The landscape of Mexico’s drug wars has shifted violently this week following the death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the long-elusive leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). As the smoke clears from a high-stakes military operation in Jalisco, all eyes have turned to his rumored successor: Juan Carlos Valencia González, a 41-year-old dual citizen born and raised in Santa Ana, California.
From Orange County to the “Elite Group”
Valencia González, known by aliases like “El Pelón,” “Tricky Tres,” and “O3,” was born in Santa Ana in 1984. While he is the stepson of the late El Mencho, his criminal lineage runs even deeper; he is the biological son of Armando Valencia Cornelio, the former head of the Milenio Cartel…