Forbes magazine puts Mexican drug lord at No. 41 on list of ‘World’s Most Powerful’

Forbes: Mexican drug lord 41 on most powerful list

Clergy in the crossfire: Mexico’s bishops seek answers to drug violence at home, from abroad

Mexican clergy seek global help as violence grows

In northern Mexican, soldiers increasingly suspicious of often corrupt police in drug war

Soldiers wary of often corrupt Mexican police

Mexican army announces one of largest opium seizures in country’s history

Mexican army makes large opium seizure

MORELIA, Mexico — The Mexican army said Saturday it has seized a shipment of almost a quarter-ton of opium in the country’s northern mountains, one of the largest such seizures made in Mexico.

10 suspects, including 4 police officers, arrested in killing of Mexican police chief

10 arrested in Mexican police chief’s killing

Gunmen kill 6 _ including US airman _ at bar in Mexican border city

Gunmen kill US airman in attack on bar in Mexico

Mexican soldiers, police kill federal agent in gunbattle after convoy ignores orders to stop

Mexican troops kill federal agent in gunbattle

Questionable timing: Mexican mayor celebrates death of alleged cartel figure before body found

Mexico mayor announces death before body is found

Questionable timing: Mayor celebrates death of alleged cartel figure before body found

Mayor announces death before body is found

US warns of possible random gun attacks on vehicles in Mexican border city

US warns of cartel shootings in Mexico border city

Mexican authorities detain man described as state leader for La Familia drug cartel

Mexico nabs man called drug cartel’s state leader

AP IMPACT: Expanding US-Mexico border mission into drug war, ICE mishandles informants

AP IMPACT: Immigration agents mishandle informants

Mexican drug kingpin Miguel Angel Caro Quintero pleads guilty to US charges

DENVER — A Mexican drug kingpin who led a fearsome cartel for more than a decade pleaded guilty Friday to U.S. drug and racketeering charges.

Largest US sting on Mexican drug operations nabs 300-plus, shows wide scope of drug trade

OKLAHOMA CITY — In the largest single strike at Mexican drug operations in the U.S., authorities arrested more than 300 people in a sting that demonstrates an upstart cartel’s vast reach north of the border.

Largest single strike against Mexican drug cartel in US results in 300-plus arrests from raids

WASHINGTON — In the largest single strike at Mexican drug operations in the U.S., federal officials on Thursday announced the arrests of more than 300 people in raids across the country aimed at the newest and most violent cartel.

AP Sources: More than 300 arrested across US in raids on Mexican drug cartel operations

WASHINGTON — More than 300 suspects have been arrested in a series of drug raids across the country that law enforcement officials say is the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating in the United States.

3 leaders of Tijuana cartel plead guilty to drug crimes in San Diego

SAN DIEGO — Three once-powerful members of Mexico’s Arellano Felix drug cartel have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in San Diego.

Lurid mob trials transfix Chinese as Communist government cracks down on gangs

BEIJING — After she refused a corrupt cop’s demand that she turn her teahouse into an illegal casino, three thugs beat Chen Yanling with electric batons, sending her to the hospital for nearly a month.

Mexican justice report: Cartel-fueled homicides at all-time high in violent border city

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A violent and ongoing battle between two powerful drug cartels has pushed this northern border city’s murder rate — already one of the highest in the world — to new records in 2009, according to a government report issued Wednesday.

Miami judge sentences reputed Colombian cocaine kingpin Diego Montoya 45 years in prison

MIAMI — A top Colombian kingpin who shipped billions of dollars worth of cocaine to the United States and ran a private army was sentenced Wednesday to 45 years in prison.

9 decapitated bodies found in drug-plagued state in southern Mexico

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Officers found the decapitated bodies of nine men in an abandoned pickup truck on a highway in the drug-plagued Mexican state of Guerrero, police said Friday.

Cartel figure Jesus ‘Chuy’ Labra set to plead guilty in San Diego

SAN DIEGO — Mexico’s Arellano Felix drug cartel was near the height of its power in March 2000 when one of its top men, Jesus “Chuy” Labra, was arrested watching his son’s soccer game at a school in Tijuana.

6 Fla. members of New York’s Bonanno crime family plead guilty in racketeering case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — One by one, members of a South Florida crew of the New York-based Bonanno crime family stood before a federal judge Wednesday to plead guilty to racketeering charges, including one enforcer who said it was impossible to escape the Mafia life.

Former US, Mexican diplomats recommend new US assault weapons ban to improve border security

MEXICO CITY — The United States should reinstate a Clinton-era ban on assault weapons to prevent such guns from reaching Mexican drug cartels, former officials from both countries said in a report released Tuesday.

State official’s mutilated body found hanging from a bridge in Tijuana, Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico — The mutilated body of a state official who authorities said was suspected of giving fake driver’s licenses to drug gang members was found hanging from a bridge Friday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

Alleged Mafia associate arrested on racketeering charges while on Hawaii honeymoon

HONOLULU — An alleged Mafia associate was arrested on racketeering charges while on his honeymoon in Honolulu.

Top Mexican cartel figure set to plead guilty in San Diego, nearly 10 years after arrest

SAN DIEGO — A man once considered a top figure in a notorious Mexican drug cartel plans to plead guilty in a San Diego criminal case, nearly 10 years after he was arrested while watching his son’s soccer game in Tijuana, Mexico.

Mafia, violent criminals turning to Medicare fraud for greater payoff, lighter sentences

MIAMI — Lured by easier money and shorter prison sentences, Mafia figures and other violent criminals are increasingly moving into Medicare fraud and spilling blood over what was once a white-collar crime.