MEXICO CITY (AP) — Like many drug lords, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes kept a low profile until he was killed by the Mexican army Sunday in the western state of Jalisco.
Despite building one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations over two decades, the only known photographs of the known as “El Mencho” come from his earlier arrests on robbery and drug charges in California in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Mexican army killed Oseguera Cervantes Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco state, as special forces attempted to capture him.
Oseguera Cervantes, 59, was originally from the farming community of El Naranjo, in the neighboring state of Michoacan.
He was born Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, but for unknown reasons later added Nemesio, the origin of his nickname “El Mencho,” said Carlos Flores, a researcher with the Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology.
When he was young, Oseguera Cervantes migrated to the United States and settled in California. There he married into the “Cuinis” gang led by his new brother-in-law, Abigael González Valencia, also known as “El Cuini.”
After serving three years in prison for heroin trafficking, Oseguera Cervantes was deported to Mexico. Back in Michoacan, he began working more closely with “Los Cuinis,” which were tied to drug lord Armando Valencia Cornelio, alias “El Maradona,” leader of the now defunct Milenio cartel.
That’s when in the 1990s, Oseguera Cervantes “was in contact with a significant organization” that trafficked cocaine with Colombians and had ties to traffickers in Sinaloa state, Flores said. He began working as a gunman for Valencia Cornelio.
As conflict grew with other groups in Michoacan, Valencia Cornelio and González Valencia moved their operations to Jalisco and strengthened their relationship with Sinaloan drug traffickers.
After Valencia Cornelio’s arrest in 2003, González Valencia’s crew and Oseguera Cervantes began to work for Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, a finance operator for the Sinaloa Cartel and associate of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the former cartel leader now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Óscar Nava Valencia took control of the Milenio cartel and they became the enforcers for the Sinaloa Cartel against the hyperviolent Zetas.
In an example of how taking out cartel leaders can generate more gangs, Nava Valencia’s capture in 2009 and the Mexican military’s killing of Coronel a year later, deepened divisions within the organization. A faction led by Oseguera Cervantes joined with Erik Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85,” to form the Jalisco New Generation Cartel around 2009.
In less than two decades, Oseguera Cervantes consolidated a powerful criminal organization with thousands of members, that according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, has a presence in 21 of Mexico’s 32 states. Mexican authorities say the cartel operates in 36 countries.
Flores attributed that rapid growth to various factors, including the security policies of former President Enrique Peña Nieto that weakened the Sinaloa Cartel, including the final capture of Guzmán and his extradition to the U.S. That opened more space for the Jalisco cartel to expand.
The cartel’s growth alarmed the United States. In May 2016, it added Oseguera Cervantes to its most wanted list. Two years later, the U.S. State Department offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest. In 2024, they raised it to $15 million. Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and five other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Flores said that even with a secondary education, Oseguera Cervantes had the savvy and intelligence to build an organization that had the support of local and federal officials, and that diversified beyond drug trafficking into extortion, real estate, fuel theft and other businesses.
As his death demonstrated, he also had “a capacity for violent action” that helped him build his empire, Flores said.
Trees and buildings dot Tapalpa, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, a day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho." (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A burned vehicle blocks a road leading to Tapalpa, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, a day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho."(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Newspapers hang on display for sale in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, a day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho." (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The disappearance of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother three weeks ago has inspired a small number of volunteers to launch their own searches in the dense desert near her home in hopes of cracking the case.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said while it appreciates the concern for Nancy Guthrie, it asked people inquiring about volunteering to give investigators space to do their jobs.
“We all want to find Nancy, but this work is best left to professionals,” the agency said in a statement over the weekend.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home just outside Tucson on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities believe she was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will. Drops of her blood were found on the front porch, but authorities haven't publicly revealed much evidence.
Despite the sheriff's request for people not to search on their own, volunteers have continued to look. A small group reported finding a black backpack on Sunday, but it wasn't the same brand as one identified in video surveillance that the FBI released of a masked person at Guthrie's home the night she disappeared.
A sheriff's spokesperson told Tucson television station KOLD that the bag and its contents didn’t appear to be viable leads. The Associated Press reached out to the sheriff’s department for comment on Monday.
Two women from the group Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, or “Searching Mothers of Sonora,” who were carrying digging tools Sunday outside of Guthrie’s home, said they, too, would join the search. They posted fliers on Guthrie’s mailbox with her picture and their contact information.
Lupita Tello, who joined the group after her son disappeared in Mexico in 2020, said Monday she and two other volunteers will continue to post flyers on bus stops and utility poles near Nancy Guthrie's home. Members of the group plan to do the same in Nogales, Mexico.
She said the group was contacted by a friend of one of Nancy Guthrie's daughters who asked them for help because of their experience. The group has found the remains of more than 5,000 people in Mexico since it was started 10 years ago by mothers with missing children.
“We know the soil. We know when someone has dug deep or when there is a shallow grave,” Tello said. “We hope we can help because we understand the pain of having a missing relative.”
She said group members have received training by Mexican forensic experts on how to conduct their searches.
The sheriff’s department said in a statement late Monday that it’s aware of differences in the masked person’s clothing depicted in various images that were released, namely with and without a backpack.
“There is no date or time stamp associated with these images,” the department said. “Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”
Tony Estrada, the former long-time sheriff in neighboring Santa Cruz County, said volunteer searchers have good intentions in wanting to help and can serve as a force multiplier, but it’s crucial that their efforts be coordinated with law enforcement.
“You can’t have people all over the place looking for something and not reporting to anybody or letting them know that they’re going to be in that area,” Estrada said. “They may be trampling into things that may come out to be helpful in the future.”
Nearly all search operations for U.S. law enforcement agencies are staffed with volunteers, said Chris Boyer, executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue.
Untrained volunteers who show up to help in a search may mean well, but experts say they could end up contaminating a crime scene.
“It’s painful for law enforcement when that happens,” Boyer said.
Volunteers should undergo background checks, be trained in things like administering first aid and preserving crime scenes, and work under the direction of law enforcement authorities, said Boyer, whose group provides education, certification and advocacy for search and rescue efforts across the United States and other countries.
Several hundred people are working the Guthrie investigation, and more than 20,000 tips have been received, the sheriff's office has said. The FBI and other agencies are assisting.
The sheriff's office has watched around the clock lately at Guthrie's house. It also enacted a temporary one-way flow on the road so that emergency vehicles and trash collection trucks could get through. The constant presence of news crews, bloggers and curious onlookers has drawn mixed reaction from neighbors.
Some appreciated the attention the case has been getting. Others have placed traffic cones and signs on their properties to keep people off.
Meanwhile, the tribute to Nancy Guthrie outside her home keeps growing, with flowers, yellow ribbons, crosses, prayers and patron saints for older adults and in desperate situations.
Aran Aleamoni and his daughter Ariana picked out a bouquet of red, pink and white flowers and placed them at the edge of Guthrie’s yard, alongside a sign that read “Let Nancy Come Home” and a statuette of an angel.
“My heart goes out to the entire family,” said Aran Aleamoni, who has known the Guthrie family for a long time. “We are all pulling for you. We’re with you in your corner.”
Billeaud reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Olga R. Rodríguez in San Francisco contributed to this story.
Neighbors walk by a growing memorial for Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, outside her home in Tucson, Ariz., Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)
A hand-painted pot is part of a growing memorial outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)
A memorial grows outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)
A memorial grows outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)
A memorial grows outside the home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, in Tucson, Ariz., Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)
