Mexican cartel leader’s son is sentenced to life in prison for role in major drug trafficking plot

The son of a Mex­i­can drug car­tel boss has been sen­tenced to life in prison for his own lead­er­ship role in one of the coun­try’s largest and most vi­o­lent nar­cotics traf­fick­ing or­ga­ni­za­tions.

Rubén Os­eguera, known as El Men­chi­to, is the son of fugi­tive Jalis­co New Gen­er­a­tion car­tel boss Neme­sio Os­eguera. The son served as the CJNG car­tel’s sec­ond-in-com­mand be­fore his ex­tra­di­tion to the U.S. in Feb­ru­ary 2020.

The younger Os­eguera faced a max­i­mum sen­tence of life in prison and a manda­to­ry min­i­mum of 40 years in prison when U.S. Dis­trict Judge Beryl How­ell sen­tenced him in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. One of the 35-year-old Os­eguera’s de­fense at­tor­neys asked for a 40-year prison sen­tence, not­ing his client was on­ly 14 when he was re­cruit­ed to join his fam­i­ly’s drug traf­fick­ing op­er­a­tion.