Mexican cartels remain a major fentanyl-trafficking threat despite leadership shakeups.
WASHINGTON (SOA) — The death of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, has not weakened the organization's resolve.
Instead, federal officials say Juan Carlos Valencia González, El Mencho’s 41-year-old stepson and a dual Mexican and U.S. citizen born in California, known as "El Pelon," has emerged as the cartel’s new leader and the DEA’s top target.
Former CJNG boss "El Mencho" was killed in a February 2026 shootout with Mexican special forces.“According to our intelligence, we believe he is not only the heir apparent but the individual who has essentially taken over at CJNG,” DEA Associate Administrator Gary Owen told Spotlight on America. “As far as DEA is concerned, it really doesn’t matter who he is. He is now our public enemy No. 1.”
El Mencho was killed in a February shootout with Mexican special forces after decades leading the cartel. CJNG became notorious for violence, including public hangings of rivals and the shooting down of a military helicopter in 2015, killing 9.
Cartel-set fires and violence in Mexico that followed El Mencho’s death signaled that the group did not intend to retreat.
El Mencho’s demise did not end CJNG,” DEA Administrator Terry Cole said. “It underscores the organization’s resilience and the continued threat it poses.”
In August, the DEA, FBI and Justice Department announced new indictments targeting the cartel and raised the reward for information leading to El Pelon’s arrest or conviction to $25 million.
A $25 million dollar reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of CJNG leader "El Pelon," a dual Mexican-American citizen.The campaign against CJNG comes as the group seeks to expand into territory long controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel, the other prominent Mexican cartel. Owen said the groups are fighting one another while also working to avoid law enforcement.
For the longest time, Sinaloa was the biggest kid on the block in Mexico,” Owen said. “CJNG is now making a move to kind of take over their territory.”
Sinaloa has faced its own leadership challenge. Its co-founder, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who led the cartel’s drug-trafficking operations for nearly four decades, was captured and sentenced in July to life in a U.S. prison. Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, another co-founder, is also serving a life sentence in the United States.
The cartel is now largely run by Guzmán’s sons, known as the Chapitos, officials said. Two of the sons are in U.S. custody, while two others remain at large. Each of the two fugitives has a $10 million reward offered for information leading to an arrest.
Golden, bedazzled weapons that once belonged to Sinaloa cartel lord "El Chapo" on display at the DEA museum outside of Washington, D.C.Owen said both CJNG and Sinaloa have survived leadership losses in part through their ability to adapt.
“The thing that complicates things in Mexico is CJNG and other cartels like Sinaloa leveraging corruption to gain top cover,” Owen said.
He said the cartels closely study criminal cases brought against them in U.S. courts, then adjust their operations to avoid repeating past mistakes.
The DEA says its top priority remains disrupting fentanyl trafficking. While the agency says it has helped reduce U.S. fentanyl deaths by targeting the chemicals used to make the drug, cartel networks continue to adapt by altering their chemistry, using mobile laboratories, encrypted communications and cryptocurrency.
These are sophisticated multinational organizations that ignore borders,” Owen said.
The Faces of Fentanyl exhibit inside DEA headquarters serves as a solemn reminder of those lost in the opioid crisis.The cartels’ revenue extends far beyond fentanyl. Their operations include cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana trafficking, as well as human trafficking, fuel theft and fraud.
Illicit fentanyl is believed to have killed at least a quarter of a million Americans over the past five years. Owen said the agency remains committed to pursuing cartel leaders and their networks no matter how far or long the DEA must go.
“The hunt is on,” he said, “and we have very long memories.”
