Mexico City police chief shot dead in ‘drug cartel hit’

It vies with the Sinaloa cartel of Joaquín “el Chapo” Gúzman, currently serving a life sentence plus 30 years in the United States, to be Mexico’s most powerful – and trigger-happy – organised crime group.

Both originated by smuggling cocaine and cannabis into the United States. But they have since metastasised, and now have multiple revenue streams, including extortion, kidnapping and migrant-smuggling.

They also routinely bribe and control public officials, including important figures in national politics.

Mr Morales Figueroa was a close ally of Mr García Harfuch, who has been named national head of public safety by Claudia Sheinbaum, the incoming president and former Mexico City mayor.

The pair had worked together from 2019 until earlier this year during a successful spell that saw a fall in violent crime in the capital.

Mr García Harfuch had previously held the same position as Mr Morales Figueroa, who continued his work coordinating investigations and raids on the cartels and other organised crime groups in the capital.

Recent operations under Mr Morales Figueroa included dismantling a drug retail network covering much of Mexico City and headquartered in Tepito, a central neighbourhood that has long had a ferocious reputation as a hive of criminal activity off limits to the police.

Describing his murdered colleague as a “great friend” and “extraordinary investigator,” Mr García Harfuch posted on Twitter: “As a team, we will find those responsible, as we always have done.”