CJNG - A Quick Guide to Mexico's Deadliest Cartel

By Chris Dalby

The story of the cartel that brutally took over Mexico and whose drugs kill thousands of Americans.

This authoritative guide is the first book to tell the complete history of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG). Beginning as a family of ambitious avocado farmers in southern Mexico, the CJNG has transformed into a squad of masked avengers executing their enemies, ruthless synthetic drug experts, and now a continent-spanning drug cartel, flooding the United States with fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.

Divided into convenient thematic chapters, this book reveals:
- The CJNG's presence and criminal activities in every state in Mexico
- The cult of personality surrounding Mencho, one of the most-wanted kingpins in the world.
– How it runs a complex fentanyl and meth trafficking empire
– Its international money laundering syndicate

World of Crime's Guides to Organized Crime provide policymakers, law enforcement officials, academics, and a curious public with short but comprehensive looks at transnational criminal threats.

• Language: English
• Publisher: World of Crime
• Release date: Jun 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9789083423906

Book preview

CJNG - A Quick Guide to Mexico's Deadliest Cartel

Chris Dalby

Published by World of Crime, 2024.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

CJNG - A QUICK GUIDE TO MEXICO'S DEADLIEST CARTEL

First edition. June 20, 2024.

Copyright © 2024 Chris Dalby.

ISBN: 978-9083423906

Written by Chris Dalby.

Also by Chris Dalby

CJNG - A Quick Guide to Mexico's Deadliest Cartel

Copyright © 2024 by Chris Dalby & World of Crime

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eBook ISBN: 9789083423906

Paperback ISBN: 9789083423913

Audiobook ISBN: 9789083423913

Welcome to World of Crime’s Guide to the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG)

So what is this guide for?

These guides provide short but comprehensive insights into the most influential organised crime networks currently in existence.

Each chapter is dedicated to a separate aspect of these groups’ activities, their criminal economies and the threats they pose.

The World of Crime chose to dedicate this first guide to the Jalisco Cartel New Generation, better known as the CJNG.

We spend time in the avocado fields of Michoacán to understand how the wealthy Valencia family grew to become one of the most influential criminal clans in Mexico, which in turn would later give birth to the CJNG.

We consider the cult of personality around one of the most wanted men in the world, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, the highly elusive CJNG kingpin.

Chapter by chapter, the World of Crime breaks down each of the CJNG’s economic pillars, including fentanyl, meth, cocaine and smaller forms of income. We then take a tour of Mexico, revealing the CJNG’s status and actions in each Mexican state, as well as in the United States, and around the world.

Welcome to World of Crime.

WORLD OF CRIME

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Upcoming Seasons include Organized Crime and AI, Organized Crime and Climate Change, and Organized Crime and Children.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

THE CJNG’S ORIGINS

Avocadonomics

The Milenio Cartel is Born

Enter Escobar

The Love Triangle Which Changed Everything

The Milenio Survivors Head North

Mencho’s Contested Ascent

The CJNG Coast-to-Coast

It’s Time to Go Home

THE CJNG'S MANY, MANY WARS

Alemanes (San Luis Potosí)

Cartel del Abuelo (Michoacán)

Cartel Mafia Veracruzana (Veracruz)

Cárteles Unidos (Michoacán)

Correa (Michoacán)

Gulf Cartel (Tamaulipas, Veracruz)

La Familia Michoacana (Michoacán)

Mezcales (Colima)

Northeast Cartel (Tamaulipas)

Nueva Plaza (Jalisco)

Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (Guanajuato)

Sinaloa Cartel (Nationwide)

Talibanes (Zacatecas)

Zetas Vieja Escuela (Tamaulipas, Veracruz)

THE MATAZETAS

The Origin of the Zetas

The Zeta Killers

THE CULT OF MENCHO

Early Years

Rise to the Top

The Pushback

Mencho Disappears

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CUINIS

Early Beginnings

Money Laundering Experts

International Meth Lords

The Arrests Begin

Las Cuinis Take Over

Where are the Cuinis?

THE NEXT GENERATION OF CJNG LEADERS

Juan Carlos Valencia González, alias Pelón or R3

Audias Flores-Silva, alias Jardinero

Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, alias Doble R, RR or R2

Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán, alias El Sapo

THE CJNG’s MONEY LAUNDERING EMPIRE

Front Businesses in Mexico

Trade-Based Money Laundering

Early International Money Laundering Attempts

The Chinese Shadow Banking System

Cryptocurrencies

THE CJNG’S GIFT FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS

The CJNG’s Online Brand

The Name of Mencho

Social Media and Video Games for Recruitment

THE CJNG AND METHAMPHETAMINE

A Brief History of Meth

CJNG and Chemical Innovation

A Pillar of the CJNG’s Power

The Tidal Wave of Meth

Outside the United States

THE CJNG AND FENTANYL

Why Fentanyl?

The Realisation

Fentanyl as a New Product

The Boom Years

Mexico is Not Immune to Fentanyl

Same but Worse

The State of Fentanyl in 2024

HOW ELSE DOES THE CJNG MAKE MONEY?

Avocados

Extortion

Fuel Theft

Illegal Fishing

Illegal Logging and Timber Trafficking

Migrant Smuggling

Timeshare Fraud

WHERE IS THE CJNG IN MEXICO?

Aguascalientes

Baja California

Baja California Sur

Campeche

Chiapas

Chihuahua

Coahuila

Colima

Durango

Guanajuato

Guerrero

Hidalgo

Jalisco

Mexico City

Michoacán

Morelos

Nayarit

Nuevo León

Oaxaca

Puebla

Querétaro

Quintana Roo

San Luis Potosí

Sinaloa

Sonora

State of Mexico

Tabasco

Tamaulipas

Tlaxcala

Veracruz:

Yucatán

Zacatecas

THE CJNG ACROSS THE AMERICAS

United States

Canada

Colombia

Ecuador

Guatemala

ESSENTIAL RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION

Why is Mexico’s Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación - CJNG) worthy of being the first criminal group featured in the World of Crime’s Guides to Organized Crime?

Because there’s no other cartel quite like it.

Why?

First, there’s the real-world impact. The CJNG is one of two truly transnational cartels in Mexico, able to project its strength in almost every part of the country. Since 2012, when it began rapidly expanding across the country, the CJNG has been focused on one goal: to become Mexico’s dominant criminal actor.

The group makes almost formal declarations of war when it expands into a new state, warning criminal rivals and corrupt authorities of brutal consequences to come.

Then come the drugs. The CJNG is responsible for a large proportion of all fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin plaguing the United States, Mexico and far beyond.

In the US, the CJNG has a well-oiled network of intermediaries and connections to local drug traffickers, which enable its products to be spread nationwide.

In Ecuador, it has contributed to that country’s descent into chaos, funding its gang war with money and weapons in exchange for a glut of cocaine.

A web of international commerce allows CJNG to source vast quantities of chemical precursors from China and India, sell large quantities of meth to Europe and Oceania, and launder its illicit proceeds in a variety of ways.

Then come the headlines. More than any other Mexican criminal group, the CJNG seems to crave the limelight. It has an undeniable talent for PR. From blowing army helicopters in the sky to military-style parades of their arsenals, the CJNG likes to be noticed.

Even their leader is a source of constant speculation. Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias Mencho, is one of the world’s most wanted men. At least outwardly, his men seem to have a fanatical devotion to him, as he is named in almost every video or message issued by the CJNG. But there are almost no photos of him. Authorities and criminal rivals are unsure if he’s even still alive.

Then come all the other ways to make money. Organized crime is the most adaptable line of business in the world. But even with that in mind, the CJNG is a real journeyman cartel.

Its members grow marijuana, produce meth and fentanyl, extort money from avocado and lime growers, shake down hotel owners, steal gasoline, bomb enemies in the skies using drones, smuggle migrants across Mexico’s north and south borders, buy tons of cocaine a year, and pay for it in cash and weapons.

This very diversity has helped it survive. In a country where large criminal networks see a well-established cycle of growth and fragmentation, the CJNG has survived for over a decade.

It is the living embodiment of criminal opportunism.

THE CJNG’S ORIGINS

Important Names to Remember:

Armando Valencia Cornelio, alias Maradona, founder of the Milenio Cartel and leader until his arrest in 2003.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias Mencho, founder and current leader of the CJNG, one of Mexico’s most powerful kingpins.

Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, former Sinaloa Cartel boss in the city of Guadalajara, killed by Mexican security forces in 2010.

Osiel Cardenas Guillén, leader of the Gulf Cartel, former ally then enemy of the Milenio Cartel.

Carlos Rosales Mendoas, alias Tísico, a powerful drug trafficker and founder of La Familia Michoacana.

*This chapter covers the history of the CJNG until 2015, the year when it became fully recognized as a criminal organization with a national and international reach. The rest of the CJNG’s journey is told throughout the rest of the book, divided by topic.

If you throw a stone at a random farm or house in the mountains around the town of Aguililla, there’s a good chance you’ll hit property belonging to someone with the family name Valencia.

There are thousands of Valencias in the mountains of Mexico’s southwestern state of Michoacán.

This part of Mexico has been at the center of virtually every major period in the country’s history. Conquistadors burned chieftains alive here, insurgents gathered here to fight the Spanish, and miners came to delve for gold, silver, copper and iron.

Besides its historical importance, Michoacán is an ideal location for drug production and trafficking. Its fertile mountains are great hiding spots for growing marijuana and opium poppy. The state has a lengthy Pacific coastline and holds one of Mexico’s largest seaports. It is just a few hours' drive from Mexico City and is well-connected to highways heading to the US border.

Certain maize and bean farmers, the Valencias among them, spotted the potential of the drug business early. Exactly how early is difficult to ascertain. Marijuana and opium poppy production was a popular means of subsistence for farming communities in the northern state of Sinaloa in the 1940s and its influence gradually spread south.

By the late 1950s, marijuana and opium poppy plantations had started appearing around farmsteads in the town of Dos Aguas, a small village west of the town of Aguililla. These plantations grew steadily until the 1970s, when a man known as José Valencia was already a reliable supplier of marijuana and opium poppy for larger groups in northern Mexico, especially around Sinaloa.¹

The decision to marry avocados with drugs would set the stage for complex cartel dynamics, which continue to kill thousands fifty years later. It would contribute to making Aguililla a focal point for cartel violence, cement Michoacán as one of the most violent states in Mexico, and give rise to the most murderous of Mexican cartels: the CJNG.

Avocadonomics

The avocado boom of the 1980s would give enterprising members of the family the connections they needed to expand.² Luis Valencia had extensive avocado plantations around the town of Aguililla, while his cousin, Armando Valencia Cornelio, had the same plantations in the municipality of Uruapan, about 100 kilometres to the northeast.

They owned at least six avocado farms and several packing plants for the fruit. The two towns offered very convenient hubs for the Valencias’ operations. They were remote enough not to be constantly bothered by authorities, and were close to Mexico City, ports along the Pacific coast and major highways north.

A series of socio-economic and political changes set in motion during the 1980s and 1990s allowed the Valencias to rapidly expand their licit and illicit businesses hand-in-hand.

First, Michoacán’s agricultural economics were severely damaged by a rapid shift in Mexico’s trade policies.

The spread of international free trade and a trend toward government deregulation had a cascading effect on how Mexican farmers could both sell their products and get access to financing.³ State support melted away and banks set far harsher rates for financing.

Unable to adapt, many farmers were forced to sell their land or find other ways to finance themselves. The Valencias were all too happy to step into their breach.

By this point, the Valencia family was providing for hundreds of people, in their avocado farms, packing plants and marijuana plantations. Young children would leave school early to go to work for the family. Mencho reportedly dropped out of school and went to work as an avocado picker on the Valencias’ properties at the age of eleven.

With their communities struggling, the family expanded. If a farmer needed to sell their land, the Valencias needed more room for avocado trees and marijuana plants. The family made other investments in the community, including providing financial loans to those who couldn’t get bank loans, and their power and respect grew accordingly.

Secondly, the US fell in love with avocados.

In the 1980s, the Valencia family had nationwide connections to sell their fruit, and smuggle drugs within the cargos, across Mexico. But they could not sell their avocados north of the border.

This was partly because of a pesky creature, the avocado seed weevil. This long-nosed pest was rampant among Michoacán’s avocado crops for decades. Fearing that the weevil could contaminate its own crops, the US banned all imports of Mexican avocados in 1914. This ban lasted almost 80 years.

In 1992, the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) inadvertently played right into the Valencia family’s hands. In December of that year, US President George W. Bush, Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed the final agreement. This allowed most Mexican exports to enter their northern