Brother of Slain Cartel Boss 'El Mencho' Sentenced to 22 and a Half Years in U.S. Prison

A federal judge in Washington on Friday sentenced Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, the older brother of the slain Mexican cartel boss known as "El Mencho," to 22 and a half years in prison, CBS News reported, citing the Justice Department. The Associated Press, in a report carried by ABC News, said the sentence of more than 22 years was for his role in a large trafficking conspiracy that moved cocaine and methamphetamine onto American streets.

Oseguera Cervantes goes by the nickname "Tony Montana," according to CBS News. The AP described him as a 68-year-old from the Mexican state of Michoacan, while CBS gave his age as 67. His brother, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, co-founded and ran the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG, one of the most violent criminal groups in Mexico.

According to the AP, Oseguera Cervantes pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine for import into the United States. CBS News reported that he also admitted to using, carrying and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that drug conspiracy.

Univision reported that the total term breaks down into 17 and a half years on the drug conspiracy and five more years on the weapons count. Prosecutors had asked for 30 years, and the defense had sought 20. The Guadalajara newspaper El Informador reported that U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell set the sentence below the government's request after taking into account his advanced age and poor health.

Prosecutors painted a picture of a long career in organized crime. As a leader of the Milenio Cartel, they said, he oversaw drug sales, defended the group's territory from rivals and supervised methamphetamine labs, according to the AP. Prosecutors said he later answered directly to his brother once El Mencho rose to lead the CJNG.

His road to a U.S. prison cell ran through a major handover by the Mexican government. The AP reported that Mexico sent him to American authorities last year along with other senior cartel figures. The Justice Department has said he was among 29 wanted cartel leaders taken into U.S. custody on Feb. 27, 2025. In a separate case tied to that same network, the department announced a 30-year prison sentence for a co-founder of the Los Cuinis drug cartel, a group linked to the CJNG.

El Mencho himself never saw an American courtroom. The AP reported that he was killed by the Mexican army in February. Fox News reported that the Feb. 22 operation in Tapalpa, in Jalisco state, had U.S. intelligence support, and that the State Department had offered up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest. Fox News also described the network he built as moving large amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.

The charges in Friday's case centered on cocaine and methamphetamine, not fentanyl. But the conviction strikes at the family that led the network Fox News described.

For families who have buried a son or daughter after an overdose, the names in a federal courtroom can feel far away. They are not. The drugs these organizations push north do not stop at the Rio Grande. They end up in small towns, suburbs and city blocks across the country, and the trade is backed by guns, as the firearm count Oseguera Cervantes admitted makes plain.

Some will ask why a man prosecutors wanted locked up for 30 years received 22 and a half. That is a fair question. Judges weigh age and health under the law, and Judge Howell did so here. Still, a man in his late 60s now faces a long federal sentence, and that sends a message to everyone else in the cartel's chain of command.

This sentence is what accountability looks like when two governments stop looking the other way. Mexico handed over dozens of wanted cartel figures in early 2025, and American prosecutors are now turning those transfers into convictions and prison terms. That pressure should continue.

Secure borders are not only about walls and patrols. They also depend on prosecutors who follow the money and the guns up the ladder, and on judges who put cartel leaders where they can no longer do harm. El Mencho is dead, his brother is going to prison, and the organization they built is under real strain. Washington should keep the heat on until the pipeline of poison into American neighborhoods is shut down for good.