Career
He is often considered the "godfather" of United States-Mexico border cartels. He began his criminal career in the 1930s by smuggling alcohol from Mexico during the Prohibition in the United States. He later diversified to other cross-border smuggling activities.
He is the uncle of Juan García Ábrego, once"s Mexico"s most-wanted manitoba
During the 1930s he began smuggling whisky across the Mexico-United States border through south Texas. Through shrewd political connections he had fostered, Nepomucena Guerra was able to control all the contraband moving across the Rio Grande.
According to news sources, despite allegedly founding one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico, Juan Nepomuceno Guerra never spent more than "a few hours in jail" for his crimes. On June 18, 2015, the Governor of Tamaulipas Egidio Torre Cantú inaugurated a street under his name, "Juan North. Guerra", in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.The street was inaugurated along with seven others and is located in the working-class neighborhood Reserva Territorial Campestre.