A relative of the killed leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” is a California native, according to federal records, as other Mexican cartels try to maintain connections to the United States, especially in California.
The U.S. Department of State said Cervantes’ stepson, Juan Carlos Valencia Gonzalez, was born in Santa Ana, Orange County although it was not immediately clear where Gonzalez currently lives. Federal officials are offering a $5 million reward for information leading to Gonzalez’s arrest.
Gonzalez is believed to have influence within a subgroup of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. There is no public evidence that he directed drug trafficking operations in Southern California or his native Orange County.
Mexican cartel leaders often have family members in the United States with many of them being U.S. citizens, according to Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, professor and co-director of Terrorism and Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at George Mason University.
“Some of the so-called cartel members send their families or family members to the United States, their sons and daughters,” Correa-Cabrera said. “We saw that with Chapo Guzman. Sometimes, they are born in the United States.”
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel was previously linked to others in California previously.
The son-in-law of “El Mencho,” Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, was arrested in Riverside in 2024 on federal drug charges. Authorities had said Gutierrez-Ochoa faked his death in Mexico and moved to the United States.
The American-born members of cartels may indicate that the criminal organizations may have far-reaching impacts, according to John Kirby, former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of California.
“if you have somebody who is actually born here and could travel freely, that could have a big influence as far as the connections that he can make, as far as how he can deal with people here in the United States,” Kirby said.
As the Jalisco New Generation Cartel has stretched its tentacles to many parts of the United State and the world already, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, attention is now turning to who would take over the gang after the death of “El Mencho.”
“It’s unclear who is going to be the leader of the new generation going forward,” Kirby said. “Yes, you have the stepson. You have a lot of other people who are vying for control. This is a very powerful cartel.”
Correa-Cabrera agreed the influence of Jalisco New Generation Cartel remains strong, and the death of “El Mencho” does not eliminate the group.
“This criminal network will adapt to a new reality, will adopt new leadership in plural, and it will reconfigure itself depending on the policies, depending on the corruption networks, depending on the facilities to launder money.”