Notorious cartel leader “El Mencho” is buried in a golden casket in Mexico

The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was buried Monday in a shiny golden casket with enormous flower wreaths and a large military presence in the state that gave name to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels.

A federal official confirmed that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” was buried in a cemetery in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. Dozens of people accompanied the funeral procession, many carrying black umbrellas on a sunny day and with a band playing Mexican regional music known as banda.

The official who discussed the location requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. The Attorney General’s Office declined to confirm the location of El Mencho’s burial for “security reasons.”

There had been stepped up security since Sunday around a funeral home where large flower wreaths had been arriving without a name. Some did include the image of a rooster in flowers and Oseguera Cervantes was sometimes called the “Lord of the Roosters.”

Almost all of the flowers were sent anonymously. There were so many that five trucks were required to take them to the cemetery, a local journalist told AFP. Earlier, eight people in black, presumably Oseguera’s family members, rode in two cars that followed the white hearse with his remains to the graveyard.

The Mexican army killed Oseguera Cervantes just over a week ago while attempting to capture him. Oseguera Cervantes, who had a $15 million U.S. bounty on his head, died from multiple bullet wounds, according to the death certificate obtained by The Associated Press.

A crucifix, religious candles and a handwritten psalm were found in Oseguera Cervante’s home after the operation.  Mexican authorities said they tracked one of his romantic partners to the hideout.  

The killing set off violence in some 20 states. The death certificate fits with a description of the operation to capture Oseguera Cervantes given by Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla, who had said that the cartel leader and two bodyguards had been badly wounded in a gunfight with soldiers outside a home in Tapalpa, Jalisco. The three died en route to a hospital.

The certificate specified that Oseguera Cervantes had bullet wounds to his chest, abdomen and legs.

His body was taken to Mexico City where an autopsy was performed and then the body was turned over to his family on Saturday, the Attorney General’s Office said in a brief statement.

The death certificate also notes that Oseguera Cervantes was to be buried, standard practice in cases of violent deaths to allow for additional forensic evidence to be gathered if needed in the future. The document did not say where the burial would take place.

Authorities’ security concerns surrounding the burial location are well founded. Oseguera Cervantes’ killing set off retaliation by the cartel in numerous states. More than 70 people died between the military operation and the violence that followed. The government has said that security operations continue against other high-ranking members of the cartel.

It customary for an air of mystery to surround the burials of drug lords in Mexico, something their supporters take advantage of to try to elevate them to legend. Within hours of El Mencho’s death there were already ballads, known as narcocorridos, written about his killing.

In Culiacan, in neighboring Sinaloa state, home to a cartel of the same name, there is a cemetery known for its luxury crypts and mausoleums for one-time kingpins like Ignacio Coronel – an old associate of El Mencho – and Arturo Beltrán Leyva.

There was the drug lord who was famously killed twice, Nazario Moreno, leader of the violent and pseudo religious Knights Templar cartel who authorities said was killed in 2010 only to kill him for real in 2014.

Sometimes the bodies disappear, like in the case of Heriberto Lazcano, leader of the fearsome Zetas, whose body was stolen in 2012. Or they die under bizarre circumstances, like Amado Carrillo Fuentes, “Lord of the Skies,” who died in a botched plastic surgery.