Drugs baron ‘killed’ three years ago finally dies in gun fight with authorities

A Mexican drug lord nicknamed ‘The Craziest One’ and said to have been killed over three years ago has been shot dead in a clash with authorities.

A man who died in a shootout on Sunday in western Michoacan state “has been identified as Nazario Moreno,” a government official said.

National Public Safety chief Monte Alejandro Rubido told a briefing that military staff tried to apprehend Moreno — also known as El Chayo — but when he resisted, they responded by “killing the alleged criminal on the spot” near Tumbiscatio.

The previous Mexican government reported that Moreno, leader of the La Familia cartel, was killed in December 2010. But his body was never located and reported sightings fuelled speculation he was alive.

“From a fingerprint analysis, we have confirmed 100% that this was Nazario Moreno Gonzalez,” said Tomas Zeron, investigations chief at the federal prosecutor’s office.

The government deployed over 9,000 troops and federal police in Michoacan’s Tierra Caliente (“hot land”) region in January after gunfights erupted between the cartel and vigilantes.

Following that offensive “it was learned that Nazario Moreno was still alive and remained leader of a criminal organisation in the state,” Rubido said.

Michoacan is known as Mexico’s lime and avocado heartland, but it is also the country’s top producer of iron ore, extracting four million tonnes in 2012, or 27% of national output.

The Knights Templar gang snatched the underground riches to diversify its business, which includes the production of crystal meth and extortion rackets against fruit growers, tortilla makers and municipal officials.

The cartel has illegally extracted iron ore, using the port of Lazaro Cardenas to export the mineral to China, officials say.

At the same time, the gang imports chemical precursors from Asia to make crystal meth in makeshift mountain labs.

Moreno was a founder of La Familia Michoacana, which spawned the Knights Templar after his presumed death. He was considered the cartel’s spiritual leader.

After Moreno’s alleged death in 2010, he was turned into a saintly figure in Michoacan, with shrines built in his honour.

Yet many in the state were always convinced Moreno had survived.

A US security official several weeks ago had said privately that Moreno was alive, hiding in the mountains and leading the Knights Templar.

“He sees himself as Che Guevara, dresses up in Knights Templar outfit with the Maltese cross and even a sword,” he said.