Footage Of El Mencho’s New Murders Goes Viral! D

May 2025, a Tik Tok influencer went live from her salon in Halisco, smiling at thousands of viewers. Then armed men walked in. Gunshots, silence. The world watched in horror. Authorities quickly linked the murder to Eleno’s inner circle. But here’s the twist. The man supposedly dead for years just orchestrated a killing.

The footage didn’t just go viral. It proved he’s still alive. The accused drug lord they call Elmentoo is considered in law enforcement circles to be Chicago’s public enemy number one. The crime lineage of Al Capone, the most wanted fugitive here since notorious El Chapo was finally captured. November 2024, federal agents in Riverside, California, arrested a man living under the name Luis Miguel Martinez in a luxury home worth over a million dollars.

Within hours, facial recognition software revealed a chilling truth. Tonight, federal authorities say Elmentoel last year fake murdered his own son-in-law, Christian Fernando Gutierrez Ooa, so that the young man could sneak into Los Angeles and start a new life. Christian Fernando Gutierrez Ooa wasn’t just another cartel operative hiding in plain sight.

He was Eleno’s son-in-law. and his father-in-law had orchestrated one of the boldest deceptions in cartel history, staging his own family members murder to slip him into the United States undetected. Gutierrez Ooa wasn’t some random recruit. He was married to Lisha Michelle Oera Gonzalez, Elmeno’s daughter and an American citizen who ran a seemingly innocent coffee shop in Southern California.

But prosecutors say that behind the espresso machines and pastries, the family was laundering millions in drug proceeds. Ooa used $1.2 million in drug money to buy a luxury residence here in Riverside, California. According to federal agents, OOA moved into an exclusive neighborhood under the fake name Luis Miguel Martinez.

Gutierrez OOA had been charged in Mexico in 2021 for kidnapping two Mexican Navy members in a desperate attempt to secure the release of Elmeno’s wife after her arrest. When Mexican authorities closed in, he vanished. Officially, he was dead, murdered by Eleno himself for lying, according to the story the cartel spread. But it was all theater.

According to federal prosecutors, Eleno personally helped orchestrate the fake death. And the reason it worked because the alternative was entirely believable. Eleno has been linked to the murders of dozens, possibly hundreds of people who crossed him, failed him, or simply knew too much after his real persona was supposedly murdered in Mexico by his father-in-law, the ruthless drug lord Nessio Osagura Cervantes.

Federal investigators believe Elmeno personally ordered the execution of rivals, former allies, and even members of his own organization. In 2015, when CJNG ambushed a convoy of Jalisco State Police, killing 15 officers in a coordinated attack, authorities suspected Elmeno gave the green light himself when a Mexican army helicopter was shot down with a rocket propelled grenade in Villa Purifacion, killing nine soldiers.

His fingerprints were all over the operation. The message was clear. No one is untouchable. New Generation Cartel’s April 6th attack was a militarystyle ambush that killed 15 Halisco State Police. In 2018, two agents from Mexico’s criminal investigation agency were kidnapped and murdered. Mexican authorities traced the orders back to El Mencho’s inner circle.

The killings prompted the Mexican government to raise the bounty on his head to $30 million pesos, roughly $1.5 million at the time. But those were just the high-profile cases. Security analysts believe Elno has been personally involved in ordering the deaths of rivals from Losas, the Knights Templar cartel, and Splinter factions that broke away from CJNG.

Former associates who defected or cooperated with authorities often turned up dead, dumped on roadsides, hanging from bridges, or simply disappeared. In November 2024, federal agents received a tip. Facial recognition technology linked Martinez’s current appearance to an old Interpole photo of Gutierrez ooa.

The match was undeniable. Homeland security moved in. When they raided his Riverside home, they didn’t just find a fugitive. They found evidence of a massive money laundering operation tied directly to CJNG’s drug trafficking empire. 37year-old AOA being held tonight here at the federal detention center in Los Angeles.

Arrested after facial recognition from an Interpole photo matched up with the bogus identity in LA. Gutierrez ooa was arrested and held at the federal detention center in Los Angeles. In June 2025, he pleaded guilty to international moneyaundering conspiracy. He admitted to being vital to CJNG’s financial operations, using shell companies, real estate transactions, and international wire transfers to clean millions and drug money.

He faces up to 20 years in prison. Ooa is married to this woman, Elmentoo’s daughter, Lisha Michelle Osagura Gonzalez, an American citizen who runs a Southern California coffee shop. According to authorities, also bought, they say, with cash they suspect was from a cartelrun tequila manufacturer south of the border. But the arrest raised a darker question.

How many other murders had Eleno orchestrated while Gutierrez Ooa was living his fake life in California? While Gutierrez Ooa was managing CJNG’s financial operations from Riverside, Elmeno’s empire was waging war across Mexico. In March 2025, Mexican authorities raided the Isager Ranch in Tuchitlan, Chaliscoco.

What they found horrified the nation. The ranch wasn’t just a training camp. It was an extermination center. Hundreds of items of clothing, dozens of shoes, bags, and skeletal remains were scattered across the property. Investigators believe the site was used to train new CJNG recruits and to execute anyone who refused orders or tried to escape.

The ranch was allegedly run by Gonzalo Mendoza Gaiton, a high-ranking CJNG commander known for his brutal recruitment tactics. One survivor who managed to escape told authorities that the cartel picked up recruits at bus stations under false pretenses. They were promised jobs, money, a better life.

Instead, they were taken to the ranch, trained in weapons and combat, and forced to become sucarios, hitmen. Those who resisted were beaten, tortured, and killed. Their bodies were burned or buried on the property. In the end, 10 men were arrested, and convicted of murder and kidnapping in connection with the ranch, but investigators believe the orders came from the top, from Elno himself.

But CJNG’s violence wasn’t limited to rival cartels or reluctant recruits. The cartel also used murder as a psychological weapon, targeting women to send messages to rivals. May 15th, 2025, Valeria Marquez was doing what she loved most, connecting with thousands of followers through a Tik Tok live stream from her salon in Zapoan, Haliscoco.

The camera was rolling. Fans were watching in real time. None of them knew what was about to unfold. Valyria was a rising social media star in her 20s. Beloved for her beauty tutorials and candid personality, she’d built a devoted following in Halisco, a state known for tequila, mariachi music, and increasingly brutal cartel violence.

Friends described her as ambitious, charismatic, and fearless in front of the camera. But her online presence may have made her a target in ways she never anticipated. What few people knew was her alleged connection to Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, a high-ranking lieutenant in the Halisco New Generation Cartel known as El Dubil R.

Ruiz wasn’t just another cartel operative. He was one of Elno’s closest associates responsible for propaganda and public communications for the CJNG. And according to US Treasury officials, he was also suspected of being Valyria’s romantic partner. For years, the CJNG had been tightening its grip on Halisco. Under Elno’s leadership, the cartel transformed from a regional gang into one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet.

They controlled drug routes, ports, and entire municipalities. Violence became their calling card. Ambushes on police convoys, downing military helicopters with rocket launchers, and public executions designed to send a message. April 6th attack was a military-style ambush that killed 15 Halisco State Police.

Security experts say they used anti-tank rifles and grenades against the unsuspecting police convoy. Ricardo Ruiz had been linked to multiple murders over the years. In 2015, he was suspected in an attack that killed 15 Halisco State Police officers. He’d been involved in the killings of a state official and even a Venezuelan model.

But the murder of Valyriia Marquez would be different. It wouldn’t just make headlines in Mexico. It would catch the attention of the United States government in a way no femicide had before. That afternoon, Valyria was broadcasting to her followers when armed men burst into her salon. The camera kept rolling.

Viewers watched in horror as gunfire erupted. Valyria collapsed. The live stream ended abruptly, but the damage was done. The murder had been witnessed by thousands in real time and the footage spread like wildfire across social media. The Mexico drug trafficking cartels and the violence they perpetrate is directly connected to the street gangs in Chicago that control the drug markets here.

Mexican authorities launched an investigation immediately, but as is often the case in Halisco, progress was slow. Witnesses were reluctant to come forward. Evidence was difficult to secure. The murder seemed destined to become another statistic in Mexico’s femicide epidemic. Over 2,900 women killed in 2024 alone, with countless cases going unsolved.

But this time, something was different. The US Treasury Department had been watching Ricardo Ruiz for years. They had intelligence linking him to Elmeno’s inner circle and to a wave of violence across Mexico. When they learned of Valyria’s murder and Ruiz’s suspected involvement, they decided to act. Elmeno was named in a new Chicago racketeering indictment that cited his cartel’s alleged role in murders, assaults, kidnappings, assassinations, and acts of torture.

Whether his wife will finally lead authorities to Chicago’s public enemy number one may be a long shot. On June 18th, 2025, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control took an unprecedented step. They announced sanctions against five CJNG leaders, including El Mencho himself. But the announcement carried something unusual, a direct reference to the murder of Valyria Marquez and Ricardo Ruiz’s suspected role in her death.

In the press release, Treasury officials didn’t hold back. They described how the CJNG uses murder as a tactic to intimidate rivals, specifically calling out the cartel’s targeted killings of women. They highlighted the vicious attack on Valyria, emphasizing the brutal prevalence of femicide in Mexico and how often these crimes go unpunished.

Ricardo Ruiz was sanctioned under executive order 14059 which targets drug trafficking organizations and executive order 1324 which targets terrorists and their supporters. All of his US-based assets were frozen. Any American citizen conducting business with him now faces severe legal consequences. Rafael Caro Cano, the notorious Mexican drug lord and one of FBI’s most wanted figures, was presented before the But Ruiz wasn’t the only target.

The Treasury also sanctioned Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez, Eleno’s son-in-law and a potential successor to the cartel’s leadership. Castillo had been managing drug operations at the port of Monsano, facilitating the flow of fentinel precursors into Mexico. He’d lived comfortably in California under a false identity after Elmeno orchestrated a fake murder to help him disappear.

But in November 2024, facial recognition technology exposed him and he was arrested. 37-year-old Achoa being held tonight here at the federal detention center in Los Angeles arrested after facial recognition from an inner pole photo matched up with the bogus identity in LA.

Alongside them, Gonzalo Mendoza Gaitan was sanctioned for his role in running a recruitment camp in Jaliscoco known as Isizagiri Ranch. In March 2025, authorities discovered the camp, finding hundreds of personal items, shoes, bags, clothing, and skeletal remains. The ranch had been used to train new CJNG recruits.

Those who refused orders or tried to escape were tortured and killed. The discovery shocked Mexico and the world. For activists and families of femicide victims in Mexico, the US government’s acknowledgement of Valyria’s murder was both significant and bittersweet. It was the first time American authorities had singled out a cartel member for a gender-based killing.

But for many, it felt like too little, too late. There’s undoubtedly a political reason for why this crime in Halisco is on the United States’s agenda. One women’s rights advocate told Insight Crime. But what about the thousands of other women who’ve been killed? Why is this case different? The answer, unfortunately, is complicated.

Valyria’s murder was public, captured on video, and tied to a cartel figure the US had been tracking for years. It fit into a broader narrative about the CJNG’s brutality and its impact on American national security through fentanel trafficking. But for the families of Mexico’s other femicide victims, justice remains elusive.

As for Ricardo Ruiz, he remains at large. Mexican authorities have stated they have no evidence directly linking him to Valyria’s murder, though they’ve requested that US officials share whatever intelligence led to the sanctions. Ruis, like Elmeno, is believed to be hiding in the rural Tur.

While the evidence of his cruelty and reach is undeniable, a persistent question hangs over every investigation. If Eleno can orchestrate murders and fake deaths with such precision, is he himself truly gone? Or is he still moving in the shadows untouchable? Okay, so Med Show is alive. They almost like there’s no question now like the mother is alive and he’s running.

The rumors had been swirling for years. Dead, dying, hiding in the mountains of Halisco, ravaged by kidney disease. But in late 2024, intelligence sources began confirming what many feared. Eleno was very much alive and he was moving. Nessio Ogua Cervantes, better known as Elno, has been killed dozens of times, at least according to social media.

Each rumor more elaborate than the last. Kidney failure, military ambush, betrayed by his own cartel. Yet, every single time, Mexican officials and the DEA have had to step forward with the same message. For the first time, cartel Kingpin El Mencho tonight is a $15 million man. That is the US government reward just increased and placed on the head of Reuben Saggera Cervantes alias El Meno.

For the first time in history, the US government raised the reward for El Meno to $15 million, higher than any drug lord before him. The message was clear. This man is not only alive, he’s winning. Throughout 2024, as his son-in-law was arrested in California, as his family network began to crack under federal pressure, and as his organization faced intensified scrutiny, one question dominated cartel intelligence circles.

Where is Elmeno? The answer, according to sources with direct knowledge, was unsettling. He’s very much alive. Uh, and now, not not only is he alive, he’s mobile, apparently. Uh he’s not hiding in the hills at all. He’s he’s uh conducting business. He’s moving about. He’s going in between states.

Uh he’s going to Guanauatoto, which is not only was he alive, he was mobile, conducting business, forging new alliances. And according to cartel insiders, he’d done something unprecedented. merged elements of his Jeliscoco New Generation Cartel with fractured cells of the Sinaloa cartel, creating what some called legacy routes through the heart of Mexico.

For someone with a $15 million bounty on his head, Eleno remains remarkably invisible. Unlike El Chapo, who commissioned Critos and courted fame, Eleno operates in the shadows. No mistresses leaking locations, no flashy parties, just a carefully constructed ghost story that keeps authorities guessing. The DEA says his cartel called Cartel Haliscoco or CJNG is responsible for roughly a third of the drugs entering this country by land and by sea.

What investigators do know is chilling. Born in Naranho de Chila, Mishuakan in 1966, Oura climbed from the bottom. dealer, hitman, Plaza boss until he married into the powerful Valencia family. That alliance opened doors, but it was his strategic mind that kicked them down.

By 2024, US intelligence confirmed CJNG wasn’t just another cartel. It was a paramilitary organization with international reach, sophisticated moneyaundering operations, and a level of violence that made even seasoned DEA agents recoil. He’s definitely one of them. His group definitely does some of the worst uh murderous and revengeful things that we’ve seen against innocent human beings.

But the most disturbing development wasn’t the violence. It was the corruption. Entire police departments on his payroll. Politicians turning blind eyes. Business fronts were so sophisticated that federal investigators struggled to trace the money. In March 2024, rumors of Eleno’s death once again flooded Mexican media.

This time the stories were specific. Kidney disease, a secret hospital, a body disposed of quietly to avoid cartel infighting. Mexican President Lopez Oberdor held a press conference specifically to address the rumors. The DEA’s Los Angeles director followed with his own statement. Both delivered the same message. Eleno is alive.

But intelligence analysts suspected something darker. What if Eleno himself was spreading the death rumors, creating psychological distance from his organization, making authorities believe he was weakened while he quietly consolidated power? One cartel insider speaking anonymously explained the deception.

Governments and media he claimed had been lying about the drug war for decades. Elmento understood this. He weaponized misinformation the same way he weaponized fear. The truth about CJNG’s origins, the insider suggested, was far more disturbing than official narratives admitted. The cartel didn’t just rise from the ashes of other organizations.

It was engineered, forged through strategic alliances and brutal efficiency. What emerged was a picture of a man who learned from every captured kingpin before him. El Chapo’s flashiness got him caught. The Zeta’s brutality made them enemies everywhere. El Mencho studied their mistakes. Throughout 2024, federal authorities celebrated what they called victories.

Eleno’s son-in-law arrested in Riverside, California, living under an alias. His brother Antonio extradited to the United States. His wife Rosa Linda released from Mexican custody the same day. But cartel experts saw something different in these moves. Every arrest seemed calculated. Every family member positioned like a chesspiece.

When authorities raided the Riverside mansion where Christian Fernando Gutierrez ooa had been living, they found more than just a fugitive. They found a sophisticated operation. Luxury vehicles, fake identities, and a paper trail leading back to tequila companies and coffee shops. All allegedly fronts for cartel money. Their drug trafficking begets violence on the streets, poverty, anguish throughout the entire country.

Can you stay with me? Open your eyes. The aftermath is unmistakable. This Chicago man survived this. But last year, more than 67,000 Americans did not. The genius of El Meno’s network wasn’t in its violence. It was in its legitimacy. University of Guadalajara graduates recruited into legal departments.

Chinese chemical suppliers operating through legitimate industrial companies, transport routes hidden inside poultry distribution chains. By 2024, CJNG wasn’t just trafficking drugs. They were running a multinational corporation with Reva. What made Eleno’s continued freedom even more remarkable was his public presence, or lack thereof.

In a world where cartel leaders courted fame, he remained invisible. The only confirmed photograph from his youth showed a young man with curly hair arrested in San Francisco in 1989. But in the towns of Jaliscoco, his presence was everywhere. Not through violence, through generosity, pandemic relief, toys for children on King’s Day, sponsorships for village festivals.

Vendors openly wore aprons with his mustachioed face, thanking him by name for funding community events. In March 2025, the musical group Los Algres delaro projected images of Elmeno during a concert at Guadalajara’s auditorime. The crowd cheered. Federal authorities launched investigations, but no arrests were made.

What concerned US intelligence most wasn’t Eleno’s survival. It was his strategic planning. Throughout 2024, CJNG focused on one objective, controlling undeveloped segments of the US Mexico border. The whispers started circulating fast. Elmento dead, kidney failure, military ambush, rival cartel hit, take your pick.

Social media exploded with the rumor in June 2020 and again in March 2024. But every single time, the same conclusion followed. He’s still out there. Matthew Allen, director of the DEA’s Los Angeles office, addressed the persistent death rumors head on. His words were measured, but the message was clear.

Don’t believe everything you hear. Even Mexico’s president, Lopez Oberdor, felt the need to publicly confirm what federal agents already knew. The rumored corpse was fiction. Elmeno wasn’t just alive. He was operational, expanding, and more dangerous than ever. But here’s where it gets interesting.

Some DEA officials privately acknowledged a chilling possibility. What if Eleno himself was the one spreading the death rumors? A calculated misdirection. Make your enemies think you’re weak, sick, or dead. Then strike when they drop their guard. his main rival which was the extinct now Cena law cartel federation uh now has an element within it that has allied themselves with his his cartel uh right Ivon’s side the pizzas the confusion wasn’t accidental in November 2024 federal agents arrested Christian Fernando Gutierrez ooa eleno’s son-in-law living in a $1.2 $.2 million Riverside home under a fake identity. Authorities say Eleno helped orchestrate his son-in-law’s fake death, even allegedly telling associates he’d killed the man for lying. Gutierrez Ooa simply

disappeared, presumed murdered, only to resurface in California, living the high life. If Eleno could fake a family member’s death, faking his own wouldn’t be far-fetched. relatives close to him arrested and squeezed by investigators as the government tries to press for information that could lead to his arrest and the takeown of his bloodthirsty and heavily armed cartel army.

The strategy makes brutal sense while rivals relax while law enforcement shifts resources. Elno consolidates power. His cartel, the Jaliscoco New Generation Cartel, continues flooding American streets with fentinyl, meth, and cocaine. An estimated 90% of drugs in Chicago alone come from Mexico, much of it controlled by CJNG.

And while death rumors swirl, Eleno’s empire thrives. DEA sources confirmed sightings. Intelligence reports tracked his movements. He wasn’t hiding in the hills. He was mobile, conducting business, forging alliances. The confusion serves another purpose. Psychological warfare. Keep authorities guessing. Keep rivals uncertain.

Keep the public debating whether you’re even alive. In the meantime, business continues. March 2025 brought new controversy. During a concert in Guadalajara, a musical group projected Eleno’s image on stage while performing a corridor in his honor. Outrage followed. Investigations were launched.

But the message was unmistakable. Dead men don’t inspire tribute concerts. All of these moves by the feds aimed at public enemy number one himself, whom authorities say is personally responsible for the ongoing carnage in Mexico and hundreds of deaths. Federal agents keep hunting. The bounty climbed to $15 million.

His family members face arrest and extradition. US drone surveillance now extends into central Mexico, tracking movements, mapping routes. But El Meno remains untouchable, protected by corruption, shielded by fear, hidden in plain sight. And every time someone whispers he’s finally been killed, the same pattern repeats.

The denial, the confirmation, the realization, he’s still breathing. Because in the cartel world, sometimes the most dangerous move is convincing everyone you’re already dead. Being alive is one thing, but what makes Eleno truly untouchable is the empire he built in the shadows. Tonight, the DEA is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest of the Mexican drug kingpin known as Eleno.

He’s blamed for a flood of narcotics into the US. And in tonight’s Eye on America, the DEA’s most wanted list reads like a lineup of ghosts. But there’s one name at the very top that even veteran agents lose sleep over. Or Nezio Rubeno Seera Cervantes. On July 17th, 1966, in the dusty mountain town of Narano de Chila, Mitoakan, El Meno came from nothing.

His family grew avocados in one of Mexico’s most impoverished regions, the kind of place where dreams rot faster than the fruit. He was one of six brothers in a household that could barely put food on the table. By fifth grade, young Ruben had dropped out to work the fields. By 14, he’d graduated to something far more profitable, guarding marijuana crops in the mountains.

But avocados and marijuana weren’t enough. Eleno wanted more. So, in the 1980s, like thousands of desperate young men before him, he packed his bags and headed north, crossing illegally into California to chase the American dream. What he found instead was the American drug trade. Ironically, he lived in California some 30 years ago where he was arrested on drug charges and eventually deported back to Mexico.

In 1986, at just 19 years old, Elena was arrested in San Francisco, caught with stolen property and a loaded gun. A mug shot from that bust shows a baby-faced kid in a hoodie, acne still dotting his face, eyes blank with defiance. 2 months later, his first child was born. But fatherhood didn’t slow him down.

Throughout the late 80s, he crossed the border again and again, using fake names to smuggle drugs. Reuben Avila, Roberto Salgado, Miguel Valades. Each alias was a new life, a new hustle. It was during this time that El Meno got his real education, not in schools, but in the meth labs of California’s Central Valley.

Cities like Fresno and Bakersfield were ground zero for methamphetamine production. And Elmeno was there to learn the trade. Working alongside his brother-in-law, Abigail Gonzalez Valencia, he absorbed every detail of the business that would one day make him a billionaire. By 1989, Eleno was back in the Bay Area. This time he was busted for selling drugs.

The booking photo shows a rise smile and an acidwash jean jacket. The look of a man who knew he wasn’t done yet. He was deported again, but by September 1992, he was back in California for the third time. And that’s when federal agents finally caught up with him. The sting went down at a San Francisco bar called The Imperial.

El Mencho’s older brother, Abraham, was there to sell 5 ounces of heroin for $9,500. Eleno came along as a lookout, but even at 26, he was sharper than his older brother. When the buyers handed over a neat stack of $100 bills instead of loose cash, Elno knew something was off. In a wiretapped phone call afterward, he told Abraham they just dealt with undercover cops.

Three weeks later, both brothers were arrested. In court, Eleno played it smart. He insisted he was innocent, that he’d never touch the drugs, that the agents were lying. But the prosecutor made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Plead guilty or watch your brother, who already had two felony convictions. Go away for life.

Eleno chose loyalty. He took the fall to protect Abraham. The judge sentenced him to 5 years at Big Spring Correctional Center, a private prison in West Texas that housed mostly undocumented immigrants. It was there behind bars that Eleno made connections that would later become his army.

Gang members, Sakarios, men who understood violence as a language. After serving 3 years, he was released on parole in January 1997. US marshals deported him back to Mexico. a hardened felon at 30 years old. Back in Mexico, Eleno drifted for a while. He ended up in Halisco working as ironically a police officer in the small town of Tomatlan.

It wouldn’t be the first time a narco infiltrated Mexican law enforcement. Eventually, he made his way to Guadalaraa where he fell in with the Millennio Cartel, a subsidiary of the powerful Sinaloa cartel. At the time, Sinaloa was run by Ignasio Nacho Coronel Vieral, a ruthless enforcer known as the king of crystal for his dominance of the methamphetamine trade.

Coronel controlled Guadalajara with an iron fist, and Eleno joined his security detail, basically a bodyguard/ enforcer/hitman. With his law enforcement background, Eleno knew how to handle intelligence and counter surveillance. He climbed the ranks fast, eventually leading his own network of assassins.

But the game changed in 2010. In October, one of Millennio’s top leaders was arrested. 9 months later, Nacho Corell himself was killed during an army raid on his Guadalajara mansion. Suddenly, the two most powerful bosses in Halisco were gone. Eleno saw his opportunity and seized it. When another colleague was chosen to lead Millennio instead of him, Elmano did what ambitious men do.

He broke off and started his own cartel. He called it the cartel Halisco Noea generation, the CJNG. And then he declared war. I don’t know that there’s another group that can take advantage of the power vacuum as much as the Halisco cartel can. It also remains to be seen how well the kids do. You know, are they as good as as their fathers at running the Cenolo cartel? The streets of Guadalajara turned into a war zone. Bodies piled up.

Rival Sicarios were hunted down and executed. Anyone loyal to Millennio was killed. Everyone else fled. By the time the smoke cleared, Elmentoo had won. Chalisco was his, and the CJNG was born. But unlike the old school cartels, Eleno didn’t just want to control Mexico. He wanted to dominate the entire drug trade globally. And he had a plan.

Eleno understood something that even El Chapo didn’t fully grasp. Methampetamine was the future. Unlike cocaine, which had to be bought from Colombian suppliers, meth could be produced in Mexico with precursor chemicals shipped in from China. Unlike marijuana or heroin which required farmland and good weather, meth just needed isolated labs in the mountains and the profit margins astronomical.

The you know cocaine trafficking but also I think are got really involved in human smuggling which is increasingly lucrative. Um and then in the fentinel trade. Jaliscoco with its thriving pharmaceutical industry and access to Pacific ports was the perfect base. Elmeno recruited young chemists from Guadalajara’s universities, offering them scholarships and jobs upon graduation.

He built clandestine labs deep in the jungle, churning out tons of crystal meth. He even hired Russian naval engineers to design submarines that could smuggle drugs from South America. And to avoid heat from US authorities, he focused on foreign markets, places like Australia, where a kilo of cocaine could fetch four times the price it did in the States.

What percentage of drugs in Chicago do you think come from Mexico? A significant amount, probably about, you know, 90%. 90%. But Eleno’s rise wasn’t just about business savvy. It was about fear. Eleno ruled through a combination of corruption and brutality. He bought off cops, paying some officers five times their salaries to look the other way.

Those he couldn’t buy, he terrorized. In one wiretapped phone call, he can be heard berating a police commander, cursing him out for his officer’s behavior and demanding they back off. I’ll kill even youring dogs. He snars. The commander stammers apologies. Terrified. A $10 million reward.

the Mexican drug kingpin known as Eleno, blamed for flooding the US with narcotics that have killed hundreds of thousands. But who is this ghost? The man law enforcement calls public enemy number one, isn’t just another cartel boss. He’s the architect of Mexico’s most brutal criminal empire, one that rose from the ashes of El Chapo Sinaloa cartel to become something far more dangerous.

Nessio Rubeno Seera Cervantes was born July 17th, 1966 in Agalia, Mishawakan, a dusty mountain town where avocado farmers scraped by in Mexico’s Tiarra Caliente, the hot land. The fifth of six brothers, young Ruben quit school in fifth grade to work the fields. By 14, he was guarding marijuana plantations, but Eleno had bigger dreams than agriculture.

In the 1980s, he slipped across the border into California, where his criminal education truly began. San Francisco police arrested him twice. First in 1986 for stolen property and a loaded gun. Then again in 1989 for selling narcotics. But the defining moment came in 1992 when federal agents busted him and his brother Abraham for a heroin deal in a San Francisco bar.

Court records show El Mencho was sharp enough to spot undercover cops by their perfectly stacked bills instead of loose cash. When his brother faced life in prison, Eleno made a calculated choice. Plead guilty. Serve 3 years at Big Spring Correctional Center in Texas, then get deported back to Mexico in 1997. That deportation changed everything.

Back in Mexico, Eleno joined the Jalisco State Police, a corrupt force that doubled as a cartel recruitment pipeline. Eventually, he linked up with the Millennio Cartel, working under Ignasio Nacho Coronel, a Sinaloa cartel lieutenant. Elmeno started as muscle, a bodyguard, enforcer, and hitman. But his American experience with methamphetamine production gave him an edge no one else had.

When Coronel died in 2010 and Millennio’s leadership crumbled, Eleno saw his opening. He broke away, formed his own faction, and launched the Jaliscoco New Generation Cartel, CJNG. Unlike cocaine, which required Colombian suppliers, meth could be manufactured entirely in Mexico using precursor chemicals from China.

Eleno understood the economics. Complete control meant complete profit. Kalisco cartel. Yeah, Mencho was an associate of Chapo and Mayo and a lieutenant within the Solo cartel and then broke out on his own and um seemed to take after the model of the setas and perfect that model of but economics alone didn’t build Elmeno’s empire.

What set CJNG apart was hyperviolence on a scale Mexico had never seen. Mass killings, public hangings. In 2011, they dumped 35 bound and tortured bodies in the streets of Veraracruz during rush hour. In 2013, they killed and burned a 10year-old girl, a case of mistaken identity. In 2015, they duct taped dynamite to a man and his elementary school age son, then filmed themselves laughing as they detonated it.

The DEA has compared CJNG’s tactics to ISIS. The sheer brutality wasn’t just strategic. It was spectacle. Elmento wanted rivals, police, and civilians to know. Cross him and your entire family dies. By focusing on methamphetamine and diversifying into fentinil, human smuggling and oil theft, Elmeno built a criminal conglomerate.

CJNG now operates in three quarters of Mexico and has trafficking network KS on six continents. Some experts estimate the cartel’s assets at $50 billion. One DEA team leader believes Elmeno’s personal net worth exceeds $1 billion. And they grew. I think they have like a presence in three quarters of the country at this point, the Halisco cartel.

And they drove they drew they they grew in prominence particularly through their hyperviolence. Um the you know cocaine trafficking but also I think are got really involved in human smuggling which is increasingly um lucrative. Um and then in the fentinel trade. Eleno’s genius lies in his discipline.

Unlike flashy narcos who commission cured celebrating their exploits, he stays invisible. No girlfriends, no parties, no social media, the only known photos of him are decades old mug shot. He moves constantly through the mountains of Halisco, Mishuakan, and K Lima. Protected by three concentric security rings, spotters, hitmen, and corrupt police.

Intelligence suggests he’s undergone cosmetic surgery to alter his appearance. His control extends beyond firepower. Elmento corrupts entire police departments, paying officers five times their salaries. When Halisco’s governor took office, he admitted organized crime had infiltrated more than half the state’s municipal police.

A leaked recording captures Eleno berating a police commander, threatening to kill him and his dogs if officers don’t back off. The commander, terrified, can only stammer, “Yes, sir.” In 2015, El Mencho escalated to open war with the Mexican government when federal police raided suspected CJNG hideouts. The cartel ambushed convoys, killing 15 officers in one attack.

Then came the ultimate provocation. CJNG shot down a Mexican military helicopter with an RPG, killing nine soldiers. El Mencho’s men set 39 buses, 11 banks, and 16 gas stations on fire across Chaliscoco, paralyzing the state. The Mexican government had to deploy 10,000 troops. By flooding the US with drugs, Elmentotos cartel makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The DA says part of the challenge in capturing him is that he has entire police departments in Mexico on his payroll. Nora, as one agent put it, if Alena wants you to work for him, you have two options. That same year, El Mencho pulled off perhaps his boldest move, kidnapping El Chapo’s sons, Ivan and Jesus Alfredo Guzman, from a Puerto Varta restaurant.

The brothers were celebrating a birthday when gunmen burst in, forced them to their knees, and drove them into the night. Eleno planned to execute them on video. Only a $2 million ransom in a massive drug shipment secured their release. The message was unmistakable. El Chapos in prison.

A new king rules Mexico. Since then, CJNG has expanded relentlessly. They control major ports like Monsano and Lzerocardinus. They traffic drugs to Australia, Europe, and Asia. They’ve battled the Sinaloa cartel for control of Tijuana, driving the city’s homicide rate to record levels. In Chicago, 90% of drugs come from Mexico and a third trace back to El Mencho’s empire.

Despite the DEA’s $15 million bounty and years of investigation, Eleno remains free. His wife, Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia, was arrested, then released. His son, Ruben Elmenhat Oera Jr., was extradited to the US and convicted in 2024. His brother Antonio was arrested and extradited in 2025. Yet, Elmeno endures.

Rumors of his death circulate regularly. In February 2022, Mexican media claimed he died of respiratory arrest in a Guadalajara hospital. Other reports suggest he suffers from kidney disease and built a private hospital in rural Chaliscoco to treat himself. And so, Nessio Elno Oera Cervantes remains a ghost in plain sight.

A man who rose from a poor mountain village to command one of the most violent and far-reaching criminal empires in the world. Untouchable, invisible, and still very much at large.