communities.”

“As CJNG’s second-in-command, Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez used extreme violence to smuggle massive quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “His conviction underscores the Criminal Division’s commitment to disrupting and dismantling organizations that produce and distribute deadly drugs in our communities. Today’s sentence also sends a strong message to the cartel’s leadership: we will work with our domestic and international law enforcement partners to find you and bring you to justice. We are especially grateful to the Mexican authorities for their significant assistance in this case.”

“Today’s guilty verdict sends a clear message that the DEA will stop at nothing to investigate and dismantle criminal drug networks that threaten the safety and health of the American people,” said Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram. “As one of the highest-ranking members of the Jalisco Cartel, Oseguera-Gonzalez was responsible for pushing massive amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States while engaging in violence, kidnapping, and bribery to build and protect the Jalisco Cartel. I commend the men and women of the DEA Los Angeles Field Division for their outstanding work in this case.”

According to evidence presented at trial, from 2012 to 2015, Oseguera-Gonzalez oversaw the production of more than three million pounds of methamphetamine in one area of ​​Mexico. In April 2015, Oseguera-Gonzalez personally directed the distribution of more than 55,000 pounds of cocaine. According to testimony at trial, Oseguera-Gonzalez made plans to “go big” with counterfeit OxyContin pills in October 2013, just before the fentanyl epidemic began in the United States. According to testimony, the defendant said in 2015 that he was “building an empire with . . . fentanyl.” Oseguera-Gonzalez was arrested by Mexican authorities in June 2015 on local charges. He remained in custody in Mexico until his extradition to the United States in February 2020. While in custody in Mexico, Oseguera-Gonzalez continued to control the CJNG, negotiating drug transactions and approving the purchase of firearms and destructive devices, including .50 caliber firearms and 40mm grenades.

Oseguera-Gonzalez personally used extreme violence to grow and control the cartel. For example, when five men owed Oseguera-Gonzalez money for drugs in the United States, Oseguera-Gonzalez violently killed all five men. On another occasion, the suspect shot one of his drivers in the head at close range. In an intercepted message, Oseguera-Gonzalez also described tying up 13 people, only releasing one after the man agreed to make fentanyl pills for Oseguera-Gonzalez.

Oseguera-Gonzalez also amassed an arsenal of weapons. His assassins, whom he called the Special Forces of the High Command, used the weapons to protect him and help him evade Mexican authorities. For example, on May 1, 2015, the suspect’s assassins, acting on Oseguera-Gonzalez’s orders, shot down a Mexican Armed Forces helicopter with 18 soldiers and police officers aboard. At least nine people aboard the helicopter died as a result of Oseguera-Gonzalez’s orders. Oseguera-Gonzalez’s men used an Iranian-made rocket-propelled grenade and a .50-caliber belt-fed firearm to shoot down the helicopter. Both weapons were painted with “CJNG” and a pixel camouflage pattern unique to Oseguera-Gonzalez’s assassins.

Less than two months after his escape, Oseguera-Gonzalez was arrested in Jalisco, Mexico. Surrounded by soldiers and police, he brandished an assault rifle and grenade launcher and demanded to be released because he was a member of the CJNG. The weapon Oseguera-Gonzalez used to threaten the police bore the same pixelated camouflage pattern and was emblazoned with the nicknames of the CJNG and Oseguera-Gonzalez: Menchito, 02, and Jr.

Oseguera-Gonzalez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years in prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life plus 30 years in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 10, 2025. A federal district judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The DEA Los Angeles Field Division investigated the case with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs provided critical assistance in securing Oseguera-Gonzalez’s extradition and in obtaining key evidence for the trial. The Criminal Division’s Office of Enforcement Operations provided significant assistance. The Department of Justice thanks Mexican authorities for their assistance in securing Oseguera-Gonzalez’s extradition and in securing evidence and testimony that was presented in court.

Acting Deputy Chief Kaitlin Sahni and trial attorneys Kate Naseef, Jonathan R. Hornok and Lernik Begian of the Criminal Division’s Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Unit are prosecuting the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.