FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2015, file photo, Mexican federal police escort who they identify as Servando "La Tuta" Gómez," leader of the Knights Templar cartel, as he sits inside helicopter at a Federal hanger in Mexico City. Mexican authorities said Monday, June 17, 2019 that the former Knights Templar cartel boss has been sentenced to 55 years in prison after he was found responsible for the 2011 kidnapping of a businessman in the city of Uruapan. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Republished June 17, 2019 - 4:27 PM
Original Publication Date June 17, 2019 - 2:01 PM
MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities say former Knights Templar cartel boss Servando Gómez has been sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Prosecutors in the western state of Michoacan announced the sentence Monday in a brief statement and said Gómez was found responsible for the 2011 kidnapping of a businessman in the city of Uruapan.
Gómez is a former grade school teacher known by the alias "La Tuta."
He led the Knights Templar for years as it terrorized Michoacan.
The cartel became notorious for using extortions, kidnappings and killings to dominate social and political life in the state.
The Knights Templar lost control after thousands of civilians responded by taking up arms and forming self-defence groups.
Gómez was captured by security forces in 2015.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019