A Big Haul in Mexico in the War Against Cartels.

Montoya is the supposed leader of the gang “La Mano con Ojos” (the hand with eyes), plaguing the Mexico City area. Whenever he wanted to deliver a “message”, he would do so by displaying the decapitated heads of his enemies in public places in and around Mexico City.

Montoya started out in the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, where he was first a chauffeur, then a bodyguard, for one of the family leaders, before creating his own gang around the capital city.

He recently turned against his original cartel, Beltrán-Leyva, after trying to take control of it in 2009 following the death of its leader, Arturo Beltran. His gang, La Mano con Ojos, is allegedly responsible for no fewer than 900 murders in a few years. Montoya admits to having participated in 600 of them. La Mano con Ojas acted as henchmen recruited by the big cartels, rather than being directly involved in drug-trafficking.

In five years, the crackdown and fighting between cartels have led to more than 42,000 deaths in Mexico.