Mexican cartel suspects arrested

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Federal agents have arrested 175 people in the United States and Italy in a crackdown on a Mexican drug cartel, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said in a statement that those arrested were "spreading dangerous drugs and resorting to brutal violence" in the United States and abroad.

"Although I am pleased with the efforts so far, we cannot and will not rest on these successes," Mukasey said. "The threat posed by international drug cartels is too great. It will take all of us working together to prevail."

Among those arrested were three suspected leaders of the Gulf Cartel, which is reputed to have smuggled and distributed tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana into the United States.

Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano and Jorge Eduardo Costilla-Sanchez, were indicted in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on charges that they conspired to import drugs into the United States from Mexico.