Leader Of Gang Trafficking Drugs To U.S. Arrested In Mexico

BROADVIEW, IL - MAY 25: An undocumented immigrant stands cuffed and shackled at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility before he and other undocumented immigrants were transported to the airport for a deportation flight May 25, 2010 in Broadview, Illinois. The immigrants at the suburban Chicago facility were flown by charter flight to Harlingen, Texas where they were then bussed to Brownsville and finally walked to the Mexican border and released from custody. The U.S. deports over 350,000 immigrants a year for entering the country illegally, most are Mexican, and more than 90 percent are men. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) (2010 Getty Images)

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexican authorities said Saturday that they have arrested the leader of a gang responsible for trafficking drugs from the southwestern state of Guerrero to the United States.

Leonor Nava Romero, 45, was captured Friday in Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero, said federal police chief Monte Alejandro Rubido.

Rubido said Nava Romero worked with Hector Beltran Leyva, leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel, which has seen many of its leaders captured or killed in recent years.

Nava Romero and his gang "Los Rojos," or "The Reds," were the main parties responsible for drug shipments from Guerrero to the United States, according to Rubido, who said the gang was also involved in kidnapping and extortion.

Rubido said Nava Romero allegedly ordered the killings of the Beltran Leyva cartel's opponents and is "probably responsible" for the slaying of eight members of the army in Chilpancingo, Guerrero in 2008.

Guerrero is one of Mexico's most-violent states and borders troubled Michoacan.