Over a dozen drug lords arrested in Mexico City

Víctor Manuel Félix Beltrán

, suspected financial officer of the Sinaloa Cartel , was arrested yesterday at one of the most exclusive areas in Mexico City. Yet he isn't the only one to have been found by authorities in the capital of the country. In the past ten years, federal authorities have captured in Mexico City over a dozen of leaders and key players of the most prominent drug cartels in the country, living in residential areas or, even, attending business meetings at exclusive restaurants.

The latter was the case of Sandra Ávila Beltrán , the Queen of the Pacific, who was arrested in 2007 at a restaurant in San Jerónimo. She was once among the most wanted by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States ( DEA ) and she was considered a prominent figure in the illicit drug trade in the northeast of the country. After spending seven years in jail, she is now a free woman, living near the city of Guadalajara.

In October 2008, an operation led by the Mexican Office of the Attorney General (PGR) captured Jesús Zambada , wanted in connection with the murder of the former coordinator of Regional Security of the Federal Police, Édgar Millán. Jesús Zambada, brother of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada , the alleged current leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was extradited to the United States in 2012.

On March 19, 2009, Vicente Zambada, son of Ismael Zambada, was captured in the Jardínes del Pedregal quarter in a joint operation between the Mexican Military and the former Federal Investigation Agency (AFI). He was extradited to the United States in 2010.

In 2011, Óscar Osvaldo García , known as “El Compayito”, leader of the criminal organization The Hand with Eyes (La Mano con Ojos), was arrested in the Tlalpan borough. He allegedly had ties with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel . He was transferred to El Altiplano, Mexico's maximum security prison.

In 2014 and 2015, Arnoldo Villa and Miguel Villegas, respectively, were captured in the Cuauhtémoc borough as alleged members of the Beltrán-Leyva cartel. Arnoldo Villa, who was the second-in-command of the drug cartel, was in charge of the distribution of narcotics in several regions of Mexico.

Last May 2, Dámaso López Núñez , known as “El Licenciado,” was arrested for being the suspected leader of four factions of the Pacific Cartel and for playing a key role in the escape of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán from the Puente Grande prison in Jalisco, back in January 2001.

López Núñez was captured in the Anzures quarter in a joint operation between the Deputy Prosecutor's Office Specialized in Criminal Organization Investigations, the Mexican Criminal Investigation Agency, and the Mexican Marines.

During an operation by the PGR on February 20, Héctor Arenas Saucedo was arrested in the San Rafael quarter. He was one of the DEA's most wanted and a prominent member of the Juárez Cartel.

Two days before the arrest of Arenas, Edén Parra López , known as the “Scorpion” was captured in the Del Valle quarter. He was the boss of the hitmen of the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, which split from the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, and was signaled as the man responsible for the wave of violence which ravaged the port.

On March 14, 2016, the Mexican Federal Police arrested Cleofas Alberto Martínez , alias “El Güero”, second-in-command of the Gulf Cartel in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

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