Rubén Oseguera Cervantes – alias "El Mencho" - may be the most dangerous drug lord in the world, and he is relatively unknown. In just half a decade El Mencho's Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG has accomplished what took El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel an entire generation: dominate trafficking routes in dozens of countries on six continents, controlling territories spanning half of Mexico. "Specializing" in methamphetamine as opposed to cocaine or heroin, the Cartel was able to increase the already lucrative profit margins in the drug trade. As El Chapo's infamy grew, so did the Mexican Government's effort to capture him, allowing El Mencho to fly under the radar. The effort to capture El Chapo only increased after he escaped from prison again, giving Mencho more leeway.
Mencho concentrated on trafficking in foreign markets, accumulating a personal fortune of $1 billion and a war chest worth an estimated $20 billion dollars - all while remaining relatively inconspicuous to the watchful eye of the United States. According to reports, El Mencho invested heavily in submarines, which he would then use to transport the product to markets in Europe and Asia. In other markets such as Austrailia, meth can go for up four times more than in the United States.
In the wake of El Chapo's January 2016 arrest, the homicide rate in Mexico increased 20% as family members of the former drug lord & rival gangs vie for power. Thousands of the homicides can be attributed to the CJNG as the Cartel pushes to secure more territory along the Mexican-American border and into Central Mexico. El Mencho has been responsible for dozens of attacks on state and federal police, including thousands of civilian deaths. "(In) seeking confrontation with authorities... You could argue that you hadn't seen that type of initiative since Pablo Escobar," a federal investigator had to say of Mencho.
It is suspected that Mencho is currently hiding in the mountainous regions of Central America. According to a former DEA Agent: "I think he's extremely selective about whom he talks to and with whom he meets. I think he moves around a lot, and I think he has near-unlimited money and near-unlimited manpower. And when you have those things, you can hold out for quite a long time."
Source: Rolling Stone
