The suspected leader of the Northeast Cartel, one of 15 criminal groups identified as being behind the wave of violence sweeping across Mexico, was arrested yesterday in Nuevo León.

The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s office (PGJE) said in a statement that investigative police executed an arrest warrant against Juan Alfonso N. during an operation conducted with federal agents.

In a separate statement, the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) said the suspect was apprehended in the municipality of Guadalupe, part of the Monterrey metropolitan area.

The suspected capo, also known as “Gafe” and “Chucho,” is accused of extortion and criminal association.

Police seized the car Juan Alfonso was traveling in and authorities have also opened an investigation into a probable violation of the Federal Firearms Law.

The suspect is believed to be behind a lot of the violent crime in the states of Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí.

The PGJE was offering a reward of 2 million pesos (US $102,000) for information leading to Juan Alfonso’s arrest.

He is the sixth person on the Tamaulipas government’s most-wanted list who has been captured this year.

The PGJE said that Juan Alonso would face a control judge in Tamaulipas who “will define his legal situation.”

The Northeast Cartel he allegedly headed is a splinter cell of the Zetas drug cartel, according to InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime in Latin America.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp)