{"id":5917,"date":"2026-04-17T04:44:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T04:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/5917\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T04:44:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T04:44:25","slug":"el-mencho-and-r3-the-family-trail-that-links-the-jalisco-new-generation-cartel-bosses-in-california-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/5917\/","title":{"rendered":"El Mencho and R3: The family trail that links the Jalisco New Generation Cartel bosses in California | International"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are areas of Santa Ana, California, where English is a secondary language. The proliferation of taco stands, Western wear stores, money transfer businesses, and butcher\u2019s shops reflects the deep influence of Mexican culture. In this atmosphere of nostalgia, surrounded by dozens of relatives who emigrated from Michoac\u00e1n, Juan Carlos Valencia Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, who is poised to become the new leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel<\/a> (CJNG), took his first steps. On this side of the border, some don\u2019t see him as a feared 41-year-old drug lord, but rather as a close relative about whom they speak in hushed tones.<\/p>\n

Valencia Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s Californian roots are also those of the CJNG. Santa Ana, the birthplace of the drug trafficker, nicknamed \u201cR3,\u201d was one of the first U.S. territories where the cartel operated with impunity. From Mexico, his stepfather, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes<\/a>, \u201cEl Mencho,\u201d expanded the organization on the very same California streets where Valencia sold heroin. R3\u2019s maternal uncles, known as Los Cuinis, were essential to this expansion and became the CJNG\u2019s financial arm. By 2015, the cartel already controlled a third of the lucrative drug distribution in Orange County, which borders Los Angeles. Furthermore, it had gained significant influence in other areas, including the border cities of San Ysidro, Riverside, Bakersfield, San Francisco, and Sacramento, according to a DEA report released that year.<\/p>\n

\"FichaA wanted poster for Juan Carlos Valencia Gonz\u00e1lez.U.S. Department of State<\/p>\n

California is home to several of El Mencho\u2019s relatives, including his youngest daughter, Laisha Michelle, and one of his brothers. Los Cuinis also have close relatives scattered from south to north. The DEA has them identified and has not hesitated to contact them to comply with legal procedures. They all act with extreme caution, and, as far as is known, the U.S. government has not linked them to illicit activities.<\/p>\n

After El Mencho\u2019s death in February<\/a>, his stepson\u2019s rise to power seemed a natural one. Valencia Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s half-brother was extradited in 2020 and is now serving a life sentence in a high-security U.S. prison.<\/p>\n

The new kingpin of the CJNG inherited an illicit enterprise that distributes drugs in at least 40 countries, possesses the largest arsenal in Mexico, and generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to authorities. The $5 million reward offered by the State Department in 2021 cemented his rise to the top. His prosecution, based in a Washington, D.C. court for trafficking massive quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine, was the result of Operation Pinky and the Brain, spearheaded by the DEA\u2019s Los Angeles office.<\/p>\n

R3\u2019s mother, Rosalinda Gonz\u00e1lez Valencia<\/a>, and several of her siblings emigrated to California as teenagers. None of them resumed their studies in the United States. \u201cI had to work from the age of 14… in the fields, in packing plants, cleaning houses, babysitting, and in restaurants, all in order to get ahead,\u201d she wrote in a letter included in a court file.<\/p>\n

Their first son, Juan Carlos, was born in a Santa Ana hospital on September 12, 1984. His biological father is Armando Valencia Cornelio, who went from being an avocado farmer to one of the founders of the Milenio Cartel, the predecessor of the CJNG. The relationship was short-lived. Two years later, in 1986, Rosalinda gave birth in San Francisco to a daughter with her new partner, El Mencho: Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonz\u00e1lez. In the same city, Rub\u00e9n and Laisha Michelle were later born. El Mencho was then a small-time drug dealer, arrested by authorities twice, in 1986 and 1989. He was deported after serving his second sentence. His wife and children returned with him to Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"Mencho\"Mencho’s coffin inside the Recinto de la Paz Pantheon in Zapopan.Roberto Antill\u00f3n.The bankrupt brother<\/p>\n

A large family portrait hangs in the living room of a two-story house in San Jacinto, 60 miles east of Los Angeles. In the center of the portrait is a man wearing a hat who resembles El Mencho. It is his older brother, Mar\u00edn Oseguera Cervantes. Their paths diverged, but they never completely separated. Mar\u00edn briefly housed his nieces, Jessica Johanna and Laisha Michelle. The house was used in February 2020 as collateral in a failed attempt to free Jessica from prosecution.<\/p>\n

Jessica Johanna frequently visited her aunt and uncle and used Mar\u00edn\u2019s address when applying for a U.S. passport and driver\u2019s license in California. The young woman was facing serious problems. Federal agents had arrested her in a Washington, D.C., court, where she had gone to attend a hearing for her brother, Rub\u00e9n. She was charged with managing six companies sanctioned for laundering money for the CJNG. Among the businesses were a tequila brand about to launch internationally and a chain of Japanese restaurants with locations in Jalisco.<\/p>\n

Mar\u00edn Oseguera\u2019s home, protected by several security cameras, has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a total area of \u200b\u200b3,100 square feet. It was built in 2005 and is valued at around $547,000, according to Zillow. Things weren\u2019t always easy for El Mencho\u2019s brother. In June 2013, he had only $38 in his pocket and $117,000 in debt, spread across 13 credit cards, loans to finance the purchase of two cars, and three unpaid medical bills, according to a bankruptcy filing he and his wife, Azucena Oseguera, submitted to court. Their income was limited: he worked installing granite countertops in kitchens, and she worked as a babysitter. Both were paid in cash. At that time, they lived in a house in Perris, in Riverside County, with a monthly rent of $1,600. The couple reported an income of $38,000 in 2012, low given the state\u2019s extremely high cost of living.<\/p>\n

Mencho\u2019s brother arrived in California when he was 15 years old. His wife, Azucena, stated in a brief conversation with this newspaper in late 2024, at the entrance to their home, that Mar\u00edn had no connection whatsoever with the man who was then one of the most-wanted drug traffickers in the world. She emphasized that her husband kept a low profile and earned an honest living. \u201cHe\u2019s very different from his brother\u2026 We do know his nieces; they used to come here, they lived here, but we haven\u2019t had contact with them in a long time for personal reasons,\u201d she declared. \u201cYou can\u2019t speak ill of your family,\u201d she stressed. EL PA\u00cdS visited Mar\u00edn Oseguera\u2019s house again after El Mencho\u2019s death, but no one answered the door.<\/p>\n

A couple of anecdotes about Jessica Johanna in California were recounted by Azucena Oseguera in a letter to a judge. The first was about when her niece traveled to Los Angeles aged 15 to buy clothes to sell in Mexico. The second involved preparing food while visiting her uncle Mar\u00edn. \u201cShe would have the food ready when we got home from work,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

In early 2015, three federal agents, including one from the DEA, arrived at the residence for the first time as part of the criminal case against Jessica Johanna. El Mencho\u2019s sister-in-law received them and, after they showed her a photo of the drug lord, she confirmed that they were indeed her relatives. Mar\u00edn was not home. The following day, he called the investigators and arranged to meet them at a coffee shop. They discussed the Treasury sanctions against his niece\u2019s businesses, and he asked them if he would be committing a crime by paying for the legal defense of his sister-in-law Rosalinda\u2019s brother, Abigael Gonz\u00e1lez Valencia<\/a>, \u201cEl Cuini,\u201d who was then imprisoned in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"\"People leave the funeral home where Mencho’s remains were located.Roberto Antill\u00f3n (El Pa\u00eds)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) investigator answered Mar\u00edn\u2019s questions and asked him to explain the OFAC ban to any of his relatives who were U.S. citizens. Mar\u00edn said he would do so,\u201d according to a court document describing that meeting.<\/p>\n

During that time, with the same objective, the three federal agents also visited El Cuini\u2019s daughter, Marlyn Gonz\u00e1lez Lara, at her home in Orange County; and the drug lord\u2019s brother, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Gonz\u00e1lez Valencia, who was not at his residence in Santa Ana nor at a nearby racetrack, but was later located at a ranch in Hemet (near Mar\u00edn Oseguera\u2019s residence). According to the case file, the government also contacted other relatives of the drug trafficker who lived in California: his other children, Jasmine and Alexis Gonz\u00e1lez Lara; and his sister, Berenisse Gonz\u00e1lez Valencia. El Cuini was extradited in August and is now negotiating a plea deal.<\/p>\n

Azucena Oseguera declared in that 2024 conversation, from behind the front door of her house: \u201cWe communicate with everyone who lives here.\u201d But she insisted several times that they were not involved in organized crime. \u201cWe all work\u2026 We live a life where we don\u2019t want publicity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 It must be difficult being related to El Mencho.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Yes, I think so. But we\u2019re really cut off from everything.<\/p>\n

Fake names and a tequila front<\/p>\n

Laisha Michelle, Mencho\u2019s youngest daughter, moved out after living with her uncle, Mar\u00edn. This came after her partner, Cristian Fernando Guti\u00e9rrez Ochoa, identified as a high-ranking CJNG operative, faked his own death with the help of his father-in-law. His plan was to cross the border and, under a false identity, start a secret life with Laisha Michelle. The couple settled in a luxurious two-story house, valued at $1.2 million, in the heart of a gated community in Riverside. It was acquired through a financial scheme that used Pasi\u00f3n Azul, a tequila company financed by the cartel, as a front, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Mencho\u2019s son-in-law used a false name, Luis Miguel Mart\u00ednez, and tried to obtain a California driver\u2019s license under it. He drove a high-end car, which he used to evade the narcotics officers who were spying on him. His run ended in November 2024 when he was arrested. A search of his home yielded more than $2 million in cash, jewelry, and watches.<\/p>\n

During intelligence operations, DEA agents discovered that Laisha Michelle ran a Mexican-style caf\u00e9 called El Rinc\u00f3n La Chulis, located in a small shopping plaza in Perris, not far from her home. Next door is a taco stand, and next to it, a hair salon. It\u2019s a small, modest business compared to the Japanese restaurants her older sister owned in Guadalajara. Laisha\u2019s menu features sandwiches, crepes, and chilaquiles. A phrase displayed inside the caf\u00e9 reads: \u201cLife is short, eat a torta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are areas of Santa Ana, California, where English is a secondary language. The proliferation of taco stands,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[378,1285,3435,1284,1283,3970,95],"class_list":["post-5917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-valencia","tag-california","tag-dea","tag-los-angeles","tag-michoacan","tag-nemesio-el-mencho","tag-santa-ana","tag-valencia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}