Feds indict CJNG leader eyed as cartel successor after El Mencho’s death

A federal grand jury in Washington has returned a superseding indictment against a high-ranking leader of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, expanding drug trafficking and money laundering charges against a man prosecutors say was reportedly considered a potential successor to the violent Mexican cartel following the death of its longtime chief.

Audias Flores Silva, 45, a Mexican national known as “Jardinero,” was first indicted in August 2020 on charges of trafficking cocaine and heroin into the United States. The new indictment, filed in the District of Columbia, adds allegations that he also trafficked methamphetamine and conspired to launder drug proceeds from the U.S. back to Mexico, the Justice Department said.

Mexican authorities captured Flores Silva on April 27. Before his arrest, he was reportedly considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the former CJNG leader who died following a military operation to capture him in February 2026. The State Department designated the CJNG a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025.

Flores Silva faces charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine for importation into the United States, use of a firearm — including a destructive device — in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and money laundering conspiracy. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said the charges reflect the department’s mission to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations “at every level, targeting their leadership, financing and operations.” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said Flores Silva believed he would assume control of the CJNG following El Mencho’s death, adding that the indictment demonstrates “the combined strength of DEA and the Homeland Security Task Force in dismantling the command and control structures of the cartels.” Cole credited Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy with taking Flores Silva into custody.

The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit and is being prosecuted by trial attorneys from the Justice Department’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided assistance.

The prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established under Executive Order 14159, which the Justice Department described as a whole-of-government partnership aimed at dismantling criminal cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations operating in the United States and abroad.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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