A close ally of fugitive Jalisco New Generation boss known as "El Mencho" for years orchestrated a prolific drug trafficking operation, using a semi-submersible and other methods to avoid detection, and provided weapons to one of Mexico's most powerful cartels, prosecutors say.
On Friday, Jose Gonzalez Valencia, was sentenced in Washington's federal court to 30 years in a U.S. prison following his 2017 arrest at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.
Gonzalez Valencia, 49, known as "Chepa," along with his two brothers, led a group called "Los Cuinis" that financed the drug trafficking operations of Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG - the violent cartel recently designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration . His brother-in-law is CJNG leader Nemesio Ruben "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes , whom for years has been sought by the U.S. government.
Meanwhile, El Mencho's son-in-law, Cristian Fernando Gutierrez Ochoa, appeared in the same courtroom earlier Friday to plead guilty in a separate case to a money laundering conspiracy charge. Gutierrez Ochoa was arrested toward the end of the Biden administration last year in California, where authorities have said he was living under a bogus name after faking his own death and fleeing Mexico.
Together, the prosecutions reflect the U.S. government's efforts to weaken the brutal Jalisco New Generation cartel that's responsible for importing staggering amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the U.S. - and track down its elusive leader. The Trump administration has sought to turn up the pressure on CJNG and other cartels with the foreign terrorist organization designation, which gives authorities new tools to prosecute those associated with cartels.