A major bust by U.S. drug authorities targeting Mexico's fastest-growing gang will likely do little to stem the rise of the ultraviolent Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and its shadowy leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias 'El Mencho.'
Over the past decade, Oseguera, a 53-year-old former policeman, has masterminded the CJNG's emergence as a criminal empire spanning five continents and a rival to the Sinaloa Cartel of captured kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, now in a U.S. prison.
From the swathes of Mexico's western Jalisco state that he controls, Oseguera is accused of flooding U.S. streets with synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and fentanyl, that cause tens of thousands of deaths every year.