MEXICO CITY, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The suspected new leader of a troubled Mexican drug cartel has been arrested in Mexico City, federal police said.
Carlos Montemayor, 38, was arrested Tuesday night in an upscale part of the city, anti-drug squad leader Ramon Eduardo Pequeno told a news conference.
His arrest was aided by intelligence from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Montemayor is believed to be the leader of the Beltran Leyva gang, which has been significantly weakened in recent months by inter-gang beheadings and shootings, internal disputes and arrests, the newspaper said.
Police believe Montemayor took over the gang's leadership in August when former leader Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a U.S. citizen, was arrested. He is Montemayor's father-in-law, the report said.
Since his arrest Tuesday, police said Montemayor has told interrogators breakaway members of his gang were responsible for the abduction and killing of 20 Mexican tourists in late September in Acapulco. He said it was a case of mistaken identity and the gunmen suspected the group of being members of the rival La Familia drug cartel.
The bodies of the abducted men were later found in a mass grave.
