WASHINGTON, D.C. — Antonio Oseguera Cervantes — alias “Tony Montana,” brother of the late Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) founder Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes — pleaded guilty last Friday in a Washington, D.C. federal courtroom to conspiring to traffic cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States, closing out a case against a man prosecutors describe as the cartel’s central financial and logistical operator for over two decades.
The Charges
Oseguera Cervantes, 67, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell to conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine for importation into the United States, along with a firearms charge for possessing a pistol in furtherance of the drug trafficking conspiracy.
According to prosecutors, he is alleged to have distributed 450 kilograms or more of cocaine — roughly 992 pounds — and at least 45 kilograms of methamphetamine, about 99 pounds, between January 1998 and December 2022.
Court documents describe his role within CJNG as extensive: supplying precursor chemicals to the cartel’s methamphetamine laboratories, distributing cocaine and methamphetamine destined for the U.S., collecting drug proceeds, and managing the cartel’s money laundering operations by moving funds from the United States back to Mexico through currency exchange locations. During a portion of the hearing, the judge had Oseguera Cervantes confirm specific coordination details, including messages exchanged via BlackBerry to organize criminal activity, and asked directly whether CJNG worked with Los Cuinis, the cartel’s allied financial arm — he answered in the affirmative.
A Career That Predates CJNG Itself
Oseguera Cervantes’s criminal history runs longer than CJNG’s own existence. From approximately 2002 to 2010, he operated within the Milenio Cartel in Jalisco, overseeing narcotics sales, protecting territory from rival groups, and supervising methamphetamine lab operations.
Around 2010, he began working directly under his brother, who had co-founded CJNG and built it into one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent criminal organizations — one that the Trump administration formally designated a foreign terrorist organization last year, alongside several other Mexican cartels.
The Missing Piece: El Mencho Is Dead
Central to understanding this case is a fact not always foregrounded in coverage of the plea: Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes is no longer alive. He was killed by the Mexican Army in February 2026 in an operation in Jalisco. His death triggered significant nationwide unrest, with cartel members erecting highway blockades and setting fire to vehicles and buildings across 20 Mexican states; the resulting violence left more than 70 people dead, including 25 members of Mexico’s National Guard.
Antonio Oseguera Cervantes had already been in U.S. custody well before his brother’s death, having been transferred from Mexico for prosecution in February 2025 — meaning this case has run largely in parallel with, rather than as a direct response to, El Mencho's killing and its violent aftermath.
Mexico’s Role in the Case
The Justice Department’s own announcement specifically credited the Mexican government’s cooperation, thanking it for its assistance in securing Oseguera Cervantes’s presence in the United States for prosecution, facilitated through the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs under Mexico’s National Security law.
That acknowledgment reflects the kind of binational security cooperation that has become increasingly visible this year across multiple cartel-related cases, though it stops short of detailing what specific role, if any, senior Mexican officials played in the decision beyond the formal extradition process itself.
Sentencing
Judge Howell is scheduled to sentence Oseguera Cervantes on November 13. He faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and, under the terms of the plea agreement, a maximum of two consecutive life sentences; both prosecution and defense — led by attorney Frank Pérez — are expected to submit sentencing recommendations ahead of that date.
The Justice Department has also indicated Oseguera Cervantes could face an asset forfeiture order exceeding $10 million as part of the case’s resolution. The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit in Los Angeles investigated the case.
Why This Matters
Analysts covering the plea have described it as a significant blow to what remains of CJNG’s financial backbone, removing a figure U.S. authorities considered the cartel’s most reliable operator for money laundering, precursor chemical acquisition, and weapons logistics — losses that intelligence officials expect could deepen the internal leadership disputes already unsettling the cartel since El Mencho’s death, as rival factions compete for control of its finances and territory.
