US government and survivors of Bavispe cartel massacre dispute $1.2 million property seized from El Mencho’s son-in-law

Bills bearing Benjamin Franklin’s portrait were stacked one on top of another until they totaled $1.2 million. The cash was counted on a table to buy a luxury residence in an exclusive neighborhood of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. From the outset, the homeowner and the real estate agent suspected that a drug trafficker might be behind that mountain of money. Still, they closed the deal. They were, it turned out, correct: the mansion became the hideout of two figures tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Now the residence is at the center of a legal battle between the U.S. government, which seized it, and victims of a massacre in Mexico seeking compensation for what they suffered.

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