This is how El Pilo, an enemy of El Mencho, became a DEA collaborator and now seeks to sink the CJNG

Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Illustration: Infobae Mexico)

Elpidio Mojarro Ramírez has emerged as a relevant figure in the investigations against the leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). El Pilo, as he is also known, is one of the main enemies of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, a fact that was established when he appeared before the United States court to testify against Gerardo González Valencia, alias El Flaco, former leader of Los Cuinis and brother-in-law of his archrival.

El Pilo’s cooperation resulted in the conviction of El Flaco, who was identified as a key financial operator for the CJNG and responsible for the murder of his brother-in-law, Domingo Mendoza Sandoval.

In his career in organized crime, El Pilo initially joined the Milenio Cartel, in service to the Sinaloa Cartel. His career took a significant turn in 2010 after the death of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, alias Nacho Coronel, during an operation in Zapopan, Jalisco.

The brother-in-law of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Gerardo González Valencia. (Photo: Infobae Mexico / Jovany Pérez)

The resulting power vacuum led to the formation of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and Erick Valencia Salazar, while Mojarro Ramírez founded the rival group La Resistencia.

Amid the territorial dispute between the CJNG and La Resistencia, Mojarro sought support from Los Zetas to control the Pacific drug route, especially in the port of Manzanillo. However, El Mencho’s hegemony prevailed. The arrest in 2012 of Benjamín Mojarro Ramírez, his younger brother, represented a significant blow to his organization.

After years of operating under a low profile, his name reappeared in 2021 when Mexican authorities seized more than two tons of cocaine linked to him.

Nemesio Oceguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, leader of the CJNG Photo: DEA

Despite his attempts to continue his criminal career without the support of the Milenio Cartel, bad luck followed him. After several failed cocaine transports and the downing of an aircraft carrying more than a ton of the substance, El Pilo found himself surrounded by the US.

Although it is not clear whether he turned himself in or was arrested, it was in February 2018 when Mojarro Ramírez saw his freedom thwarted. Not even a day had passed since his arrest and he had already renounced his right to a hearing with the sole objective of beginning to negotiate his cooperation with the US authorities, according to a report published by Milenio.

Aware that his life is in danger both inside and outside of drug trafficking, Mojarro Ramírez chose to collaborate with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a last attempt to save his life and obtain some kind of protection.

According to the aforementioned media, since his arrest El Pilo has cooperated with US authorities, which has allowed him to avoid charges and live under the protection of the US government.

El Menchito is about to face trial. (Jovani Pérez | Infobae Mexico)

His testimony has become especially relevant with the impending trial of Rubén Oseguera González, known as El Menchito, son of El Mencho. It is here that El Pilo’s voice could play a crucial role in the narrative against the CJNG, the empire of his archrival.

El Pilo is currently under protection and free of charges, which has allowed him to provide valuable information about the CJNG.

With El Menchito’s trial looming, El Pilo could be the key witness authorities need to further weaken one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world, and the second most important in Mexico behind only the Sinaloa Cartel.

The trial of El Mencho’s son, who faces charges of drug trafficking and firearms possession, is scheduled for September of this year in the District Court of the District of Columbia.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that El Pilo’s own discretion had prevented us from having a clear image of him, however, Milenio had access to a photograph that finally gives a face to the name. In the image you can see a white-skinned man, 67 years old, bald, with a goatee-shaped beard and completely gray, wearing a black dress shirt.