Statement from Administrator Milgram on the Increased Reward for DEA Priority Target El Mencho
DEA Headquarters
DEA remains steadfast in its mission to save lives and protect our communities from the prolific drug traffickers threatening American lives. We have spent the past three years disrupting the operations of the two cartels in Mexico – the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels – responsible for flooding the United States with deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine. Our investigations have resulted in charges against targets operating at every level of the global supply chain, from the highest levels of leadership to those responsible for laundering drug proceeds.
DEA will continue to leverage every resource available to combat this crisis. Today, the U.S. Department of State announced the increase in its reward for the notorious leader of the Jalisco Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho. Under the Narcotics Rewards Program, the government is offering up to $15 million – an increase of $5 million from the previous reward of $10 million – for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of El Mencho.
El Mencho remains one of DEA’s top fugitives as the alleged founder and current leader of the Jalisco cartel. He is believed to have grown Jalisco from a regionally based drug trafficking organization into an international organized criminal network. DEA investigations into El Mencho and the Jalisco Cartel have resulted in several indictments against the leader, as well as high-profile arrests and convictions of other members of the cartel. Last month, the DEA Los Angeles Field Division executed a successful arrest warrant for Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, a high-ranking member of the Jalisco cartel and El Mencho’s son-in-law. In September, El Mencho’s son, Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez aka El Menchito, was convicted on drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
The Jalisco cartel is one of the world’s most ruthless criminal organizations and is responsible for unprecedented violence in Mexico. We urge anyone with information related to El Mencho to contact us anonymously at 1-213-237-9990 or send a tip to Menchotips@dea.gov.