Federal authorities apprehended the leader of the cult-like, pseudo-Christian La Familia cartel on Tuesday, saying they had dealt a debilitating blow to a major organized crime group that terrorized western Mexico. 
 
 This undated image taken from the Mexican Attorney General's rewards program website on June 21, 2011, shows the alleged leader of the La Familia cartel, Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, alias "El Chango,''... (Associated Press) 
 
 Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, alias El Chango, or "The Monkey," was arrested in the central state of Aguascalientes without confrontation or casualties, said federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire. 
 
 "With this arrest, what remained of the structure of this criminal organization has been destroyed," Poire told a news conference. 
 
 With the death of La Familia's founder and leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez in December, Poire said Mendez was "the last remaining head of a criminal group responsible for homicides, kidnappings, extortion, corruption and even cowardly attacks on the authorities and the civilian population." 
 
 But the leadership of a violent splinter group, known as the Knights Templar, remains at large. 
 
 President Felipe Calderon personally lauded the arrest on his Twitter account, calling it a "big blow" to organized crime. The cartel was born in Calderon's home state of Michoacan in 2006, prompting him to deploy thousands of federal police there and warning that La Familia was corrupting local officials, extorting businesses and terrorizing the population. 
 
 According to the reward statement issued by the Attorney General's Office, Mendez was "responsible for the transfer and sale of cocaine, marijuana, crystal methamphetamine in various states of Mexico and the United States of America. He is the alleged mastermind of kidnappings and killings, mainly of members of other criminal organizations." 
 
 The government had offered a $2.5 million reward for his capture. 
 
 La Familia first appeared four years when it rolled five severed heads into a Michoacan nightclub, vowing to protect local citizens from rival cartels. 
 
 Moreno _ the group's founder _ set a code of conduct for its members that prohibited the use of hard drugs or dealing them within Mexican territory, even as they gruesomely decapitated foes and sold cocaine and methamphetamine by the ton. 
 
 "They believe they are doing God's work, and pass out Bibles and money to the poor," according to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration profile. "La Familia Michoacana also gives money to school and local officials." 
 
 Moreno was killed in December during two days of shootouts between his gang and federal police. After his death, the group split into warring factions, causing increased bloodshed in the state in western Mexico. 
 
 Mendez was believed to have remained the leader of the La Familia faction, according to federal police, while messages appeared in March that the Knights Templar sought to replace La Familia. 
 
 That name alludes to a Christian order of knights founded in 1118 in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land after the First Crusade. 
 
 A former La Familia leader, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, is believed to lead the Knights Templar, federal police say. 
 
 Poire told reporters that with Mendez's arrest, 21 of the country's 37 top drug traffickers have been apprehended or killed since 2009. 
 
 More than 35,000 people have died in drug violence since, according to government figures. Local media say the number is closer to 40,000. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Mark Stevenson and E. Eduardo Castillo contributed to this report. 

 Mexican police nab top drug cartel boss 
 
 MEXICO CITY — Mexican police have captured the top boss of the notorious La Familia drug cartel in a raid, a government spokesman said, adding the violent gang's leadership had been destroyed. 
 
 "The federal government has detained the top leader (of La Familia) Jose de Jesus Mendez," 50, said security spokesman Alejandro Poire. 
 
 "This detention has destroyed the remaining command structure," he said, adding that no shots had been fired in the raid in the central town of Aguascalientes that led to Mendez's capture. 
 
 Mendez, who hailed from Tepalcatepec in Michoacan state, by the late 1990s already was working for organized drug rings shipping cocaine and marijuana to the United States, a report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. 
 
 Nicknamed the Monkey, the stocky Mendez had been in a major internal conflict over a group that split from La Familia -- dubbed the Knights Templar, who are led by Servando Gomez alias "La Tuta." The Knights have been blamed for a spectacular surge in deadly crime in Michoacan in recent months. 
 
 Earlier, President Felipe Calderon sent a message on his personal Twitter account, saying: "A great blow by federal police against organized crime. One of the most wanted criminals captured. Congratulations." 
 
 La Familia is one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels, and its stronghold is in Michoacan state where it has been battling the Los Zetas gang. 
 
 The former head of La Familia, Nazario Moreno, was killed in December in a shootout with police. Classed among Mexico's seven major drug cartels, La Familia is considered the country's top producer of synthetic drugs and has always had its heart in Michoacan. 
 
 The state on the Pacific coast happens to be a big producer of marijuana, opium poppies and Calderon's home state. 
 
 La Familia announced its arrival on the scene in October 2006, when its men walked into a bar and rolled five severed heads onto a dance floor. 
 
 The gang was soon posing a direct challenge to the federal government, killing eight people in a grenade attack on a crowd celebrating Mexico's independence day on September 15, 2008. 
 
 In July 2009, it killed 16 police officers, 12 of whom were found in a heap on the side of a road. 
 
 The toll in suspected drug-related violence in Mexico has surpassed 37,000 since Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime in 2006. 
 
 Since 2006, authorities have killed or arrested several top cartel leaders, including Arturo Beltran Leyva, head of the cartel bearing his name, in December 2009; and Gulf cartel chief Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, alias "Tony Tormenta." 
 
 Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More » 

 Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities captured the top leader of one of the country's most violent drug cartels Tuesday, officials said. 
 
 Federal police captured Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, also known as "The Monkey," in an operation in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico's national security spokesman said. 
 
 Spokesman Alejandro Poire called Mendez the "principal head" of La Familia Michoacana cartel and said his capture was the federal government's "most overwhelming blow" to the group. 
 
 "This capture destroys what remained of the leadership structure of this criminal organization," he said. 
 
 Mexican President Felipe Calderon praised the capture on his official Twitter account: "A large blow by federal police to organized crime. One of the most wanted criminals was captured. Congratulations." 
 
 Mexico's Attorney General's Office had offered a 30 million peso ($2.5 million) reward for information leading to his arrest, saying Mendez was the mastermind behind drug trafficking, kidnappings and killings. 
 
 Tuesday's operation marks the fall of 21 of the suspects on Mexico's "most dangerous criminals" list, Poire said. 
 
 No deaths or violent clashes have been reported from Tuesday's operation, he said. 
 
 La Familia began operating in the state of Michoacan more than a decade ago, the country's national security spokesman told reporters last year. But it grabbed national attention in 2006 after reportedly hurling five decapitated heads of rival gang members onto a dance floor. 
 
 Mexico's public safety secretary has said Mendez was responsible for passing on the organization's values to new generations of drug runners in the cartel. Along with other leaders, he helped expand La Familia's reach to other Mexican states. 
 
 Extorting residents and charging fees to drug traffickers operating in Michoacan allowed the cartel to push away competitors, Mexican authorities said. 
 
 The cartel is known for its violence and the rules it imposes on its members. 
 
 Last year Mexican federal police gunned down Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, whom they described as the group's "spiritual leader." 
 
 Mexican authorities say the ideology advocated by the cartel's leaders includes banning members from consuming drugs and alcohol with the goal of keeping a tighter emotional grip on subordinates. 
 
 "The indoctrination of this group consists of courses in self-improvement, values, ethical principles and morals in keeping with the purposes of the criminal organization. With the objective that their subordinates separate themselves from drugs and alcohol and they unite with their families," Mexico's public safety ministry said in a 2009 statement after capturing the alleged head of La Familia's training operations. 
 
 La Familia's approach shows a "strong religious background," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a 2009 statement. 
 
 "It purportedly originated to protect locals from the violence of drug cartels. Now, La Familia Michoacana uses drug proceeds to fuel their agenda that encompasses a Robin Hood-type mentality -- steal from the rich and give to the poor," the statement said. "They believe they are doing God's work, and pass out Bibles and money to the poor. La Familia Michoacana also gives money to schools and local officials." 
 
 Intelligence reports indicate that the cartel is "heavily involved in the production of methamphetamine" for export to the United States, according to the DEA, in addition to the distribution of cocaine and marijuana. 
 
 CNNMexico.com and CNN's Rene Hernandez, Maria Elisa Callejas and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.
– Mexico says it struck a "large blow" against drug cartels today by capturing the leader of the notorious La Familia gang. Authorities arrested Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargaz (aka El Chango, or the Monkey) at a highway checkpoint without incident. La Familia announced its emergence as a main player in 2006 when members threw the severed heads of five rival gang members on a nightclub dance floor, notes CNN. "With this arrest, what remained of the structure of this criminal organization has been destroyed," said one Mexican official. The AP describes La Familia as a "cult-like, pseudo-Christian" group. It also notes that a former leader recently started a violent splinter group called the Knights Templar, and he remains at large. La Familia specializes in synthetic drugs such as meth and is centered in Michoacan state, adds AFP.