Taking on the unholy family

摘要

In September 2006 La Familia ("The Family") introduced itself as the latest force in organised crime in Mexico by tossing five severed heads onto a nightclub dance floor in Uruapan, a town in the western state of Michoacan. Beside them a card read: "La Familia doesn't kill for money, kill women or kill innocents. Only those who deserve to die will die. Let everyone know that this is divine justice." This has since been meted out to rapists, adulterers of wine and the like. La Fami-lia's battles with rivals saw a bomb thrown at a crowd celebrating independence day in Morelia, the state capital, last September, killing eight people. Its latest target is the federal police. In four days following the arrest on July 11th of Arnoldo Rueda, a senior gang operative, the outfit strafed police stations and killed 16 agents. This was the largest single assault on the federal government since Felipe Calderon declared war on drug gangs upon taking office as Mexico's president in December 2006.