El Mencho's CJNG Cartel Reign of Terror Ends in Military Operation
The notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has long been regarded as one of Mexico's most brutal criminal organizations, with its leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, employing extreme torture and violence to instill fear in rivals. The 59-year-old kingpin was eliminated on Sunday in a joint operation involving Mexican military forces and US support in Tapalpa, a town of 20,000 people nestled in the Sierra Madre mountains.
A Legacy of Unprecedented Savagery
El Mencho displayed a level of savagery that many considered extreme even by narco standards. In grisly footage from 2020, CJNG hitmen were seen torturing a half-naked man before standing on his head and cutting open his chest with a knife. As the victim screamed in agony, cartel members shouted threats while one operative pulled out organs and consumed them on camera as others laughed.
The CJNG's brutality extended far beyond isolated incidents. The cartel has been implicated in numerous mass killings, including the 2011 dumping of 35 bound and tortured bodies on Veracruz streets during evening rush hour. In 2013, CJNG operatives allegedly raped, killed, and set fire to a 10-year-old girl they mistakenly believed was a rival's daughter.
Systematic Extermination and Public Terror
In 2015, CJNG assassins executed a man and his elementary-school-age son by detonating dynamite duct-taped to their bodies, filming the ghastly scene with phones. "This is ISIS stuff," one DEA agent who investigated the cartel told Rolling Stone in 2017. "The manner in which they kill people, the sheer numbers – it's unparalleled even in Mexico."
Last year, a brutal video circulated showing an alleged CJNG member preparing a makeshift flamethrower before spraying a bound rival cartel member with fire, quickly engulfing him in orange flames. "We've seen it become very bloody, and a lot of people attribute that to El Mencho himself," said Scott Stewart, a senior cartel analyst. "Wherever they try to muscle in, it creates bodies."
Extermination Sites and Mass Graves
In March 2025, forensic teams discovered a secret compound near Teuchitlán, Jalisco, where the CJNG allegedly operated a full-scale "extermination site." Buried beneath the Izaguirre ranch, authorities found three massive crematory ovens containing piles of charred human bones and a haunting collection of over 200 pairs of shoes, purses, belts, and children's toys.
Just weeks prior, authorities in Zapopan, a Guadalajara suburb, unearthed 169 black bags at a construction site, all filled with dismembered human remains hidden near CJNG territory where disappearances were widespread. Activists reported dozens of missing young people in the area within just months.
Public Displays of Power
In October 2024, the town of Ojuelos, Jalisco, woke to find five decapitated men dumped by a dirt road, their heads in a separate sack beside a blood-soaked warning from CJNG. Police immediately deduced the public dumping and sheer brutality indicated cartel involvement.
Captured CJNG members testified that El Mencho hated disobedience and enjoyed making victims beg forgiveness before killing them. "This is a guy who'll execute your whole family based on not much more than a rumor," a source told Rolling Stone. "He just has zero regard for human life."
The Final Confrontation
El Mencho was killed during an attempt to capture him as his followers attempted to fight off Mexican troops. Mexico's Defense Department stated the army launched an operation in southern Jalisco involving the Mexican Air Force and special forces. The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four criminal group members and wounded three others, including its leader, who died during air transfer to Mexico City.
The kingpin was flanked by loyalists armed with heat-seeking grenade launchers capable of piercing tank armor. His death represents the highest-profile blow against cartels since the recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán a decade ago.
CJNG's Criminal Empire
The CJNG is considered one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels, playing a key role in trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl to the US. El Mencho's control of drug-trafficking routes from Latin America to the US, using speedboats and submersibles to ship cocaine and methamphetamine from Colombia and Ecuador via the Pacific, is thought to have generated billions.
Originally from Michoacan, El Mencho's ties to organized crime spanned at least three decades. In 1994, he was convicted of heroin trafficking in the US and served three years in prison. Upon returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through the drug trafficking underworld, founding the CJNG around 2009.
A Global Criminal Organization
The cartel became Mexico's fastest-growing criminal organization, moving cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl, and migrants to the United States while innovating in violence with drones and improvised explosive devices. The CJNG carried out daring attacks on the Mexican army, pioneering drone use and even battling the state with helicopters.
In 2020, it assassinated Mexico City's police force head using grenades and high-powered rifles. The organization recruited aggressively through online methods and generated revenue through fuel theft, extortion, and timeshare fraud. The CJNG has a presence in at least 21 of Mexico's 32 states and is active throughout the United States, according to the DEA.
"El Mencho controlled everything; he was like a country's dictator," said Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA. Following his death, authorities are actively working to contain the cartel's reactions and reinforce security as Mexico confronts the aftermath of this significant blow to organized crime.
