After Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the feared leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), dies, a high-stakes guessing game has begun: Who will inherit the throne of Mexico’s most violent criminal empire? Although constructed by a paramilitary structure, the focus has turned to the eldest daughter of El Mencho, Jessica Johanna Oseguera González, or “La Negra,” in Spanish.
Her rise as a U.S.-born, market-savvy finance graduate suggests she is entering a new, more corporate era for the cartel — or she will catalyze a bloody civil war.
Who is Jessica Johanna Oseguera?
39-year-old Jessica Johanna was born in San Francisco, California, and has dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship. Unlike her father who worked from the shadows of the Jalisco mountains, Jessica was educated in the United States and then graduated with a degree in marketing from a university in Guadalajara.
She became internationally famous after being arrested in February 2020 in Washington, D.C., where she tried to attend the trial of her brother, "El Menchito." She eventually faced a sentence of 30 months in prison for violating the Kingpin Act by running businesses, such as sushi restaurants, and a brand of tequila, that were front groups for the CJNG’s money-laundering operations.
Released in early 2022, she's thought to have come back to Mexico, where deep knowledge of the cartel's multi-billion-dollar financial structure makes her a potentially powerful leader.
The Internal Rivals: 'El R-3' and the Inner Circle
Although Jessica serves as the “financial brain” of the family, she also faces stiff competition from the cartel’s military branch. His name is commonly referred to as El Mencho’s stepson but he has long held a top-most rank in the CJNG, leading elite hit squads and regional operations in Michoacán and Guanajuato. Other potential successors are:
Audias Flores Silva (El Jardinero): A senior lieutenant coordinating the cartel’s activities along the Pacific Coast with a $5 million bounty in the United States on his head. Ricardo Ruiz Velasco (El Doble R): The head of the cartel’s “Elite Group,” behind the viral propaganda videos showing the group’s paramilitary hardware.
The Fragmentation Threat. Death of a "maximum leader" like El Mencho almost never equates to smooth transition. Security analysts caution that the CJNG, which runs operations in more than 20 Mexican states and on multiple continents, could splinter into warring factions. If Jessica Johanna tries to take control though, she may run into resistance on the part of “old school” commanders who prioritize fighting experience over good finances.
Or some experts propose a “Board of Directors” model, with Jessica overseeing global logistics and money laundering while commanders such as El R-3 deal with territorial combat. No matter who takes the helm, the Trump administration and the Sheinbaum government have made it clear: the pressure won’t stop after El Mencho’s death. A search for his successor has already started.
