La Familia

Mexican authorities said Friday that they believe a top leader of the violent La Familia cartel was killed during two days of pitched fighting in the home state of President Felipe Calderon. In violence that erupted Wednesday afternoon and raged until early Friday, federal forces deployed in the western state of Michoacan battled scores of gunmen from La Familia who set vehicles on fire and barricaded roads in a dozen cities. At least 11 people were confirmed killed, including five federal police officers and an 8-month-old.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose conservative party is lagging in national popularity amid soaring drug violence, may have a source of hope close to home: his sister. Luisa Maria Calderon, a 55-year-old former senator and the president's older sister, leads polls for governor of Michoacan state, where a victory Sunday could give their National Action Party, or PAN, a needed boost before next year's national elections. The western state, long a corridor for illegal drugs, has been hit hard by rising violence, stoking worry of election day bloodshed or turnout damped by voter fear.

A top leader of the notorious La Familia drug-trafficking gang, locked in an especially deadly internal fight in recent months, has been captured by Mexican federal police, authorities announced Tuesday. Jose de Jesus Mendez, alias "El Chango," one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords, was taken into custody in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, apparently without a struggle, authorities said. Mendez led a faction of La Familia, the ruthless and sometimes cult-like network that authorities say specializes in producing and shipping methamphetamine to the United States.

Mexican authorities Tuesday announced the capture of a top leader of the Knights Templar drug gang suspected in a 2007 attack that killed five soldiers. The army and federal attorney general's office said in a statement that Saul Solis Solis was arrested a day earlier in the western state of Michoacan. A former municipal public safety director, Solis was described as a key figure in the Knights Templar, an offshoot of La Familia, a gang that violently split apart this year.

Music has been very much a family affair for Little Joe Hernandez. He was a shy kid in Temple, Tex., when his cousin coaxed him to join his first band at 15. When Hernandez began to record a few years later, he scored his first success with "Corrido del West," a sweet Spanish song written by his father. He credits a younger brother, Jesse, with having prodded him first to pursue music full-time, and then to push for broader renown.

Shackled in chains, he grimaced in apparent pain as he heaved his hefty body from the back of a police van. Jose de Jesus "El Chango" Mendez was paraded before reporters Wednesday, a day after the reputed drug lord was captured by federal police. Authorities identify Mendez as the reigning leader of the notorious La Familia cartel, and his capture — with nary a shot fired, officials say — is a coup for the besieged government of President Felipe Calderon, whose drug war has claimed nearly 40,000 lives in 4 1/2 years.

Federal police in western Mexico were locked in armed clashes Friday with a faction of the drug gang known as La Familia, two weeks after they said they had all but vanquished the group. Authorities said seven gunmen were killed in the violence, which began late Thursday after drug henchmen set cars ablaze to block roads across the state of Michoacan. The so-called narco-blockades, often meant to hinder police, appeared designed to signal to authorities that a wing of La Familia was still very much a force.

Mexican authorities Wednesday announced the arrest of a key suspect in the attempted assassination of a state security chief whose convoy was attacked with grenades and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. The suspect until recently was a police commander who also worked for the notorious drug cartel known as La Familia, authorities said. Minerva Bautista Gomez, security chief for the state of Michoacan, survived the April 24 ambush. Two of her bodyguards and two passing motorists were killed.

Authorities were interrogating a suspected ringleader of the drug cartel La Familia on Sunday after the crime syndicate launched a series of coordinated commando attacks against federal police and Mexican soldiers over the weekend that left five dead and a dozen wounded. The ambushes Saturday in eight cities across the western state of Michoacan were carried out with disciplined force by small units of La Familia cartel gunmen with military-grade assault rifles and grenades.

As dozens of gunmen fired more than 2,700 deafening rounds of ammunition, Minerva Bautista crouched on the floor of her heavily armored SUV, screaming into her radio for backup and thinking one thing: "I know help will come." But when the minister of security for Michoacan state heard the rounds begin to penetrate her car's armor, sending pieces of metal into her back "like fiery sparks," her faith faltered. And when one of her badly injured bodyguards asked her to take care of his family, she lost hope.

Federal police in western Mexico were locked in armed clashes Friday with a faction of the drug gang known as La Familia, two weeks after they said they had all but vanquished the group. Authorities said seven gunmen were killed in the violence, which began late Thursday after drug henchmen set cars ablaze to block roads across the state of Michoacan. The so-called narco-blockades, often meant to hinder police, appeared designed to signal to authorities that a wing of La Familia was still very much a force.

Shackled in chains, he grimaced in apparent pain as he heaved his hefty body from the back of a police van. Jose de Jesus "El Chango" Mendez was paraded before reporters Wednesday, a day after the reputed drug lord was captured by federal police. Authorities identify Mendez as the reigning leader of the notorious La Familia cartel, and his capture — with nary a shot fired, officials say — is a coup for the besieged government of President Felipe Calderon, whose drug war has claimed nearly 40,000 lives in 4 1/2 years.

A top leader of the notorious La Familia drug-trafficking gang, locked in an especially deadly internal fight in recent months, has been captured by Mexican federal police, authorities announced Tuesday. Jose de Jesus Mendez, alias "El Chango," one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords, was taken into custody in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, apparently without a struggle, authorities said. Mendez led a faction of La Familia, the ruthless and sometimes cult-like network that authorities say specializes in producing and shipping methamphetamine to the United States.

Mexican authorities said Friday that they believe a top leader of the violent La Familia cartel was killed during two days of pitched fighting in the home state of President Felipe Calderon. In violence that erupted Wednesday afternoon and raged until early Friday, federal forces deployed in the western state of Michoacan battled scores of gunmen from La Familia who set vehicles on fire and barricaded roads in a dozen cities. At least 11 people were confirmed killed, including five federal police officers and an 8-month-old.

Mexican authorities Tuesday said they had arrested a regional boss of La Familia drug gang, which dominates the western state of Michoacan with violence and a cult-like authority. The trafficking group recently hung banners suggesting a truce with Mexican government forces, but authorities dismissed the move as a ploy and said they wouldn't negotiate anyway. Federal police said the man arrested Monday, Jose Alfredo Landa Torres, was recently named to head La Familia's operations in the state capital, Morelia.

Mexican authorities Wednesday announced the arrest of a key suspect in the attempted assassination of a state security chief whose convoy was attacked with grenades and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. The suspect until recently was a police commander who also worked for the notorious drug cartel known as La Familia, authorities said. Minerva Bautista Gomez, security chief for the state of Michoacan, survived the April 24 ambush. Two of her bodyguards and two passing motorists were killed.

When registration opens today for Mexico's newly elected Congress, there is one up-and-coming legislator who officials will be relieved to count as a no-show. Julio Cesar Godoy, in addition to being a lawmaker-elect from the state of Michoacan, is also a fugitive from the law. Godoy, brother of the state governor, is one of dozens of politicians and police chiefs from Michoacan accused of aiding the notorious La Familia drug cartel. He dropped out of sight as arrest warrants came down in May and June, yet won election anyway.

Mexican authorities Tuesday announced the capture of a top leader of the Knights Templar drug gang suspected in a 2007 attack that killed five soldiers. The army and federal attorney general's office said in a statement that Saul Solis Solis was arrested a day earlier in the western state of Michoacan. A former municipal public safety director, Solis was described as a key figure in the Knights Templar, an offshoot of La Familia, a gang that violently split apart this year.

As dozens of gunmen fired more than 2,700 deafening rounds of ammunition, Minerva Bautista crouched on the floor of her heavily armored SUV, screaming into her radio for backup and thinking one thing: "I know help will come." But when the minister of security for Michoacan state heard the rounds begin to penetrate her car's armor, sending pieces of metal into her back "like fiery sparks," her faith faltered. And when one of her badly injured bodyguards asked her to take care of his family, she lost hope.

Mexican authorities Thursday announced the arrest of a man dubbed "the king of heroin," who allegedly was one of the biggest smugglers of the drug into the United States. Jose Antonio Medina was captured by Mexican police a day earlier in the western state of Michoacan, where he allegedly operated a trafficking network that smuggled 440 pounds of heroin a month across the border into Southern California, federal police said. Medina, 36, was sought on a warrant issued last year for extradition to the U.S. on charges of drug trafficking and sales north of the border.