Family business - La Familia: Mexico's most violent criminals

The turf warfare that has beset Mexico's major drug cartels since the government-led security crackdown of late 2006 has benefited one emerging cartel: La Familia of the centre-west state of Michoacán. According to Mexico's office of the General Attorney (Procuraduria General de la Republica: PGR) in July 2009, this group is the most violent criminal organisation in the country and poses the greatest security challenge to the administration of President Felipe Calderón.

The group was originally linked to the Zetas, formerly the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, but is now operating autonomously, taking advantage of the increasingly fragmented cartel scene. La Familia has evolved into a powerful and hierarchical criminal organisation. Its growth was helped by an environment in which a high level of existing criminality and the inability of state security forces to counter this contributed to the group's development and its ability to recruit new members.