José de Jesús Méndez Vargas (born 28 February 1974), commonly referred to by his alias El Chango ("The Ape"), is a Mexican
drug lord and former leader of the now disbanded
La Familia drug cartel, headquartered in the state of
Michoacán
Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...
.
Méndez took control of the cartel after its former leader,
Nazario Moreno, was allegedly killed in a shootout with
Mexican Federal Police on December 9, 2010. His protection was the responsibility of twelve gunmen he called the "Twelve Apostles". His leadership, however, was disputed by
Servando Gómez Martínez and
Enrique Plancarte Solís who left the organization and formed the
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...
. He be arrested on June 21, 2011.
He was eventually extradited to the United States on February 27, 2025.
Kingpin Act sanction
On 25 February 2010, the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments.
...
sanctioned Méndez under the
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in drug trafficking along with twenty-one other international criminals and ten foreign entities. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.
Arrest
Méndez was captured at a road checkpoint on June 21, 2011 by Mexican Federal police in the state of
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...
.
The Mexican government had offered a $30 million pesos (US$2.1 million) bounty for information leading to Méndez's capture. On 8 April 2014, a Mexican federal court rejected Méndez's
writ of amparo (equivalent to an
injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
) to prevent his extradition to the United States, where he is wanted in a New York federal court for drug trafficking offenses.
Extradition to the United States
On 27 February 2025, Méndez along with 28 other narco figures were extradited to the United States.
See also
*
War on Drugs
*
Mexican drug war
The Mexican drug war is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric armed conflict between the Federal government of Mexico, Mexican government and various Drug cartel#Mexico, drug trafficking syndicates. When the ...
*
Mérida Initiative
*
List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords
References
External links
Mexico captures top drug cartel leader—
CNN on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
(Video)
Living people
La Familia Michoacana traffickers
Mexican crime bosses
People of the Mexican Drug War
Mexican drug traffickers
Mexican people convicted of money laundering
Mexican prisoners and detainees
1974 births
People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
People from Michoacán
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