From Hawaii to Puerto Rico: how the CJNG expanded in the U.S. over five years. The “Mencho’s” forces have entrenched themselves to challenge the Mexican state and flood the United States with narcotics from the Pacific to the American Caribbean.
MEXICO (INFOBAE/DEA) – Led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes’ leadership, The Jalisco Cartel – New Generation has reached all five continents. ACCORDING TO REPORTS FROM THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, the CJNG went from disputing 11 U.S. cities in 2015 to dominating ten regions and fighting for 15 plazas against the Sinaloa Cartel by 2020, according to reports from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Over the past five years, the forces led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, have established themselves as the principal exporters of narcotics to the United States. After forming in 2012, dominating four Mexican states, the cartel currently has a presence in 24 of 32 states.
DEA reports indicate that the CJNG began with struggles in 11 U.S. cities in 2015; the following year, it already dominated four plazas and was fighting for nine; while in 2017, its sovereignty was reduced to three, its expansion doubled, disputing 18 regions; on the other hand, by 2020 it was established as the main cartel in 10 zones and was fighting for 15 more.
In 2015, the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation was vying for San Ysidro against the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Moicas and areas such as Riverside, Bakersfield Sacramento, and Reno on the East Coast. Their influence was barely perceptible in Dallas, Texas, Gulfport, Mississippi, and Atlanta, Georgia, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The DEA was already noticing how quickly the CJNG was expanding in the U.S. and, despite the dominance of the Sinaloa Cartel, was beginning to compete in narcotics distribution and operations in Asia, Europe, and Oceania. By that time, the Hawaiian archipelago was dominated by Sinaloa, including parts of Alaska.
By February 2016, the CJNG dominated Orange and Santa Rosa and the Imperial and Portland region. Although it lost influence in the plazas disputed a year earlier in the eastern and northeastern US Pacific.
It seemed to be in San Antonio, Texas, and the Beltrán Leyva joined the Gulfport fight. Meanwhile, he competed against the Sinaloa Cartel in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Kansas, against the Juarez Cartel and the Knights Templar.
His dominance in the Columbia region was already total, as well as in Roanoke, Virginia. But it still had little influence in Atlanta. According to the DEA, active investigations against CJNG leaders totaled 26 in 2016, but that number doubled to 46 in 2017.
During Donald Trump’s first months in 2017 and Enrique Peña Nieto’s last months in Mexico, the anti-drug agency reported that the CJNG expanded into Florida in Miami, West Palm Beach Tampa. There, the Beltran Leyva and Sinaloa Cartel had dominated, but forces such as the Gulf Cartel in the Port of St. Lucia arrived, as well as Mencho’s operators.
Charleston, Washington, Allentown, and New York began to be besieged by the CJNG. In the Columbia and Roanoke plazas, dominance was maintained, and the struggles in San Antonio, Fayetteville, and Kansas continued.
There was a recovery in San Ysidro, San Diego, Orange, and Riverside, in California. While it was emerging in Seattle, bordering Canada. In 2018 and 2019, the agency did not report on Mexican cartels’ influence in the U.S.
But in 2020, according to the latest DEA report, the four-letter cartel reached as far as Honolulu, Hawaii, and supplied the market forgotten by the Sinaloa Cartel for two years. It also expanded to the other end, in the Caribbean, with influences in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Orange County was taken from the Sinaloa Cartel, Modesto, but the fight is on in San Diego, Santa Rosa, Imperial, and Los Angeles.
Cities such as Laredo are contested by the Beltran Leyva Cartel, as is El Paso. These competitions were inaugurated in Houston, Saint Louis, and Denver, while in Seattle, Kansas, Gulfport, Lexington, and Orlando, there are no more rivals. Chicago, Atlanta, New York, and Miami are still in the fight against the Sinaloa Cartel.
It should be noted that the criminal group operates with the help of gangs, including some that have evolved into “domestic cartels.” For example, the Mencho gangs have partnered with Florencia 13 and Sureños. But some gangs are also allied with rival cartels in Mexico, such as Latin Kings, California Mexican Mafia, 18th Street, Bloods, and Pagan’s OMG, which have a national reach.
The CJNG’s dominance in the U.S. coincides with its ability to challenge the Mexican state. Since 2015 it began to show its firepower. From then on, they have not stopped with various police massacres, attacks against high political profiles, and its expansion to the five continents for criminal operations.
According to Mexican and Drug Enforcement Administration reports, five years ago, the CJNG’s links covered between eight and 11 entities. Today reports from Lantia, Stratfor, and the U.S. Congress indicate that it would be in practically all of Mexico, except for Sinaloa.