CJNG Co-Founder Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Conspiracy

Erick Valencia Salazar, a 49-year-old resident of Santa Clara, California, and co-founder of Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., to conspiring to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine for importation into the United States. The plea, entered before Chief Judge James E. Boasberg, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment. Sentencing is set for July 31.

Valencia Salazar, known by the alias "El 85," helped establish the cartel, or CJNG, alongside Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," who led the organization until his death in a confrontation with Mexican forces in February. Before forming CJNG, Valencia Salazar was a member of the Milenio Cartel, where he supplied gunmen with rifles such as AK-47s and AR-15s for use in conflicts with rivals. Within CJNG, he oversaw hundreds of members, handling recruitment, gathering intelligence on competing groups and trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine toward the U.S. market.

Prosecutors described his contributions as central to the cartel's expansion into one of Mexico's most violent criminal...