A high-ranking kingpin and so-called “Narco Prince” was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge on Friday in Washington, D.C. in one of the first drug war trials to conclude since the Trump administration declared certain Mexican cartels to be “terrorist” organizations.
Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez is the U.S.-born son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and is Mexico’s most wanted man. While his father, alias “El Mencho,” is still at large, Oseguera, alias “El Menchito,” was convicted by a U.S. jury in September of conspiring to traffic cocaine and meth, and possessing weapons to further his drug trafficking operations.
Oseguera, 35, stood silently, with his left hand behind his back, as Judge Beryl A. Howell sentenced him to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered him to forfeit more than $6 billion. Oseguera refused to address the court when given the opportunity to do so. During the trial, prosecutors accused El Menchito of not only working for the criminal group, but helping found it and co-leading it, alongside his father. In a sentencing document, prosecutors placed El Menchito at the same level as other cartel leaders, including Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former high-profile leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“This defendant helped build Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación into a brutal terrorist organization that pumps poison onto our streets and commits horrific acts of violence,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement.
Since President Trump stepped into office, his administration has pushed for an even more aggressive approach to targeting drug smuggling organizations, as he also pressures the Mexican government to stem immigration and fentanyl trafficking by threatening tariffs. But the Trump administration’s actions, Oseguera’s sentencing, and major developments in judicial processes for over two-dozen high-profile traffickers will likely do little to reduce drug trafficking and drug war-related violence. Rather, it may further splinter criminal groups, leading to further violence in Mexico.
“The capture and imprisonment of alleged bosses of drug organizations only serves the purpose of propaganda for the militarized ‘drug war,’” said Oswaldo Zavala, a professor at the City University of New York. “They never interrupt the trafficking of drugs, and in many cases, it has the opposite effect: cheapening drug products and decreasing their quality, endangering the lives of consumers even more.”
In recent years, the CJNG has been a high-priority target for the U.S. government. As a relatively new organization, the group, armed with weapons sourced from the U.S., has rapidly grown to be one of Mexico’s largest criminal groups, controlling large, sporadic swathes of territory, mostly in western, central, and southern Mexico, and engaging in battles with rivals. The CJNG has grown to be “arguably the most prolific and most violent cartel in Mexico today,” D.C. prosecutors said in Oseguera’s sentencing memorandum.
The history of CJNG can be traced through Oseguera’s short life. Compared to his aging former collaborators, he is quite young. But he has spent nearly a third of his life in detention, first in Mexico and then in the U.S.
The CJNG organization was created after the 2006 launch of the U.S.-Mexican drug war. Its origins can be traced to the Milenio Cartel, which was once allied with the Sinaloa Cartel. After arrests and killings of top-level leaders, the group splintered, and a bloody war ensued in 2010. Eventually one faction, led by “El Mencho,” came out on top, with the group calling itself the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The organization took hold of old cocaine trafficking routes. According to court records, El Mencho and his son also controlled numerous meth labs in Mexico, importing precursor chemicals from China to manufacture the drug.
“They’re pioneers in synthetic drugs,” said Dr. Nathan P. Jones, an expert on Mexican organized crime and associate professor of security studies at Sam Houston State University. “And they were pioneers in fentanyl — if you know how to do one type of synthetic, you can do another type of synthetic. And we’ve all seen what fentanyl has done and the role it’s playing.”
The CJNG grew rapidly and attempted to elbow Sinaloa out of the way, leading to an eventual fissure between the two. The CJNG is known for its use of violence and propaganda efforts. In 2015, the organization made international news when it shot down a Mexican military helicopter, killing nine officials. And in 2016, as a show of force, CJNG members kidnapped two of El Chapo’s sons, then released them.
As a teenager, Oseguera began working with his father and other top Mexican organized crime leaders, prosecutors say. When he was arrested in 2015 in Mexico, the then-25-year-old threatened soldiers and cops with his rifle and grenade launcher that bore his moniker. “CJNG 02 JR,” his rifle read. While in Mexican prison, Oseguera continued to help run the organization, prosecutors alleged.
According to trial testimony and sentencing records, Oseguera was not just a typical “narco-junior” — the term used for the preppy children of Mexican drug lords who flaunt their wealth. Rather, he ran the organization alongside his father, using only the title of “Number 2” as a show of respect. Prosecutors highlighted his violent tactics, including a 2015 instance in which he allegedly slashed five men’s throats with a “half-moon-shaped knife.” Oseguera “is nothing less than a cold, calculated mass murderer,” the prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.
But his defense attorneys attempted to paint a different picture of Oseguera. While his attorneys tried to poke holes at cooperating witnesses’ testimony, they also signaled that Oseguera had no choice but to live a life of crime. He did not choose to be El Mencho’s son, rather, he is “both a product and a victim of that environment.”
After Friday’s hearing, one of Oseguera’s attorneys, Anthony Colombo, said they would appeal the sentencing, adding that the case should have been tried in Mexico, not the U.S.
Oseguera was extradited in 2020 to the U.S. But his sentencing, along with the arrest of other top Mexican cartel leaders recently sent to the U.S., is unlikely to slow drug trafficking, drug consumption, and drug war violence.
“These are highly decentralized organizations, so any one person being removed, it requires a sustained succession of kingpin strikes or high-value targeting to actually dismantle these groups,” said Jones. “But even when they’re dismantled, they break up, fragment into different cells, and then they form up under new banners. And that’s the consistent thing that we’ve seen.”
“When that happens, one of the unintended consequences is increased violence,” Jones added.
In the past year, there have been major developments in drug war arrests and prosecutions, starting under the Biden administration. This will likely continue under Trump’s presidency, considering his desire to escalate the drug war and a raging civil war within the Sinaloa Cartel.
Last summer, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the former, elusive leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who arguably wielded more power than El Chapo, was arrested by U.S. officials. One of El Chapo’s sons kidnapped the aging drug lord, flew him across the border, and turned him over to U.S. authorities. His judicial processes are just beginning in New York, where prosecutors may request the death penalty for him.
In October, Genaro Garcia-Luna, a former high-ranking Mexican official and the “architect” of the drug war, was sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison after being convicted in 2023 of working with the Sinaloa Cartel. For years, Garcia-Luna served as one of the U.S. government’s closest drug war allies.
The Trump administration, pointing to the fentanyl overdose crisis in the U.S., is hellbent on increasing attacks on Mexican organized crime. Trump’s State Department placed several groups on the U.S.’s terrorist list, opening the door to further sanctions and possible military intervention. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently threatened military action on Mexican soil. And a Justice Department guidance document urged employees to work towards the “total elimination of cartels.” This has further placed a strain on Mexico, which views any potential military intervention as an attack on its sovereignty.
President Trump is pressuring the Mexican government to further combat organized crime groups. Trump threatened and imposed tariffs on Mexico, and then postponed some of them until April 2.
Last week, in an unprecedented move, the Mexican government handed over nearly 30 major criminal leaders from various organizations to the U.S. government, including from the Sinaloa, Zetas, Beltran-Leyva, Jalisco New Generation cartels, and others. Among them was the 72-year-old co-founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, Rafael Caro Quintero, who is accused of having participated in the 1985 murder of DEA special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. The 29 men were not extradited, but instead were sent to the U.S. for “national security” reasons, Mexican and U.S. officials said. Because the U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty is not at play, five of the men, including Caro Quintero, may face the federal death penalty.
On Friday morning, before Oseguera’s sentencing, the same federal judge held brief hearings for other CJNG leaders, including Oseguera’s brother-in-law, his uncle, and a cartel chemical broker. The latter two were part of the group of 29 men sent to the U.S. last week.
Don’t expect these steps to curb the flow of drugs into the U.S., Zavala argues, pointing to corruption among U.S. border agents, financial networks for criminal groups, and the lack of addiction treatment institutions in the U.S.
“The sentencing of “El Menchito” means very little in this failed ‘war,’” Zavala said. “We have seen this movie many times before and I’m afraid we will keep seeing it in the near future to no effect.”