“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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A former member of the Sinaloa Cartel has identified Rubén Oseguera González, “El Menchito,” as the second in command of the CJNG, answering only to his father, El Mencho, during the second week of his trial.
José Antonio Torres Marrufo was the head of hitmen Gente Nueva for the Sinaloa cartel in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. They called him “El Jaguar.”
During his testimony he said that in 2010 he had a meeting with the CJNG, to negotiate joint trafficking work. The meeting took place in a cabin in Tapalpa, Jalisco. “Mencho, Menchito and all the people from their team were there (…) A commander from the Federal Police and Beto Ureña, alias Peludo.”
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“El Menchito” was “someone with an important role, second to his father de El [Mencho]…” Marrufo said that it was at that meeting where it was agreed to allow the CJNG to traffic drugs to the United States via Juarez so long as no trace is left in the plaza.
During this meeting, the possibility of collaborating on the trafficking of methamphetamine through Juárez to El Paso, Texas and on to Atlanta, Georgia was discussed.
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Torres Marrufo, also detailed that in the meeting he saw men armed with M16 rifles and grenade launchers, which he requested obtaining these weapons as well and received them a week later in Agua Prieta, Sonora.
The witness also reported that, after that first collaboration, he continued acquiring cocaine shipments from the CJNG, although the collaboration did not last due to his arrest in February 2012. However, their paths crossed again in the Federal Prison of Oaxaca in 2015, where both remained inmates until 2018. During his stay, he claims that “El Menchito” continued buying weapons through a lawyer who visited him daily.
El Menchito’s defense questioned the need to continue operating arms trafficking from prison. The witness explained that this was done so that Oseguera González could verify the quality and type of weapons. Torres Marrufo also commented that he and “El Menchito” listened to a corrido that had been composed for him after the downing of a Mexican Air Force plane in Villa Purificación, Jalisco, in 2015.