MEXICO CITY, June 22 (UPI) -- Mexican police captured Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, alleged mastermind of a vicious drug cartel, seven months after killing its founder, authorities said.
Police captured Mendez, the reputed head of La Familia, or the Family, without firing a shot, Mexican national security spokesman Alejandro Poire said in a statement.
Mendez -- known as "El Chango," or "The Monkey" -- was found in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, Poire said.
"With this capture, what was left of the command structure of this criminal organization is destroyed," his statement said.
President Felipe Calderon congratulated Mexico's federal police on the arrest, saying in a Twitter post the capture of "one of the most wanted criminals" was a "great blow" against organized crime.
The Mexican government had offered a $2.5 million bounty for information leading to Mendez's capture.
Mendez led a faction of the cult-like Familia network that authorities allege specializes in producing and shipping methamphetamine to the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The cartel's founding leader, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez -- known as "El Mas Loco," or "The Craziest One" -- preached his organization's divine right to eliminate enemies. He carried a "bible" of his own sayings and insisted his army of traffickers and hit men never use the narcotics they sell.
Mendez took control of La Familia after Moreno was killed in a shootout with Mexican federal police Dec. 9.
Poire described Mendez as La Familia's most important operations chief and blamed him for a long list of crimes, including murder, kidnapping, extortion and grenade attacks on civilians.
The government previously attributed the crimes to Los Zetas cartel, the Times said. Los Zetas is an alleged international drug-trading criminal organization blamed for assassinations, extortion, car theft and other organized-crime activities.
La Familia was originally allied with a Zetas faction known as the Gulf Cartel, but split off in 2006.
Mendez's capture could clear the way for Los Zetas to make further headway in La Familia territories, the Times said.
