Mexican cartel leader who faked death arrested in California

A high-ranking Mexican cartel leader who faked his death was arrested in California, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, 37, was arrested in Riverside, Calif. on Tuesday, the feds said. He was charged with international drug trafficking and money laundering.

He had been living under a phony identity.

Gutierrez-Ochoa, who is known as Gaucho, is a member of the Jalisco New Generation cartel and the son-in-law of the cartel’s leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes. The State Department is offering $10 million for information that leads to Cervantes’ capture.

Prosecutors allege Gutierrez-Ochoa faked his death to evade Mexican authorities, and went to the U.S. to be with his wife and to conduct cartel distribution stateside. El Mencho assisted by spreading gossip that Gutierrez-Ochoa had been killed by the cartel for lying.

“Defeating the two cartels responsible for the deadly drug crisis in the United States is the Drug Enforcement Administration’s top operational priority, and with the arrest of Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, we are much closer,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.