Gilberto García Mena (born 1954), also known as El June, is a Mexican convicted drug lord and former high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

[4] García Mena rose to prominence during the 1970s by controlling the drug trade in La Frontera Chica region, which includes the U.S.-border municipalities of Miguel Alemán, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Camargo, Mier, and Guerrero.

[b][11] On 12 June 1989, the Federal Judicial Police (PJF) arrested two of García Mena's associates (Jesús López Meléndez and Germán Rodríguez Mijares) in Apodaca with 2.5 tons of marijuana.

[13] García Mena returned to his native Tamaulipas and settled in Guardados de Abajo, a rural community in Camargo where he lived in a mansion for twelve years.

[2][16] In 1992, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) suspected that García Mena managed to smuggle 30 tons of marijuana from Mexico to Texas with the assistance of ten other gang members, including his brother Antonio.

Mexican authorities, including the PGR, requested citizens' help in locating García Mena, who was referred to in the press release by his alias "The Czar of Miguel Alemán".

According to the Mexican police, García Mena was believed to be hiding in his hometown of Guardados de Abajo, and highlighted that his parents owned a property adjacent to the Rio Grande River.

García Mena defended La Frontera Chica from incursions by rival criminal groups for several years, and consolidated himself as a kingpin with manpower and a profitable marijuana-trafficking business.

[e][35] García Mena's legal team advised him to hire mercenaries because illegal possession of firearms was considered a more serious crime than drug trafficking at that time.

[8] On 14 January 2000,[27] García Mena was accused of collaborating with three military members based in Tamaulipas: General Ricardo Martínez Perea, Infantryman Javier Antonio Quevedo Guerrero, and Captain Pedro Maya Díaz.

[38] The former mayors of Miguel Alemán and Camargo, Raúl Rodríguez Barrera ("El Chupón") and Lorenzo Ramírez Díaz, respectively, were also accused of protecting the Gulf Cartel.

[39] García Mena reportedly met him several times at horse-racing events at Las Bugambilias, a ranch owned by his lead smuggler Edelio López Falcón ("El Yeyo").

[16][47] Residents said that García Mena bought medicine for the sick, brought people to the hospital as needed, provided jobs at his ranch, helped build a school and a church,[7][48] distributed Christmas presents, paid for funerals and Holy Week vacations, and funded road-paving and access to potable water.

[46] The Gulf Cartel was under close scrutiny after several of its members threatened two U.S. agents at gunpoint in Matamoros in 1999;[55] the incident drew attention to its leadership, which included García Mena.

[55][56] The first major breakthrough about the Gulf Cartel's leadership under Cárdenas Guillén occurred after the arrest of Medina Garza on 1 November 2000,[57][58] which led to information on García Mena.

[59][60] From 31 March to 10 April 2001 about 300 soldiers from the Mexican Army and personnel from the Special Prosecutor's Office For Crimes Against Health (FEADS) were stationed in Camargo to crack down on the Gulf Cartel's operations in the area.

[l][67] The military also raided the homes of Zeferino Peña Cuéllar (head of the Miguel Alemán Municipal Police and alleged Gulf Cartel operator),[69][70] and García Mena's brother Juan Anacleto; a number of firearms were seized from both houses.

On 6 April, the military intercepted a phone call in which García Mena asked his associates for clothing so he could leave Guardados de Abajo (where he was suspected of hiding).

[71] Although soldiers raided García Mena's home in Guardados de Abajo with a search warrant, they were unable to locate him for several days and his family continued to access it.

[75] PGR chief José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos said at a press conference that although García Mena's arrest was a significant blow to the Gulf Cartel, it continued to operate across Mexico.

[q][98] Between 2 and 6 June 2001, the Specialized Unit Against Organized Crime (UEDO, a former branch of the PGR) cracked down on the Gulf Cartel in Miguel Alemán, Ciudad Mier, Camargo and Reynosa with support from the PJF and the army.

The UEDO had intelligence confirming the whereabouts of García Mena's associates José Manuel Garza Rendón ("La Brocha"), Medrano, and Cárdenas Guillén.

[106] In addition, the law-enforcement operations in Guardados de Abajo discomfited local residents (who called the crackdown excessive),[107] a number of whom filed complaints with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).

[111] On 30 October 2001,[112] García Mena's henchmen attempted to kill López Falcón associate Peña Cuellar in Monterrey for allegedly providing authorities information leading to his arrest.

[82] Initially charged with drug trafficking, organized-crime involvement and illegal possession of military-exclusive firearms, he was assigned to judge Antonio González García from Toluca, State of Mexico.

García Mena walked investigators through his criminal background and gave them details of his past activities, including his introduction to the drug trade by his brother and his partnership with Cárdenas Guillén.

[143] Federal authorities announced on 13 January 2005 that they were going to question García Mena for the murder of Sinaloa Cartel member Arturo Guzmán Loera ("El Pollo"), who was executed by an Altiplano inmate.

[151] On 30 June 2003,[u] State of Mexico judge Andrés Pérez Lozano charged García Mena with money laundering – specifically, with conspiracy to invest and acquire properties with illegal funds.

[153] The charge originated from an investigation which began in Tamaulipas on 22 April; García Mena bought a ranch to grow sorghum and other agricultural plants, a country estate with an event center and two houses, and deposited funds in multiple bank accounts.

[157] On 1 September 2007,[158] State of Mexico judge Octavio Bolaños Valadez sentenced García Mena to 54 years and nine months in prison for organized-crime involvement, illegal possession of military-exclusive firearms, and drug trafficking.