El Mencho's Jalisco New Generation Cartel — Inside its leadership, franchise model and ‘billion-dollar profit’

“El Mencho”, also known as Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. He was killed during raids by the Mexico military on Sunday. The massive drug raids led to widespread violence in some regions of Mexico.

Nearly three dozen criminals were killed in the operation and violence that flared across the country afterwards. Security Minster Omar García Harfuch said. The National Guard lost 25 of its members, and one civilian was slain.

It has approximately 15,000 to 20,000 members and operates mainly "throughout Mexico, with strongholds in Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima," the US Counter Terrorism Guide says.

The CJNG is known for its aggressive use of violence and its public relations campaigns. Despite the capture of certain top leaders, it remains one of Mexico’s foremost criminal threats and appears set to continue expanding, Insight Crime reported.

The Jalisco Cartel New Generation emerged from the remnants of the Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated Milenio Cartel, the US' Drug Enforcement Administration says, and has grown into one of Mexico's most violent crime organisations.

The CJNG split from the Sinaloa Cartel in 2010 and has expanded across Mexico since 2018, the US' Counter Terrorism guide claimed. As of 2025, the CJNG is the main competitor to the Sinaloa Cartel.

"The US State Department designated CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity in February 2025," the US Counter Terrorism Guide says.

The Drug Enforcement Administration in the US says that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) "is a key supplier of illicit fentanyl to the United States, and one of Mexico’s most powerful, influential, and ruthless transnational criminal organisations."

It said CJNG has "become independent from key members linked by blood ties or marriage to the Gonzalez-Valencia money laundering organization, known as Los Cuinis."

Besides, the US' Counter Terrorism Guide says the CJNG’s criminal activities generate billions of dollars annually. The group traffics drugs to the United States, Australia, and Canada, as well as to many countries in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and Europe.

It adds that CJNG’s de facto control of the Port of Manzanillo in Colima, Mexico, allows the group to import precursor chemicals to produce fentanyl and methamphetamine.

CJNG also profits from extortion, fuel theft, kidnapping, illegal logging and mining, migrant smuggling, and timeshare fraud, it says.

It is alleged that this group and other CJNG factions use Chinese Money Laundering Networks (CMLNs), cryptocurrency exchanges, bulk cash smuggling, trade-based money laundering, and other methods to launder illicit drug-related proceeds.

The US' Counter Terrorism Guide claim that the CJNG has a "hierarchical command structure" in which regional leaders manage day-to-day operations for the group’s founder and overall leader, Ruben Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. El Mencho.

CJNG uses a franchise model—an affiliation agreement between smaller, local cartels and CJNG — to facilitate expansion outside its strongholds in Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima, the US says.

Since 2017, Oseguera Cervantes has been indicted several times in the United States for drug trafficking, the DEA said.

In April 2022, Oseguera Cervantes was charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl for importation into the United States; and use of a firearm during and in relation to drug trafficking crimes.

The US had declared Oseguera Cervantes as a a fugitive and had announced a reward of up to $15 Million for information leading to the arrest and/or prosecution of El Mencho.