Mexican military authorities have arrested the wife of drug lord Nemesio Osegera Cervantes, nicknamed “El Menzo” in the state of Jalisco.
Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia was arrested in the city of Sapopan “in a major blow to the financial background of organized crime in the state of Jalisco”, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
Gonzalez is accused of various crimes and especially of her involvement in “the illegal financial operation of an organized criminal group”.
Osegera, a former police officer, is the leader of the violent Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) Cartel, Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, along with the Sinaloa Cartel. The US authorities announced him in 2018 for the amount of 10 million dollars and he is one of the few cartel leaders that has not been arrested to date. He tried with the CJNG to build a criminal empire that would span five continents. His cartel is accused of trafficking large quantities of drugs, such as synthetic opioid fentanyl, to the United States. According to US authorities, deaths from fentanyl overdoses exceeded 93,000 last year.
Gonzalez was also arrested in May 2018 but was released on bail a few months later.
Osegera’s daughter, Jessica Joanna Osegera Gonzalez, was arrested in February 2020 and pleaded guilty in a U.S. court in May to money laundering with Mexican companies accused of drug trafficking.
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