Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, called “El Mencho,” was the head of the terrifying Jalisco New Generation Cartel famous for feasting on human flesh and shooting down military aircraft
An infamous drug kingpin has been killed in a military operation, leaving a major cartel without a head in the wake of a raid carried out by amred forces.
Local news sources report that leader of the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, was killed in military raid. The notorious druglord, better known by his alias ‘El Mencho’, was confirmed dead by federal forces on Sunday, February 22.
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Mexican publication MILENIO cited top officials who said Cervantes had been killed in the army operation. Roadblocks were reported in six nearby states with burning cars blocking roads across a wide area in a tactic commonly used by the cartels to prevent military forces carrying out operations against them.
El Mencho became the most powerful drug lord in the country after the capture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
The US State Department had previously offered a reward of up to $15million for information on El Mencho that would lead to his arrest.
The CJNG has seen a rapid expansion across Mexico in recent years, led by quiet kingpin El Mencho.
Nemesio Oseguera, 53, dropped out of sixth grade to help his family pick avocados, Mexican media reported. As a teenager, he snuck into the United States and tried to build a network of clients as a drug dealer, but he was arrested.
As a young man, he and his older brother, Abraham Oseguera, sold heroin to two undercover police officers in 1992 and were sent to a federal prison and later deported.
In 1997, he travelled to Tijuana, where he built a thriving drug trafficking business; later, he worked as a police officer in Tomatlán, Jalisco, learning the inner workings of law enforcement.
After working as a cartel hitman and drug trafficker and surviving internal power struggles between rival gang factions in Jalisco, Oseguera ended up as the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, given the moniker “El Mencho”.
Its members routinely carry out brutal acts of violence to intimidate their rivals and have even been known to have downed an army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Claims were made that they would make new recruits to feast on human flesh and carry out beheadings in their infamous “terror schools”.
One anonymous recruit previously told the DailyBeast.com : “I’ve been there and there was a lot of [cannibalism]. They recruit them and then they start working on them.” First, CJNG members are taught how to cut off their victims’ fingers and toes, one of the cartel’s preferred torture methods.
The update from military sources on the death of El Mencho comes hours after panic erupted at a major airport after alleged cartel members reportedly descended on the terminal, with disturbing footage showing terrified crowds scrambling to escape.
Unverified accounts indicate members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel arrived at Guadalajara International Airport in Jalisco, Mexico mere hours after El Mencho was killed by military forces. It’s thought members are now mounting reprisals following confirmation of the killing.