El Mencho’s Most Trusted Soldier Became His Worst Enemy – El 85

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In the violent and secretive world of Mexican organized crime, loyalty is both a currency and a liability. Few stories illustrate this paradox more clearly than that of Eric Valencia Salazar, the man once known across the underworld simply as L85. For years, he was one of the most trusted commanders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), working alongside its infamous leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho.

Yet Valencia Salazar’s story did not end in glory or retirement. Instead, it ended in betrayal, manhunts, and extradition. The very organization he helped build eventually turned against him, viewing his knowledge of its inner workings as too dangerous to ignore. His rise and fall reveal how power operates inside modern cartels—and how quickly trust can become a death sentence.

Early Life and the Path Into Organized Crime

Official records provide only a fragmented picture of Valencia Salazar’s early life. According to government documents, he was born on March 11, 1977, in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco in western Mexico. However, some filings suggest a different birth year, possibly 1982, highlighting how even basic details of cartel figures can become obscured by aliases and misinformation.

His legal identity was complicated by a long list of alternative names. Authorities have linked him to identities such as Saul Ulloa Cuevas and Eric Valencia Cornelio, though it was his operational nickname—L85—that became infamous.

Unlike many cartel figures whose criminal careers begin with documented violence in their teenage years, Valencia Salazar’s early path remains largely undocumented. The first clear reference to him in law enforcement files appears in 2007, when investigators connected him to an ephedrine-smuggling operation. Ephedrine is a chemical precursor used in the production of methamphetamine, a drug that would later become central to the CJNG’s global trafficking network.

By the late 2000s, Valencia Salazar had entered the ranks of the Millenio Cartel, one of the most influential drug trafficking organizations operating in western Mexico at the time.

Rise Within the Millenio Cartel

Inside the Millenio Cartel, Valencia Salazar gained a reputation not as a reckless gunman but as a skilled logistics coordinator. While others focused on enforcement and territorial control, he specialized in managing supply chains—arguably the most important component of any large criminal enterprise.

Investigators believe he helped coordinate shipments of cocaine originating in Colombia while simultaneously arranging the importation of precursor chemicals from China. These chemicals were used in clandestine laboratories across western Mexico to produce synthetic drugs destined for the United States and beyond.

As arrests and internal conflicts weakened the Millenio Cartel in the late 2000s, the organization fractured. Rival factions emerged, each attempting to seize control of key trafficking routes.

One of those factions would soon become one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere.

The Birth of CJNG

Around 2010, a group of former Millenio operators—led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes—formed a new cartel known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Valencia Salazar stood among the founding members of this new group.

From the beginning, CJNG distinguished itself through a combination of ruthless violence and sophisticated logistics. While rival organizations were bogged down in internal conflicts, CJNG rapidly expanded across western Mexico.

Within this structure, Valencia Salazar became one of the cartel’s key regional commanders. Authorities later described him as a strategic architect of the group’s early operations.

His responsibilities included:

Overseeing cocaine shipments from South America

Managing chemical supply chains for methamphetamine production

Coordinating distribution routes through western Mexico

Enforcing discipline among CJNG’s expanding network of operators

He also reportedly led a paramilitary enforcement unit known as Los Matazetas, which specialized in eliminating rival cartel members and suspected informants.

The group’s operations extended from the streets of Guadalajara to hidden laboratories in rural mountain regions.

For several years, Valencia Salazar was widely regarded as one of the most reliable and trusted figures inside the organization.

Arrest and Immediate Cartel Retaliation

On March 3, 2012, Mexican authorities struck a major blow against CJNG when the Mexican Army raided a safe house in Zapopan, a city within the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

Valencia Salazar was captured during the operation.

The arrest quickly triggered a violent response.

Within hours, CJNG operatives launched coordinated attacks across Jalisco and neighboring Michoacán. Gunmen hijacked buses, set vehicles on fire, and blocked highways, creating chaos in major urban centers.

These tactics—known as narco-blockades—were designed to overwhelm law enforcement and demonstrate the cartel’s ability to paralyze entire cities.

At least three civilians were killed during the unrest, and authorities detained more than a dozen suspects in the aftermath.

For CJNG, Valencia Salazar’s capture was not just a tactical loss. It threatened to expose critical operational secrets.

Investigators seized encrypted phones, weapons, financial records, and digital communication logs that could potentially map the cartel’s entire logistics network.

Prison and the Seeds of Betrayal

Valencia Salazar remained imprisoned for five years. During that time, CJNG continued to grow under the leadership of El Mencho.

But when Valencia Salazar was unexpectedly released on December 29, 2017, the landscape had changed.

The cartel he helped build had evolved into a massive criminal enterprise with tens of thousands of operatives and operations spanning multiple continents.

Yet his return did not result in a warm reunion.

Instead, rumors began circulating in the criminal underworld that Valencia Salazar was meeting with former associates and rival networks.

Soon, intelligence agencies began detecting shifts in trafficking routes that once belonged to CJNG.

Shipments were being redirected. Plaza bosses were changing loyalties. Old alliances were being quietly reactivated.

It became clear that Valencia Salazar was building something new.

Creation of the Nueva Plaza Cartel

By early 2018, Valencia Salazar had officially broken away from CJNG and formed a rival organization known as the Nueva Plaza Cartel.

The new group quickly gained traction in parts of Guadalajara, recruiting former CJNG operators and forging alliances with elements connected to the Sinaloa Cartel.

For CJNG, this development represented a worst-case scenario.

Valencia Salazar possessed intimate knowledge of:

Safe house locations

Communication systems

Financial channels

Internal command structures

Drug trafficking routes

In other words, he knew exactly how the cartel worked—and exactly how to disrupt it.

Violence escalated across western Mexico as the two factions clashed for control of territory.

Homicide rates surged, and local authorities struggled to contain the conflict.

A Manhunt Across Mexico

In 2018, the United States Department of State placed a $5 million reward on Valencia Salazar’s capture.

The announcement signaled that he had become one of the most wanted cartel fugitives in the hemisphere.

Multiple forces began hunting him simultaneously:

Mexican federal authorities

United States intelligence agencies

Rival cartels

Former CJNG allies seeking revenge

For several years, Valencia Salazar managed to evade capture through sophisticated counter-surveillance tactics.

Investigators tracked burner phones, financial transfers, and suspected safe houses across multiple states. Sightings were reported in towns like Talpa de Allende and Mazamitla, but each lead ended the same way—he vanished before authorities arrived.

In the cartel world, survival often depends on paranoia.

Valencia Salazar had plenty of reason to distrust everyone around him.

Capture and Extradition

The manhunt finally ended on September 4, 2022.

Mexican federal forces surrounded a safe house in Tapalpa, another mountainous town in Jalisco.

Inside, they found Valencia Salazar along with armed guards, encrypted phones, and large amounts of cash.

This time, he did not attempt to flee.

He surrendered without resistance.

His lawyers immediately filed legal motions to block extradition to the United States, but those efforts failed. After spending more than two years in Mexican custody, he was finally transferred to U.S. authorities.

On February 27, 2025, Valencia Salazar was extradited to the United States to face charges related to drug trafficking and organized crime.

The man who once commanded cartel convoys now appeared in court as a defendant.

The Aftermath Inside CJNG

Valencia Salazar’s capture triggered immediate changes within CJNG.

The cartel redistributed control of the territories he once oversaw and absorbed the remaining elements of the Nueva Plaza Cartel.

Leadership responsibilities shifted to other commanders, including figures such as Luis Gómez, who reportedly took control of strategic corridors around Guadalajara.

Meanwhile, CJNG adjusted its trafficking operations.

With the disruption of certain chemical supply chains, the cartel increased its reliance on maritime cocaine shipments through the Pacific port of Manzanillo Port.

Analysts observed that the organization continued expanding into other revenue streams, including fuel theft and cyber extortion.

These changes demonstrated a key characteristic of modern cartels: resilience.

Even when major figures are removed, the system often adapts and continues operating.

A Lesson in Cartel Power

The story of Eric Valencia Salazar highlights a brutal reality about organized crime.

In the cartel world, power is temporary, and loyalty has limits.

The same skills that once made him indispensable—his knowledge of logistics, safe houses, and internal command structures—eventually made him too dangerous to trust.

For CJNG, eliminating or capturing him was not just revenge.

It was a matter of survival.

Today, the cartel continues to operate as one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world.

But the paranoia that consumed Valencia Salazar’s final years still lingers within its ranks.

Inside CJNG, every promotion brings greater power—and greater risk.

Because in an empire built on secrecy and violence, the people who know the most are often the ones who live the shortest lives.