The former boss of the Caballeros Templarios cartel has been sentenced to 55 years in jail for the kidnapping of a businessman in 2011.

Servando Gómez Martínez, also known as “La Tuta” and “El Profe,” both of which mean “the teacher,” was one of the founders of the criminal organization known in English as the Knights Templar Cartel.

He was arrested in 2015 for organized crime, kidnapping and drug trafficking.

Before becoming one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico, Gómez taught at a teacher training school. He then went to work as a farmer and also created several rehabilitation centers for young drug abusers.

His stint as a caregiver was followed by a life of crime and he rose to become the leader of the Caballeros Templarios cartel when it splintered off from La Familia Michoacana in 2011.

Like its predecessor, the new cartel cast itself as a “self-defense” organization engaged in a struggle with Mexico‘s larger criminal cartels on behalf of the people of Michoacán.

As the cartel’s leader, Gómez infiltrated the highest levels of power and government in Michoacán, with former governors Jesús Reyna García and Fausto Vallejo Figueroa having been directly linked to him.

Source: El Financiero (sp)