‘El Menchito’ Sentenced to Life in Prison in the US for Drug Trafficking

Last year, several former drug traffickers testified against the son of the CJNG leader.

The heir to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel will be in prison for the rest of his life for drug trafficking plus 30 years for possession of firearms and destructive instruments. 

Judge Beryl A. Howell determined that Rubén Oseguera González, alias El Menchito, must pay a fine of 6.26 billion dollars along with the sentence imposed for having trafficked tons of cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico to the United States, and for having used firearms and destructive instruments to operate his criminal business. 

What happened during the sentencing hearing? 

Oseguera’s lawyers had asked the judge to take into account that Oseguera began in the cartel when he was a 14-year-old boy, with not many options other than to obey what his father, El Mencho, ordered. 

The prosecution, on the other hand, assured that the man, in addition to running a successful criminal enterprise, carried out various acts of violence against enemies, traitors and authorities alike.

In September 2024, Oseguera González was subjected to a trial that lasted a couple of weeks, where former drug traffickers, US authorities and Mexican authorities testified, and where Menchito was placed as the second in command of the CJNG, only below Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

What did the witnesses say against El Menchito? 

Óscar Nava Valencia, El Lobo, was the first cooperating witness for the US prosecution. The man said that he met El Menchito in 2005 in Guadalajara. According to the boss, El Mencho’s son was beginning to get involved in marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking, induced by his own father. 

The second to testify was Elpidio Mojarro Ramírez, El Pilo, former operator of the Milenio Cartel and enemy of the Osegueras. The witness explained that El Menchito became part of a cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine trafficking scheme in the CJNG. And that he also had a close relationship with his uncle, Abigael González Valencia, El Cuini. 

Juan Pérez, the fictitious name under which the former federal police officer who participated in the arrest of El Menchito testified, recalled that, during the early hours of June 23, 2015, he was patrolling to maintain security with the Army in Zapopan, Jalisco, when they reported the presence of armed men, including the convicted man. 

Herminio Gómez Ancira, El Indio, former police director of Villa Purificación, Jalisco, and bodyguard of the founder of the CJNG, declared that he helped El Menchito traffic large shipments of drugs and witnessed him bribing a Mexican government official known as Aristóteles Sandoval. 

A former federal police officer, with his face completely disfigured, testified against El Menchito nine years after being one of the victims of the helicopter shot down by armed men on the orders of the son of the leader of the CJNG. 

Mario Ramírez Treviño, El Pelón or X20, said that he met El Menchito in prison, in the Altiplano Maximum Security Federal Prison. According to the boss, El Mencho’s son confessed to him that he did give the order to shoot down the Armed Forces helicopter in 2015. 

A former member of the Sinaloa Cartel pointed to El Menchito as the second in command of the CJNG. José Antonio Torres Marrufo, El Jaguar, said that, in 2010, he had a rapprochement with the CJNG and the convicted man. 

Jesús Contreras Arceo, El Canasto, declared that the luxury belt for pistol magazines found at the place where the Air Force helicopter crashed belonged to Rubén Oseguera González. In addition, he claimed to have seen El Menchito and his father, while they were hiding after the attack

What is known about El Menchito? 

Rubén Oseguera González, better known as El Menchito, is the son of the leader of the CJNG, and who until before his capture was considered the second in command of the criminal organization, in charge of drug trafficking mainly outside of Mexico. 

El Menchito was born on February 14, 1990 in San Francisco, California, but has Mexican nationality. 

Despite the accusations against him, El Menchito was released on two occasions: 

The first arrest of Rubén Oseguera González occurred in 2014, after Mexican authorities were investigating the main operators of the CJNG. 

In January of that year, El Mencho’s son was arrested in Zapopan, Guadalajara, after an operation in which personnel from the then Attorney General’s Office (PGR), the Mexican Army, and the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIM) participated. 

The then head of the PGR, Jesús Murillo Karam, confirmed the arrest of Rubén Oseguera and reported that prior to his capture, the alleged drug trafficker tried to escape after trying to bribe the authorities to set him free. 

El Menchito was transferred to the Altiplano and linked to money laundering, drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons for exclusive military use; however, in October of that same year, he was temporarily released, after his release from prison, AIM personnel captured him again. 

A control judge linked him to charges of illegal possession of firearms, weapons for exclusive use of the Army, use of resources of illicit origin and crimes against public health; although at the end of 2014 he would be released for the second time. 

In mid-2015, Rubén Oseguera González would be arrested again by the Mexican authorities in a violent operation, in which they also arrested his brother-in-law Julio Alberto “N”. 

However, the drug lord would be released again after a judge determined that there was insufficient evidence against him and that due process was violated during his detention. 

Although, as happened in 2014, once he left the Altiplano prison, he was recaptured by PGR personnel, who already had a formal arrest warrant against the drug lord.

Source: Milenio