José González Valencia, alias El Chepa, one of the leaders and founders of Los Cuinis, a Mexican cartel that worked alongside the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a financial arm, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in December 2022 to trafficking cocaine to the United States.
According to investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), along with his brothers Abigael and Gerardo, El Cuini and Lalo directed the Los Cuinis operation from at least 2006 to 2016, shipping tons of Colombian cocaine to the United States and Europe.
The drugs were shipped by air or sea from Colombia to Mexico, where transportation to the United States was then arranged. The DEA seized some of the shipments used to build the case against Los Cuinis.
“For example, in approximately 2007, the defendant and others invested in a shipment of at least 4,000 kilos of cocaine that the defendant knew would be transported from Colombia to Guatemala using a semi-submersible vessel and then sent to Mexico by speedboat for eventual transport to the United States,” the US government claims.
Chepa was arrested in Brazil in 2017 and extradited to the United States in 2021 to face drug trafficking charges, after which he negotiated a plea deal and eventually cooperated with authorities.
“As one of the top leaders of Los Cuinis, José González Valencia ordered acts of extreme violence for his drug trafficking activities, including the murder of an individual who allegedly stole a shipment of approximately 1,000 kilos of cocaine from Los Cuinis, according to court documents. José González Valencia personally carried firearms for his drug trafficking activities and provided firearms and ammunition to the CJNG,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated regarding the sentencing of the former Cuini leader.
He was scheduled to testify against Rubén Oseguera González, alias El Menchito, son of Jalisco Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, however, his participation was canceled without explanation, according to sources close to the case.
