A high-ranking member of a Mexican cartel was arrested in Riverside, California, where he had been living the luxe life under a false identity after after faking his own death, federal authorities announced.
Cristian Gutiérrez, 37, who is married to the daughter of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, faces drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges.
Gutiérrez, who is said to have been working for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel since about 2014, ‘allegedly directed the importation of tons of methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States and engaged in violence to aid the cartel’s criminal activities,’ the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
He coordinated the ‘transportation and distribution of approximately 40,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and approximately 2,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico, all destined for the United States,’ the agency added.
Gutiérrez faces 10 years to life in prison for the drug trafficking charge and a maximum of 20 years for money laundering.
‘The Jalisco Cartel — one of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations — is weaker today because of the tenacious efforts of law enforcement to track down and arrest a cartel leader who allegedly faked his own death and assumed a false identity to evade justice and live a life of luxury in California,’ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
Gutiérrez is also wanted by Mexican authorities for the alleged kidnapping of two soldiers at a Walmart parking lot in Zapopan, Michoacán on November 15, 2021, just days after El Mencho’s wife, Rosalinda González, was arrested on charges that included ‘illicit financial operation of an organized crime group.’
In abducting the soldiers, Gutiérrez sought to pressure the government into releasing González.
Cristian Gutiérrez, a high-ranking member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was arrested in Riverside, California, the Department of Justice revealed
Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, helped son-in-law, Cristian Gutiérrez, flee to the United States, where he eventually settled in Riverside, California, authorities said
However, the ploy backfired as González was kept in prison and the soldiers were eventually found alive five days after they were kidnapped, abandoned on a road in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, 180 miles away from Zapopan.
González was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering in December 2023.
The Department of Justice alleged that El Mencho perhaps played a role in faking Gutiérrez’s death by telling cartel allies that he had murdered him.
The plot appeared to have convinced associates, paving the way for Gutiérrez to reunite with his wife, Laisha Oseguera, in the US.
Once in the country, Gutiérrez used a fake identity to settle down with Laisha in a ‘luxury residence’ in Riverside, which the Justice Department says was purchased with the cartel’s drug-trafficking proceeds.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) administrator Anne Milgram said that in arresting Gutiérrez, the agency got ‘much closer’ to its goal of dismantling the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and its rival, the Sinaloa Cartel.
‘The Jalisco Cartel is responsible for unprecedented violence in Mexico and helping to fuel the deadly drug crisis in the United States,’ Milgram said in a statement.
‘The DEA is relentlessly committed to defeating the Jalisco Cartel, and we will exhaust every tool in the justice system to fight back, to save American lives, and to bring this cartel to justice.’
Laisha Oseguera, the wife of Cristian Gutiérrez and daughter of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera
While the DEA has been able to destabilize the Sinaloa Cartel’s senior leadership by capturing co-founders Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, as well as two of El Chapo’s four sons who stepped up after he was extradited to the United States, El Mencho has proven to be elusive for Mexican authorities.
The US Department of State is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
His son, Ruben Oseguera, 34, who was seen as the heir to the cartel, was convicted on drug-trafficking and weapons charges by a federal jury on September 20.
Ruben, who is known as ‘El Menchito’ and was born in California, was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the US in February 2020.
He is looking at a minimum jail sentence of 40 years and a statutory maximum of life in prison in addition to 30 years in prison. His sentencing is set for January 10, 2025.
El Mencho’s U.S.-born daughter, Jessica Oseguera, was released from prison in October 2022, just three months into her 30-month sentence, after pleading guilty to laundering money for the cartel through businesses that had been designated under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
