Mexico official: Top capo nabbed in western Michoacan state
Mexico City (AP) — Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, one of the most-wanted drug lords and who once terrorized western Michoacan state, was captured early Friday federal police, according to a Mexican official.
He was arrested in the capital city of Morelia without a shot fired, said the official spoke, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.
Gomez was the leader of the Knights Templar cartel, a quasi-religious criminal group that once ruled all of the state, controlling politics and commerce. He evaded capture for more than a year after the federal government took over the state to try to restore order.
Known countrywide as "La Tuta," Gomez rose from schoolteacher to one of Mexico's most ruthless and wanted cartel leaders, dominating for a time Mexico's lucrative methamphetamine trade and taking control of his home state through extortion, intimidation and coercion of business and political leaders.
Thought it started in drugs, his gang even took over the state's international port, Lazaro Cardenas, and made millions from illegal mining of ore.
Gomez was a talkative and public cartel leader, a rarity among capos known for keeping their silence. He gave a British television crew an interview in January even as the government was mounting a major assault on his gang that eventually led to its demise. He told the reporter that his illegal work was all about business.
"As we told you, we are a necessary evil," Gomez is seen telling a group of townspeople on tape. "Unfortunately or fortunately we are here. If we weren't, another group would come."
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.