The brother of one of the world’s most wanted drug lords — El Mencho — was just arrested in Mexico.
Authorities arrested Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “Tony Montana,” for his role in helping to run the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG for its Spanish acronym.) The CJNG was founded around 2012 by his younger brother, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes aka El Mencho, and quickly became one of the most widespread and ruthless criminal organizations on Earth.
Authorities found Tony Montana at a safe house in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, outside of the Jalisco state capital of Guadalajara, along with several weapons and a package believed to be cocaine, according to a government press release about the arrest on Tuesday morning.
The Mexican government alleged that Tony Montana worked as a “logistics operator” and was involved in several aspects of the family business, including money laundering, the sourcing and buying of weapons for the group, and coordinating “violent actions against antagonistic groups.”
“The arrest of Antonio [Oseguera Cervantes] represents a forceful blow to one of the criminal organizations in the country, since it is considered in its structure, as one of the alleged main logistical and financial operators and generators of violence,” said the Mexican authorities in a press release.
While El Mencho remains on the lam and currently has a $10 million bounty on his head by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the arrest of Tony Montana is another direct blow to his family.
El Mencho's son, Rubén Oseguera González, known as El Menchito, was arrested in 2015 in Guadalajara. Although he was released shortly after, authorities quickly re-arrested El Menchito within a year and extradited him to the U.S. in February 2020 to face drug trafficking charges.
A week after El Menchito's extradition, El Mencho’s daughter, Jessica Oseguera González, aka La Negra, travelled to the U.S. to visit her brother and was also arrested when she arrived at the Washington, D.C. courthouse for his hearing. El Menchito pleaded not guilty and is still awaiting trial, while La Negra pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Kingpin act and spent nearly two years behind bars. She was released in March.
While El Mencho’s children were in U.S. prisons, his wife and their mother, Rosalina González Valencia was arrested in Mexico in November 2021. She was charged with money laundering and remains in a Mexican prison. She was also arrested in 2018 but was released three mothers later.
Along with the arrest of his immediate family members, numerous members of his wife’s family have also been arrested in recent years for their role operating another criminal group called Los Cuinis that worked with the CJNG.
The arrest of Tony Montana is a significant blow to the organization. In 2015, Tony Montana was arrested by Mexican authorities, but released under a technicality several months later. In 2016, the U.S. treasury announced sanctions against Tony Montana, along with other members of the CJNG and Los Cuinis, but it is unclear if there are any U.S. indictments that would facilitate his extradition.