Made Man From CJNG Arrested In Riverside, California

Cristian Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa, 37, a high ranking operator of the feared Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion was arrested in a posh Riverside, California, neighborhood yesterday, November 21, 2024. In the midst of a feuding Sinaloa Cartel network, the CJNG had been relatively low profile in the past months, but that seems to have changed with what likely required extensive Mexico-US law enforcement cooperation.

Socal- Riverside-Los Angeles Corridor

As most in real estate say in an almost comically stereotypical manner, “location”, “location, as many covet the SoCal highways for their quick ability to get northbound to important regional markets, like Las Vegas, San Francisco, Phoenix and more northward towards Chicago, with precious American demanded drugs and logistical operators for these multinational trafficking organizations.

Gutierrez Ochoa is notable for being the son-in-law of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantez alias “El Mencho”, the head of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. In 2021, Gutierrez Ochoa also kidnapped a group of Marines and held them ransom in exchange for the liberation of Oseguera Cervantez’ wife. The plan ultimately did not work out and the soldiers were eventually located on the side of a major highway mostly unhurt.

Nevertheless, the CJNG’s leadership has retained the ire of the Mexican government due to two key events. The first is the assassination attempt (and wounding) of the current head of all security forces, Omar Garcia Harfuch, who in 2020 suffered the attempt, but quickly rebounded the next day openly declaring war on the group.

Additionally, the trafficking of Fentanyl has led to a major diplomatic row between the US, Mexican and Chinese governments, with the issue figuring central in the American elections. All of this has made them enemy number 1 in Mexico, with the most probably case being that Mexico’s government provided key information to the United States, particularly, when most intelligence experts acknowledge that CJNG as well as key factions of the Sinaloa Cartel derive most of their profits from their fentanyl exports.