Cash-strapped drug cartel sought alliance with rivals

A CULT-LIKE drug cartel that challenged a rival gang by rolling five severed heads onto a disco dance floor in western Mexico was so divided and cash-strapped of late that it sought to form an alliance with that gang, police officials have confirmed.

La Familia gang leader Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas was looking for support from the Zetas drug gang to fight splinter cells within his own organisation, said Federal Police anti-narcotics chief Ramon Pequeno.

Mendez Vargas, alias El Chango, or The Monkey, was arrested on Tuesday in the central state of Aguascalientes, where he was hiding. He was paraded before reporters in Mexico City yesterday. He is also wanted in the US for drug-related crimes, Federal Police commissioner Facundo Rosas said at a news conference but didn’t elaborate.