The Captured Leader Of The Zetas Cartel Is A Particularly Depraved Individual Who Reportedly Liked To 'Stew' His Victims

Mexican marines have captured the head of the country's ultraviolent Zetas drug cartel near the border with Texas, and all indications are that he is a particularly brutal character.

Officials have described Miguel Angel Trevino, aka "Z-40," as a brutal killer who liked to "stew" his enemies by plunging them in containers of oil and fuel before light them on fire, according to AFP.

The 40-year-old ex-police officer and two others were detained in Nuevo Laredo, the northeastern Tamaulipas state city bordering Texas.

The Zetas, founded by former elite soldiers, are one of the most powerful and feared organized crime groups in Mexico. The cartel originally served as the enforcers of the Gulf Cartel, but splits off in 2010.

A brutal turf between the Zetas, Gulf, and Sinaloa cartels has occurred in the north of the country ever since.

The arrest of Z-40 is the first victory for new president Pena Nieto, who took over in December. Under his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, cartels conquered Mexico and began making significant inroads in large U.S. cities.

A different will undoubted take Z-40's place. As Pablo Escobar's former security chief, Jhon "Popeye" Velásquez, told Der Spiegel: "You will never win this [drug] war when there is so much money to me made. Never."

Trevino took control of the Zetas after Mexican troops killed his predecessor, Heriberto Lazcano. Authorities lost Lazcano's corpse when gunmen stole his body for a funeral home.