HomeNewsBriefFamilia Michoacana Leader Arrested in Morelia, Admits Truce Offer was Fake
BRIEF

Familia Michoacana Leader Arrested in Morelia, Admits Truce Offer was Fake

LA FAMILIA MICHOACANA / 2 DEC 2010 BY INSIGHT CRIME EN

The Mexican federal police on Monday arrested José Alfredo Landa Torres, alias "El Flaco," an alleged leader of the Familia Michoacana in Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacan.

When questioned by officials, Landa confessed that the organization's recent call for a "truce" in November was simply a ruse to improve the group's image in the state.

He explained that the organization’s strategy was to increase the number of petty crimes such as extortion, kidnapping, theft of property, and others to create a sense of "vacuum of authority and the need for their presence as a measure of crime control," reports the Spanish news agency EFE. Landas is accused of managing the organization’s finances, bribing corrupt officials and distributing drugs. He is rumored to have been recruited into Familia on the recommendation of Servando Gómez, a top leader in the group.

Acting on intelligence gathered from surveillance, Mexican officials were able to track Landa to a safe house in Morelia, where authorities arrested two other people and seized an AK-47 assault rifle, two pistols, vehicles, communication equipment and several property deeds. EFE reports that since 2008 the Federal Police have arrested seven Familia leaders in Morelia, one of whom was Arnoldo Medina Rueda, alias "La Minsa," a regional coordinator for the organization.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

GULF CARTEL / 28 JUN 2023

US policy has exposed migrants to a greater risk of being killed, disappeared, and kidnapped in isolated stretches of the…

CRIMINAL MIGRATION / 17 MAY 2023

Some believe the CJNG’s invasion of Tamaulipas is all but a sure thing despite the Gulf Cartel’s historical roots, others…

FENTANYL / 10 JAN 2022

The hideous levels of violence plaguing Zacatecas, exemplified by ten bodies abandoned in a van outside the governor’s office, are…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…