“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
Rubén Oseguera, known as “El Menchito,” is the son of fugitive Jalisco New Generation cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera and served as the “CJNG” cartel’s second-in-command before his extradition to the U.S. in February 2020.
The younger Oseguera, who was born in California and holds dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 10 by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell.
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Prosecutors showed jurors a rifle bearing Oseguera’s nicknames, “Menchito” and “JR,” along with the cartel’s acronym. The gun was in his possession when he was arrested.
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During the trial’s closing arguments Thursday, Justice Department prosecutor Kaitlin Sahni described Oseguera as “a prince, an heir to an empire.”
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Jurors heard testimony from six cooperating witnesses who tied Oseguera to drug trafficking.
Defense attorney Anthony Colombo tried to attack the witnesses’ credibility and motives, calling them “sociopaths” who told self-serving lies about his client.
“They’re all pathological liars,” he said.
Jurors also saw coded BlackBerry messages that Oseguera exchanged with other cartel leaders and underlings. One exchange showed that Oseguera was offended when his uncle mocked his cocaine’s purity, Sahni said.
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“The defendant was proud of the cocaine he was distributing,” she added.
Columbo argued that prosecutors didn’t present sufficient evidence that the CJNG cartel trafficked drugs in the U.S.
“Ten years and not one seizure,” he said. “There’s no proof that it was coming to the U.S.”
But prosecutors said Oseguera used increasingly extreme acts of violence to maintain his family’s power over a global drug trafficking operation, including in the U.S.
“The defendant decided who he worked with and who worked for him,” another prosecutor, Kate Naseef, told jurors.