The Mexican military has detained eight alleged members of the Gulf Cartel in connection with the dumping of 49 mutilated corpses in Nuevo Leon, a massacre which the Gulf apparently tried to blame on rival group the Zetas.
Mexican criminal organizations like the Zetas and Gulf Cartel may be charging mines up to $37,000 a month in "security" fees, a practice more commonly seen in Colombia.
In the latest outbreak of violence in Mexican border city Nuevo Laredo, 23 bodies were found on Friday accompanied by notes indicating that they were victims of a war between the Zetas, the Sinaloa and the Gulf Cartel.
A nephew of captured Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cardenas Guillen, who was hiding out in the US to avoid rivals in the group, has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in a US district court.
In the midst of a years-long fight against the Zetas for control of prized sections of borderland territory, the Gulf Cartel is increasingly relying on a previously untapped resource: women.
Mexico's prison system is slipping into anarchy, with inmates escaping and slaughtering one another at alarming rates. InSight Crime considers the consequences of this breakdown for justice in Mexico, and its possible solutions.
A new report argues that, far from fracturing, Mexico's drug trafficking groups are stronger than at the beginning of Calderon's time in office. However, this overlooks the fragile and fast-changing nature of alliances between these gangs, and the shifting nature of the power they wield.
Mexico's authorities are now saying a massacre at a Mexico prison was part of a sophisticated prison break involving guards. Thirty alleged members of the Zetas escaped, including "El Arana," head of the Monterrey plaza.
