top leader of a notorious Mexican cartel has been arrested in California and charged with smuggling tons of drugs into the US, after three years living under a false identity.

On November 21, the US Department of Justice announced that Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, 37 years old, was arrested in Riverside, California.

Cristian is the son-in-law of Jalisco Cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera-Cervantes, nicknamed “El Mencho.” After kidnapping two Mexican Navy members in 2021, Cristian staged his own death and fled to the United States, living under a false identity.

It was El Mencho who helped his son-in-law disappear by telling his associates that he had killed him for lying. Cristian fled to California to reunite with El Mencho’s daughter.

Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, a senior leader of the Jalisco cartel. Photo: LAmag

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco stressed the significance of the arrest: “The Jalisco Cartel is one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world, but it has been weakened by the tenacious efforts of law enforcement to track down and capture a leader who allegedly faked his own death and assumed a false identity to evade justice and live in luxury in California.”

Federal prosecutors allege Cristian’s crimes went beyond identity fraud. According to court documents, Cristian began working for the Jalisco cartel in 2014, coordinating the shipment of 40 tons of methamphetamine and 2 tons of cocaine from Mexico to the United States, and using violence to maintain tight control over the cartel’s illegal operations. In 2021, he allegedly kidnapped two members of the Mexican Navy in an attempt to free El Mencho’s wife from Mexican authorities.

Cristian’s arrest comes on the heels of another major blow to the Jalisco cartel. In September, El Mencho’s son, Rubén Oseguera (“El Menchito”), was convicted in Washington federal court for his role in the organization’s drug trafficking and violent activities, including the deadly downing of a military helicopter.

In December 2022, the Mexican military arrested Antonio Oseguera, El Mencho’s brother. Antonio is accused of overseeing violence and trafficking operations, as well as purchasing weapons and laundering money for the Jalisco cartel.

Kingpin El Mencho is currently one of Mexico’s most wanted men with a $10 million reward on his head.

The Jalisco cartel is notorious for manufacturing millions of doses of deadly fentanyl and smuggling them into the United States, disguised as Xanax, Percocet or oxycodone. Such pills are responsible for an estimated 70,000 overdose deaths in the United States each year.