Whack-a-mole Drug War: Familia Claim Split with 'El Chango' Over Zetas Alliance

From 'InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas

Familia Claim Split with 'El Chango' Over Zetas Alliance: "With a series of public banners posted around the Mexican state of Michoacan, the Familia drug gang has sought to distance itself from recently arrested boss Jose de Jesus Mendez, alias 'El Chango,' and his alliance with the Zetas.

After Mendez, one of the Familia's leading figures, was captured some days previously, the government said the group was in its death throws. But the new messages cast doubt on that diagnosis, and suggest that with Mendez out of the picture, the split between the Familia and splinter group Los Caballeros Templarios may be salvageable. Far from heralding its decline, this could clear the way for the gang to become still more powerful."