WASHINGTON — A man whose brother headed one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels was sentenced Friday to more than 22 years in U.S. prison for his role in a far-reaching trafficking operation that moved cocaine and methamphetamine onto American streets.
Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, the brother of late Jalisco New Generation co-founder Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in July. Mexican authorities transferred him to U.S. custody last year along with other senior cartel figures.
His prosecution is part of a broader Trump administration campaign targeting powerful criminal organizations, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, which U.S. officials say has contributed to the country’s drug crisis.
“Oseguera Cervantes’ sentence sends a clear message to criminals around the world that the Department of Justice is committed to the total elimination of drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations, including the CJNG,” Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva, head of the department’s Criminal Division, said in an emailed statement.
Oseguera Cervantes, 68, of Michoacán, Mexico, worked alongside his brother, who was killed by the Mexican army in February, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Oseguera Cervantes first held a leadership role in the Milenio Cartel and later reported directly to El Mencho after his brother rose to become the CJNG’s top leader.
In Washington federal court, prosecutors had sought a 30-year sentence. They said his responsibilities included collecting CJNG drug proceeds, overseeing money-laundering operations and supervising methamphetamine laboratories.
“Rival cartels rarely settle disputes through diplomacy alone,” prosecutors wrote in court filings. “And while there may be no nonviolent drug cartels in Mexico, (Oseguera Cervantes) was a member of particularly brutal cartels.”
Oseguera Cervantes’ attorneys had asked for a 20-year sentence, arguing that he accepted full responsibility for his crimes and had already spent several years imprisoned in Mexico for conduct that was essentially the same as the offenses covered by his U.S. guilty plea.
Defense attorney Frank Perez said in an email Friday that the sentence was “appropriate, just, and fair under the circumstances.”
In a letter to the court, Oseguera Cervantes expressed remorse, writing that he was “deeply sorry for my actions and for the harm they caused.”
“One of my greatest fears is that I will die far away from my family,” he wrote. “I love my children and my family very much, and I hope that I may one day have the opportunity to spend the remaining years of my life with them.”
Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Washington.
