EL Mochomo Beltran Leyva.
The Baldies have battled the Gulf Cartel in shootouts in the beach resort of Acapulco that have horrified residents and tourists in recent years. Beltran Leyva and three other people arrested with him were carrying some $US900,000 - about $A1 million - in cash in two suitcases. "Among his key functions was transporting drugs, money laundering, and bribing officials," the spokeswoman said yesterday. Prosecutors say Beltran Leyva is a close lieutenant of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man and the head of an alliance of smugglers based in Sinaloa state. The United States, whose Congress is debating sending surveillance and detection equipment to help Mexico's year-old drug crackdown, praised the arrest, with Ambassador Tony Garza in Mexico calling it a "significant victory". The Sinaloa gang is in a bitter fight with the rival Gulf Cartel, based south of Texas, for control of smuggling routes. More than 2500 people died in gangland-styl...