What El Mencho's Death Just Uncovered About Iran's Secret Foothold in America
A new Pentagon task force is racing to map the full scope of cartel networks that have spent nearly two decades forging operational ties with Iranian-backed militants — connections under renewed scrutiny as Iran’s proxy militias rejoin the fight following devastating American-Israeli strikes on Tehran.
The February 22 killing of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, in a Mexican military operation assisted by American intelligence represents the first major success for the new Joint Interagency Task Force Counter-Cartel, launched a mere 38 days earlier at Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona.
The raid that ended El Mencho’s reign exposed a complex threat that officials say has been maturing for years. The new counter-cartel effort, known as the Joint Interagency Task Force Counter-Cartel, brings together analysts from the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement under military intelligence officer and Air Force Brigadier General Maurizio Calabrese.
The task force’s mission is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations threatening the United States. That includes heading off joint operations between Mexican drug cartels and Mideast terror groups like Hezbollah.
