By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of a Mexican drug cartel boss has been sentenced to life in prison for his own leadership role in one of the country’s largest and most violent narcotics trafficking organizations.

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Rubén Oseguera, known as El Menchito, is the son of fugitive Jalisco New Generation cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera. The son served as the CJNG cartel’s second-in-command before his extradition to the U.S. in February 2020.

The younger Oseguera faced a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of 40 years in prison when U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced him in Washington, D.C. One of the 35-year-old Oseguera’s defense attorneys asked for a 40-year prison sentence, noting his client was only 14 when he was recruited to join his family’s drug trafficking operation.

Howell also ordered a forfeiture of over $6 billion as part of the sentence.

In September, a federal jury convicted Oseguera of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for U.S. importation and using a firearm in a drug conspiracy.

Oseguera ordered the killings of at least 100 people, personally shot and killed at least two people and ordered subordinates to shoot down a Mexican military helicopter, killing at least nine people in 2015, prosecutors said.