International briefs: Mexico

A MEXICAN drug lord, killed during a two-day shoot-out with police, indoctrinated gang members in a pseudo-Christian ideology, and purportedly wrote a book of moral values for his cult-like cartel.

Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, known as "The Craziest One," gruesomely decapitated his foes while selling cocaine and methamphetamine by the tonne, claimed authorities.

Gonzalez announced the emergence of his cartel four years ago by rolling five severed heads into a Michoacan nightclub and vowing to protect President Felipe Calderon's home state from rival cartels.

Calderon responded by deploying thousands of federal police into Michoacan seeking to crush the cartel, called La Familia.

The crackdown has expanded to trafficking hotspots across Mexico and brought down seven top cartel leaders over the past year, three of them arrested and four of them killed.