u/Rude_Lengthiness3379

I know little of this organization and it is one that ever since the mid-2010s it hadn't drawn much attention to itself, so there isn't as much info as other cartels.
I might seem stupid, but I only started to get interested in it a few days ago.
As we know there was the Juarez Cartel created in the 80s (be it mid-80s or early-80s or late-80s) by Rafael Aguilar Guajardo, Gilberto Ontiveros and Rafael Munoz Talavera.
Ontiveros was arrested in 1989. In Ojinaga a separate organization (though tied or closely linked to that of Guajardo-Talavera-Ontiveros) and was led by Pablo Acosta until 1987 when Amado Carrillo took over but was arrested in late 1989 (though later freed). He (Amado) joined Rafael Aguilar and Rafael Munoz to solidify the Juarez Cartel until 1993 when Aguilar Guajardo was killed, and Amado took full control over the organization (with Rafael Munoz as his second-in-command or right-hand). In 1997 Amado Carrillo died and an internal war ensued between Rafael Munoz and the Carrillo brothers (Vicente and Rodolfo) which ended in September 1998 Munoz was killed. Rodolfo Carrillo was killed in 2004 and from then full leadership was taken by Vicente Carrillo until his fall in 2014.

Here's where I don't follow, because the most known version is that Juan Pablo Ledezma (aka: Jose Luis Fratello, JP, or JL) took the control over the Juarez Cartel given his cell (La Linea) was the most powerful. However, I've found people saying that the online that El JL dies during the Juarez-Sinaloa war around the late 2000s, I've also found some say his pic (the only one known or use in media) isn't even him. I also found a 2008 video made (apparently) by anonymous officers from Chihuahua exposing the CDJ connections with the back then state government, and they used a different pic for El JL: chihuahua y "JL" el dos letras (Link to YouTube video). Officially "El JL" remains publicly the leader of La Linea / CDJ.
However, digging a bit in news from that time I've found that La Linea had another leader besides El JL, and that was Juan Pablo Guijarro Fragosa aka "El Monico", who literally we know nothing about. A 2024 Infobae list puts him along others as "Important Capos Who Mexican Authorities Stopped Searching For" (along those lines).
Another group of CDJ was Los Aztecas (much like La Linea, it was one of several groups that formed the CDJ), and they were led by Eduardo Ravelo Barrio. There was even a note in 2015 saying that there was some fear that due to Carrillo's power vacuum would prompt El JL and Ravelo Barrio into an internal war for full control (since they were the leaders of the two most important CDJ cells). He was eventually arrested in 2018.
Then there's Jesus Salas Aguayo "El Chuyin" who was apparently leader of the Nuevo Cartel de Juarez (NCDJ) and arrested in 2015 and was freed in 2020 and recently killed in 2024. IDK but I found in comments some saying he took over rather (from jail) rather than El JL. I'm just putting him here just in case.
Also, another identified NCDJ leader (idk if alongside Chuyin, or as maximum leader or street leader) was César Daniel Manjarrez Alonso aka "El H-2" who fought/defended the (among others) Chihuahua plaza (capital) for the CDJ. He was also arrested in 2018.
Then there's also Gustavo Chávez Olivas aka "El Master" who was identified as La Linea's leader, though I've found in news sites he was more of a local leader rather than maximum (yk how they call any plaza boss or cell boss "the leader of X cartel").
And I've also found people saying that (somehow) the Carrillo family holds to the CDJ (though the family exists is now out from the business since 2014 and I really doubt this).

Either way... it does become clear (once one reads a bit of old news) how the CDJ was thrown into disarray after Vicente Carrillo's ("El Viceroy") arrest in 2014.
I found no clear answers as to who the maximum leader is (with the most common answer being that the CDJ has fragmented into loose organizations once cells all working under the CDJ umbrella without being as unified as they once were).
Which are these organizations...?
no clue.
Officially Mexican and American intel agencies use NCDJ, Cartel de Juarez, Organizacion Carrillo Fuentes, and La Linea as synonyms meaning the same thing. However it seems the NCDJ, and La Liena and CDJ are all different things (plus Barrio Azteca/Los Aztecas, and Los Linces, other cells). And since (even if on ground, they're separate) officially they're interchangeable (according to governments), you get places/news saying things like El JL is the leader of NCDJ and CDJ and La Linea and also claim they're all different...

Note: I also found La Empresa... idk. Briefly mentioned but apparently, they're also a different cell in this loose organization (and no surprise... the governments also use it interchangeably with all other several names)

So yeah... idk if someone who lives there or has more knowledge than my "few days of quick internet news search" about this could explain it below. Idk, anything. Current leader, or clear factions, or the chaos after El Viceroy's fall. It all seems a mess.