Knights Templars

One, known as United Cartels, is a confederation of various mobs, including the Michoacán Family, the Knights Templars and Los Viagras, that U.S. prosecutors say is led by Adalberto Fructoso Comparán Rodríguez, 57, a former mayor of Aguililla.

It failed to dislodge the narcos, although the group split in 2010, reforming as the Knights Templars, which combined a pseudo mystical ideology with cut-dathroat business instincts.

Things have grown calmer, Larios conceded, but he cautioned that reports of kidnapping and extortion are again on the rise as smaller cartels emerge to take the place of the Knights Templars.

Related: Mexican vigilantes take on drug cartels - and worry authorities Eventually the Knights Templars were driven from Apatzingán in 2013 by civilian “self-defence” groups, prompting Peña Nieto to name a close confidant, Alfredo Castillo, as security commissioner for Michaocán.

Then it consolidated its position in other states after the authorities captured or killed the leaders of the fearsome Zetas and Knights Templars.