Treasury names Pelón as El Mencho’s successor while a 55-target sanctions package exposes the relatives, businesses, trafficking cells and money brokers built around CJNG.
The death of CJNG founder Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho, ended one chapter of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. It did not end the organization he built.
On July 23, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 39 people and 16 companies in what the agency called its largest action yet against CJNG. The headline target was El Mencho’s stepson, Juan Carlos González, also known as Juan Carlos Valencia González and Pelón, whom Treasury and the National Counterterrorism Center now identify as the cartel’s leader following El Mencho’s death in February.
The 55 targets reveal the organization Pelón inherited. It stretches from clandestine fentanyl laboratories and cocaine shipments to fuel theft, private security firms, trucking companies, tequila producers, clothing wholesalers and a business that claims to sell baby shoes.
The point of the action is bigger than one successor. CJNG’s power rests with the relatives, plaza bosses, pilots, businessmen and professional money launderers who keep the organization operating after a leader is killed or arrested.
OLDER NCTC FILE PHOTO
NEW OFAC IMAGE PUBLISHED JULY 2026
National Counterterrorism Center
U.S. Treasury / Office of Foreign Assets Control
Juan Carlos Valencia González, identified by NCTC as “El 03” and by Treasury/OFAC as “Pelón.” Left: NCTC file image. Right: image published by OFAC in its July 2026 CJNG leadership chart. Neither agency provided the date either photograph was taken.
A New Boss and an Old Machine
Pelón is a dual Mexican-U.S. citizen and a longtime CJNG member. According to Treasury, he assumed control after El Mencho was killed during a Mexican government operation in February 2026.
He did not arrive from the business side of the organization. Before taking the top position, Pelón commanded an armed CJNG wing that Treasury says engaged in significant violence. A federal grand jury in Washington indicted him in 2020 on drug-trafficking and firearms charges; the case was unsealed the following year. The allegations have not been proven in court. The State Department reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction was first announced in 2021.
Pelón now sits above a leadership structure that still includes familiar names: Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán, alias El Sapo; Audias Flores Silva, alias Jardinero; Carlos Andrés Rivera Varela, alias La Firma; Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, alias El Chorro; Francisco Javier Gudiño Haro, alias La Gallina; and Julio César Montero Pinzón, alias El Tarjetas.
That lineup matters because CJNG has never depended entirely on El Mencho personally directing every plaza, shipment or payment. Its senior operators control territory, armed cells and business networks that can survive the removal of individual bosses.
Jardinero is a good example. Mexican authorities arrested him on April 27, 2026, but Treasury says his network remains active across Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacán, Guerrero and Zacatecas. His organization included family members, plaza bosses, pilots and financial operators placed around assets that Treasury says came from criminal proceeds.
OFAC’s July 2026 CJNG Leadership chart identifies Juan Carlos González, alias “Pelón,” as newly designated and places him alongside six previously sanctioned CJNG leaders. Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control; published July 23, 2026.
The Family Business
The sanctions package offers a close look at how cartel assets are placed under the names of relatives and trusted associates.
Treasury says César Alejandro Villaseñor Olivares, alias El Güero Conta, oversaw a network designed to conceal Jardinero’s interest in property purchased with illicit proceeds. Jardinero allegedly controlled the gas station company Petrocoda through his cousin, Areli Isis Medina Flores, and subordinate Gabriel Serrano Magaña.
His wife, Karely Lizbeth Ramírez Bañales, owns the beverage store El Almacén Licorería. Ramírez and Medina also own Stella Servicios Comerciales y Empresariales, a wholesale clothing company.
The same network reaches into tequila, agriculture, construction and furniture. Roberto Jiménez Arias operates Casa Tequilera El Origen del Tequila and the construction company Hurrari Kash. Jiménez and his wife, Martha Alicia Alvarado Rodríguez, jointly control Agropecuaria Amateq del Valle. José Jesús Gutiérrez Valdez, whom Treasury says oversees several methamphetamine laboratories in Zacatecas, controls the furniture company Productores Vagu.
These are ordinary industries on paper. In the Treasury action, they appear beside alleged cartel members, fentanyl producers and plaza bosses accused of transporting narcotics to American cities.
Another branch centers on Gerardo Botello Rozalez, alias El Cachas, a senior CJNG member with long-standing ties to the organization. Treasury linked him to operations in several Mexican territories, fuel theft and the Izaguirre Ranch training center, where the agency says CJNG recruited people through coercion.
El Cachas is listed as an owner of Bubux Baby Shoes, a company presented as a seller of children’s footwear. His relatives also appear in Green Agropacific, the private security company Corporativo de Seguridad Privada Alfa y Gama, and the tequila and agave business Rancho San Miguel Los Tres Hermanos.
The private security company is especially striking. Treasury says it holds a state license to carry firearms. Miguel Ángel Ayala Botello, a cousin of El Cachas, has leadership roles in the businesses and previously served as director of public safety in Tepalcatepec, Michoacán. During his tenure, two other relatives tied by Treasury to the CJNG cell became municipal police officers.
Family ties, municipal authority, licensed weapons and private companies all meet inside the same network.
Fentanyl, Fuel and Freight
Treasury’s case also shows how CJNG combines narcotics trafficking with fuel theft.
Feliciano Ledezma Ramírez, alias Chano Limones, is accused of trafficking fentanyl into the United States and participating in violence around Nueva Italia and Múgica, Michoacán.
Alma Laura Mena Alvarado and her husband, José Mora León, own a logistics company that Treasury says helped divert liquid fentanyl to CJNG. Mena is also accused of extracting and stealing gasoline inside cartel-controlled territory. The couple controls Strong Energy, a petroleum and natural gas extraction company, and Transic Logistic.
The corporate names fit the work. One company operates in energy. The other handles transportation. Treasury alleges both were controlled by a couple involved in moving fentanyl and stealing fuel for CJNG.
The sanctions also target a cocaine network led by Guadalajara twins Marcial Apolinar Díaz Robles and Pedro Marcial Díaz Robles. Treasury says the brothers used their access to CJNG’s inner circle and Mexican ports to move large cocaine shipments from South America into Mexico and then toward the United States and Europe.
Guadalajara businessman Jorge Zepeda Rodríguez allegedly paid the twins millions of dollars for that access. Treasury describes him as a money launderer and cocaine broker who worked with them on international shipments. His transportation company, Optic Private Transportation, was also sanctioned.
Other names in the package carry a more direct enforcement role. Rodolfo Alejandro Loza García, alias El 26, is accused of carrying out violence for CJNG in northern Jalisco. Francisco Noé González Ramírez, alias El F1, is described as a senior member involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion and violence in Zacatecas.
The Men Who Move the Money
Drugs and stolen fuel produce cash. That money still has to be collected, transferred, disguised and returned to cartel owners.
Treasury identified a seven-man laundering network based around Zapopan and Guadalajara. The group allegedly collected bulk drug proceeds from several U.S. cities, moved the funds into Mexico through different financial instruments and returned the money to cartel clients after taking a percentage.
The members named are Salvador Israel Rodríguez Flores, Jorge Villa Sánchez, Adolfo Gabriel Medina Chavira, Jorge Fernando Cruz Cabrera, Julio César Castellanos Ceja, Luis Mario Mendoza García and Hugo Alejandro Sánchez Tamayo.
According to Treasury, the network laundered tens of millions of dollars annually beginning no later than 2023. Companies controlled by Medina Chavira, Mundo Fit Suplementos and Medin Products, were included in the sanctions.
This part of the case deserves attention. A cartel can replace a gunman quickly. Replacing trusted people capable of moving millions of dollars across borders without losing the money is harder. These brokers know the financial routes and charge for access to the system.
OFAC’s July 2026 CJNG-Linked Networks chart depicts the relationships Treasury says connect designated cartel members, relatives, companies, trafficking cells and money launderers. Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control; published July 23, 2026.
What the Sanctions Do
Property and interests in property belonging to the designated people and companies that are in the United States or under the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC.
The restrictions also apply to companies owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly and in the aggregate, by one or more blocked persons. Transactions with a U.S. nexus are generally prohibited unless licensed or exempt.
Foreign financial institutions can also face secondary-sanctions risk if they knowingly facilitate significant transactions for sanctioned parties. OFAC can restrict their ability to maintain correspondent or payable-through accounts in the United States.
The property is blocked, not automatically confiscated, and an OFAC designation is not a criminal conviction. Sanctions will not arrest Pelón or close a methamphetamine laboratory in Zacatecas. They can force banks, suppliers, investors and business partners to examine names that previously appeared to belong to ordinary Mexican companies.
Mica’s Analysis
CJNG lost El Mencho, but Treasury’s own map shows why nobody should mistake the death of a founder for the death of his cartel.
Pelón inherited an organization with several layers of protection. Armed leaders control territory. Plaza bosses supervise production and distribution. Relatives hold ownership positions. Pilots handle movement. Licensed companies provide paperwork and commercial cover. Professional brokers collect the money after the drugs are sold.
That structure was built to absorb losses.
The most revealing names in this sanctions package are not always the men with aliases. The gas station, baby-shoe company, furniture business, private security firm and tequila producer show where cartel power goes after the shooting stops. It goes into payrolls, permits, property, vehicles and companies capable of signing contracts.
Family participation is equally important. Relatives are valuable because trust is scarce in organized crime. A brother, spouse, cousin or son can hold a title, open an account or appear on corporate records while a wanted cartel figure stays out of sight. Arresting the boss leaves those legal arrangements behind unless investigators can identify and freeze them.
Pelón now faces the same problem inherited by every successor. He must prove that he can hold together men who were loyal to El Mencho, protect the cartel’s territory and keep money moving while U.S. and Mexican authorities concentrate on him. His armed background may help with internal discipline. It also means he begins his tenure already indicted, publicly identified and carrying a reward of up to $5 million.
Treasury is betting that pressure across the entire network will force mistakes. CJNG is betting that its depth, money and family structure will keep the machine running.
El Mencho is gone. The companies, routes and people around him are still there. Pelón’s real test is whether he inherited control of that system or simply inherited the target on his back.
Discover more from Cartel Insider
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
