Extensive coverage by the L.A. Times:
http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war
[Close to 10,000 killed since January 2007]
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Mexican_Drug_War
2006
December 1 - President Felipe Calderón assumed office and declared war on drug traffickers. He also imposed a cap on salaries of high-ranking public servants and ordered a raise on the salaries of the Federal Police and the Mexican armed forces.
2007
January 2 - Operation Baja California is launched.
April 3 - Police arrest suspected drug lord Victor Magno Escobar in Tijuana
March 17 - Zhenli Ye Gon, incauted US $213 millions dolars in Mexico City.
May 14 - Jorge Altriste, head of operations for Mexico's elite police force in Tijuana, was murdered.
May 16 - May 18: Battles in Cananea, Sonora, kill 15 gang members, five policemen, and two civilians.
December 2 - Popular singer Sergio Gómez is kidnapped and killed.
December 8 - Gerardo García Pimentel, a crime reporter, was killed.
December 29 - The entire police force in the town of Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, is disarmed from their weapons after suspicion of collaborating with drug cartels.
2008
January 21 - Mexican security forces capture drug lord Alfredo Beltran Leyva, head of the Sinaloa cartel.
April 26 - 15 people are killed in a gun battle between the Arellano-Felix cartel and a rival gang.
May 8 - Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, Mexico's National Police Chief, was gunned down in Mexico City. He was the highest-ranking Mexican official to be killed.
May 9 - Esteban Robles Espinosa, the commander of Mexico's investigative police force, was shot dead on a street in Mexico City.
May 17 - Presumed members of the Sinaloa Cartel attacked Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua and killed the police chief, two officers, and three civilians, and kidnapped at least 10 additional people.
May 28 - Seven federal police agents die in a shootout in Culiacan.
May 31 - The United States announces it is using a drug trafficking law to impose financial sanctions on Mexican drugs cartels, along with other non-state actors.
June 26 - Mexican police commander Igor Labastida is shot dead in a restaurant in Mexico City.
August 27 - Mexican police find three headless bodies in a rubbish dump in Tijuana killed by drug cartels.
September 15 - 2008 Morelia grenade attacks: Grenades killed eight civilians and injured more than 100 in Morelia, Michoacán.
September 17 - Over 200 people across Mexico, Guatemala, Italy and the United States, including members of the Gulf cartel and the 'Ndrangheta are arrested in a major anti-drug trafficking operation, Operation Solare.
October 22 - Police capture Mexican cartel boss Jesus Zambada of the Sinaloa cartel after a shootout in Mexico City.
October 24 - Mexican criminal investigator Andres Dimitriadis is shot dead by drug traffickers in his car on his way home.
October 26 - Colombian police seize a shipment of cocaine worth $200m en route to Mexico.
October 26 - The Mexican army captures drug lord Eduardo Arellano Felix after a shootout in Tijuana.
November 2 - Senior Mexican police officer Victor Gerardo Garay resigns amidst claims one of his aides was on the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel.
November 4 - 2008 Mexico City plane crash: Juan Camilo Mouriño, Secretary of the Interior of President Felipe Calderón, dies when his Learjet crashes in Mexico City. Fourteen others die, including José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the former assistant attorney general. Mexican authorities said there was no evidence of foul play, as both Mouriño and Vasconcelos were key figures in the drug war, and that the accident was caused by wake turbulence.
November 19 - Mexican Interpol chief Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas is arrested on suspicion of links with drug traffickers.
November 21 - Noe Ramirez Mandujano, ex-head of Mexico's anti-organized crime agency, is arrested on suspicion of links with drug traffickers.
November 28: Gunmen in Ciudad Juarez killed eight people at a restaurant.
November 30: Guatemalan and Mexican drug gangs clash on the two country's borders, leaving 18 dead.
December 4: 13 bodies are found near a dirt road in Sinaloa state.
December 8 - Ten suspected drug traffickers and one soldier are killed in a shootout in Guerrero while another six people are killed when fire is opened on a pool hall in Ciudad Juarez.
December 10: Felix Batista, an American anti-kidnapping expert was kidnapped in Saltillo, Coahuila.
December 21: Seven off-duty soldiers and one police commander were kidnapped, tortured and decapitated. Their heads were left at a shopping center with a threat note to the military.
Summary: For 2008 a record of 5,630 deaths was reached.
2009
January 2 - Mexican authorities arrested Alberto Espinoza Barron (known as La Fresa), who is presumed to be one of the leaders of the Michoacán Drug Cartel (La Familia).
January 6: Gunmen fired on and threw grenades at the Televisa TV station in Monterrey during a nightly newscast, causing no injuries. A note left on the scene read: "Stop reporting just on us. Report on the narco's political leaders."
January 19 - 21 police officers in Tijuana are arrested on suspicion of collaborating with drug cartels.
January 22 - Police arrest Santiago Meza, a man who allegedly dissolved 300 bodies of rival drug traffickers for his boss Teodoro Garcia Simental, after he split from the Arellano Felix cartel.
February 3 - The body of retired General Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñonez, who had been appointed a special drugs consultant to the Benito Juarez municipality mayor, was found near Cancun along with the bodies of his aide and a driver.
February 5 - Police capture drug dealer Geronimo Gamez Garcia in Mexico City.
February 10 - Troops descended upon a police station in Cancun in connection with the torture and murder of former general Mauro Enrique Tello, who led an elite anti-drugs squad.
February 10 - Assailants kidnapped 9 people in Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua. They were then pursued by the Mexican military to a ranch located 12 km south of the Garita de Samalayuca, where at least 21 people were killed. The fatalities includes one soldier, 6 of the 9 prisoners and 14 assailants that were killed by The Mexican army. This event shares much with the attack of May 17, 2008, and it is presumed that the attackers were members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
February 12 - Octavio Almanza, alleged head of Los Zetas in Cancun is arrested.
February 12 - Gunmen assassinate Detective Ramón Jasso Rodríguez, the chief in charge of the homicide division for the state police of Nuevo León.
February 13 - A police patrol was ambushed in a grenade attack in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. Two municipality police officers were injured and evacuated to the hospital, they were reported to be in stable condition.
February 14 - In the municipality of Villa Ahumada, 125 kilometers south of Ciudad Juárez. Mexican troops on patrol fought a gunbattle with cartel gunmen, leaving three assailants dead.
February 15 - Five people were killed by alleged narco assailants in Gomez Palacio, Durango.
The Mexican Navy with the help of The United States Coast Guard, confiscated 7 tons of cocaine being transported on a fishing vessel in international waters in the Pacific Ocean.
Gunmen in Tabasco kill a policeman, ten members of his family, and another person.
February 16 - Seven people were killed by alleged narco assailants in Jalisco.
February 17 - A muliple-hour running gun battle between elements of the Mexican Army and unknown attackers (sicarios) has resulted in five dead soldiers and 5 dead assailants in a shopping district and several residential neighborhoods of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Approximately 20 additional people were injured by gunfire and grenades.
February 20 - Ciudad Juarez Police Chief Robert Orduna announced his resignation after two police officers are killed. Drug traffickers had threatened to kill a police officer every 48 hours until the chief resigned.
February 22 - Five assailants attacked the convoy of Chihuahua governor, José Reyes Baeza, killing a bodyguard.
February 24 - Mexican authorities extradited Miguel Angel Caro Quintero (the brother of Rafael Caro Quintero) to the U.S.
Heavily armed gunmen assassinated the Vista Hermosa Mayor in Michoacán.
February 25 - assailants attacked a police patrol with gunfire and fragmentation grenades in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, killing four police officers.
American raids code-named Operation Xcellerator on the Sinaloa cartel in California, Minnesota and Maryland lead to 755 arrests, the discovery of a 'super meth lab' and laboratory equipment capable of producing 12,000 ecstasy pills an hour.
February 28 - Close to 1,800 Mexican troops arrived in Ciudad Juarez as part of a contingent of 5,000 Federal Police and troops.
March 4: 2009 Mexico prison riot leaves 20 dead.
March 9: French President Nicolas Sarkozy meets Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico, Sarkozy and Mexican President Felipe Calderon held a private dinner and will sign deals on health and education and meet with French and Mexican business leaders. Frances security and defense company Thales will sign today a contract with Mexico City to develop a video-surveillance network aimed at curbing gang violence. Thales will jointly build the close-circuit television (CCTV) system with billionaire Carlos Slims Telmex Internacional SAB, according to French newspaper Le Monde. Separately, Sarkozy will discuss with his counterpart the fate of French national Florence Cassez who was sentenced to a 60-year jail term for being involved in kidnappings in Mexico. Cassez may ask to be returned to France to finish her sentence in her home country.
The Mexican Army confirmed the arrest of 26 members of the Arrellano Felix Cartel, including Ángel Jácome Gamboa (El Kaibil'), one state police officer, one municipal police officer, and other suspects.
March 10: The Mexican Ministry of Defense orders 6 Eurocopter EC 725 Helicopters from Eurocopter to transport Mexican soldiers in special operations. The deal was finalized behind closed doors between Mexican President Felipe Calderon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
March 10: 5 human heads found in coolers in Jalisco, Mexico. Jalisco state Public Safety Secretary Luis Carlos Najera says threatening messages aimed at drug traffickers were found with the heads, which were covered with tape and discovered in individual coolers near the community of Ixtlahuacan del Rio.
March 12: The United States Department of Homeland Security stated that it is considering using the National Guard as a last resort to counter the threat of drug violence in Mexico from spilling over the border into the US.
March 19: The Mexican Military captures alleged Sinaloa cartel drug trafficker Vicente Zambada. Zambada's father, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, also is considered a top leader of the Sinaloa cartel and is among Mexico's most-wanted suspects.
March 22: Gunmen have killed a state police commander in charge of investigating kidnappings and extortion in the western state of Michoacan. Edgar Garcia was sitting at a red light in his car Sunday when two other vehicles pulled up and opened fire, the state government said in a communique late Sunday. He died at the scene. State police in a nearby patrol car chased the suspects. One of the cars went out of control and crashed into a university building, according to the statement. A gunman got out of the car and began shooting at police, injuring one officer. Police then shot the gunman dead while his partner fled with apparent gunshot wounds.
March 25: A battle took place between The PFP and members of a kidnapping gang linked to "La Familia" cartel. Two federal policemen were injured and 3 of the delinquents were captured.
Mexican Army Special Forces Unit captured one of Mexico's most-wanted drug smugglers Hector Huerta Rios, whose nickname "la burra" female donkey belies his power as the alleged trafficker controlling drugs flowing through the northern city of Monterrey.
March 26: A US Marshal, Vincent Bustamante who was the subject of an arrest warrant, was found dead in Juarez, Mexico.
April 1: Three gunmen were killed by The Mexican army in a 10 minute gun battle.
April 2 - Vicente Carrillo Levya, son of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, was arrested near Mexico City.
April 19 - Eight police officers are killed in an attack on a prison convoy transporting senior leaders of the Beltran Leyva cartel cartel. Federal Police captured 44 members of "La Familia", including its chief Rafael Cedeño Hernández "El Cede".
April 22 - The bodies of two undercover government agents are found in Durango state, 50 km south of Guanacevi, along with a note saying "Neither priests nor rulers will ever get El Chapo" (El Chapo referring to Joaquin Guzman and with clear allusion to the comments of the Archbishop of Durango Hector Gonzalez Martinez)
April 30 - Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, an influential figure in Los Zetas, was captured in the city of Matamoros.
May 17 - An armed gang linked to the Gulf cartel disguised as police officers break into a prison in Zacatecas and free 50 inmates.
May 27 - 27 high-ranking officials including 10 mayors and a judge in Michoacán suspected of collaboration with La Familia cartel.
June 6- 16 gunmen of a drug cartel and 2 Mexican Army soldiers are killed during a four hour shootout in Acapulco.
June 15 - Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza of the Gulf Cartel is captured in Cancun.
June 26 - Federal police kill 12 members of Los Zetas in Apaseo el Alto.
Gunmen kill two assistants of Ernesto Cornejo, a Partido Acción Nacional candidate, in Sonora, but fail to kill him.
July 7 - Anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron and his brother-in-law Luis Widmar are murdered after armed men storm their house in Galeana.
July 11 - Several Police headquarters are attacked by gunmen in Michoacan leaving several injured, and 2 members of the Mexican Army dead.
July 14 - On July 14, 2009, the organization tortured and murdered twelve Mexican federal agents and dumped the bodies along the side of a mountain highway. The agents were investigating crime in President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan.
http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war
[Close to 10,000 killed since January 2007]
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Mexican_Drug_War
2006
December 1 - President Felipe Calderón assumed office and declared war on drug traffickers. He also imposed a cap on salaries of high-ranking public servants and ordered a raise on the salaries of the Federal Police and the Mexican armed forces.
2007
January 2 - Operation Baja California is launched.
April 3 - Police arrest suspected drug lord Victor Magno Escobar in Tijuana
March 17 - Zhenli Ye Gon, incauted US $213 millions dolars in Mexico City.
May 14 - Jorge Altriste, head of operations for Mexico's elite police force in Tijuana, was murdered.
May 16 - May 18: Battles in Cananea, Sonora, kill 15 gang members, five policemen, and two civilians.
December 2 - Popular singer Sergio Gómez is kidnapped and killed.
December 8 - Gerardo García Pimentel, a crime reporter, was killed.
December 29 - The entire police force in the town of Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, is disarmed from their weapons after suspicion of collaborating with drug cartels.
2008
January 21 - Mexican security forces capture drug lord Alfredo Beltran Leyva, head of the Sinaloa cartel.
April 26 - 15 people are killed in a gun battle between the Arellano-Felix cartel and a rival gang.
May 8 - Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, Mexico's National Police Chief, was gunned down in Mexico City. He was the highest-ranking Mexican official to be killed.
May 9 - Esteban Robles Espinosa, the commander of Mexico's investigative police force, was shot dead on a street in Mexico City.
May 17 - Presumed members of the Sinaloa Cartel attacked Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua and killed the police chief, two officers, and three civilians, and kidnapped at least 10 additional people.
May 28 - Seven federal police agents die in a shootout in Culiacan.
May 31 - The United States announces it is using a drug trafficking law to impose financial sanctions on Mexican drugs cartels, along with other non-state actors.
June 26 - Mexican police commander Igor Labastida is shot dead in a restaurant in Mexico City.
August 27 - Mexican police find three headless bodies in a rubbish dump in Tijuana killed by drug cartels.
September 15 - 2008 Morelia grenade attacks: Grenades killed eight civilians and injured more than 100 in Morelia, Michoacán.
September 17 - Over 200 people across Mexico, Guatemala, Italy and the United States, including members of the Gulf cartel and the 'Ndrangheta are arrested in a major anti-drug trafficking operation, Operation Solare.
October 22 - Police capture Mexican cartel boss Jesus Zambada of the Sinaloa cartel after a shootout in Mexico City.
October 24 - Mexican criminal investigator Andres Dimitriadis is shot dead by drug traffickers in his car on his way home.
October 26 - Colombian police seize a shipment of cocaine worth $200m en route to Mexico.
October 26 - The Mexican army captures drug lord Eduardo Arellano Felix after a shootout in Tijuana.
November 2 - Senior Mexican police officer Victor Gerardo Garay resigns amidst claims one of his aides was on the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel.
November 4 - 2008 Mexico City plane crash: Juan Camilo Mouriño, Secretary of the Interior of President Felipe Calderón, dies when his Learjet crashes in Mexico City. Fourteen others die, including José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the former assistant attorney general. Mexican authorities said there was no evidence of foul play, as both Mouriño and Vasconcelos were key figures in the drug war, and that the accident was caused by wake turbulence.
November 19 - Mexican Interpol chief Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas is arrested on suspicion of links with drug traffickers.
November 21 - Noe Ramirez Mandujano, ex-head of Mexico's anti-organized crime agency, is arrested on suspicion of links with drug traffickers.
November 28: Gunmen in Ciudad Juarez killed eight people at a restaurant.
November 30: Guatemalan and Mexican drug gangs clash on the two country's borders, leaving 18 dead.
December 4: 13 bodies are found near a dirt road in Sinaloa state.
December 8 - Ten suspected drug traffickers and one soldier are killed in a shootout in Guerrero while another six people are killed when fire is opened on a pool hall in Ciudad Juarez.
December 10: Felix Batista, an American anti-kidnapping expert was kidnapped in Saltillo, Coahuila.
December 21: Seven off-duty soldiers and one police commander were kidnapped, tortured and decapitated. Their heads were left at a shopping center with a threat note to the military.
Summary: For 2008 a record of 5,630 deaths was reached.
2009
January 2 - Mexican authorities arrested Alberto Espinoza Barron (known as La Fresa), who is presumed to be one of the leaders of the Michoacán Drug Cartel (La Familia).
January 6: Gunmen fired on and threw grenades at the Televisa TV station in Monterrey during a nightly newscast, causing no injuries. A note left on the scene read: "Stop reporting just on us. Report on the narco's political leaders."
January 19 - 21 police officers in Tijuana are arrested on suspicion of collaborating with drug cartels.
January 22 - Police arrest Santiago Meza, a man who allegedly dissolved 300 bodies of rival drug traffickers for his boss Teodoro Garcia Simental, after he split from the Arellano Felix cartel.
February 3 - The body of retired General Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñonez, who had been appointed a special drugs consultant to the Benito Juarez municipality mayor, was found near Cancun along with the bodies of his aide and a driver.
February 5 - Police capture drug dealer Geronimo Gamez Garcia in Mexico City.
February 10 - Troops descended upon a police station in Cancun in connection with the torture and murder of former general Mauro Enrique Tello, who led an elite anti-drugs squad.
February 10 - Assailants kidnapped 9 people in Villa Ahumada, Chihuahua. They were then pursued by the Mexican military to a ranch located 12 km south of the Garita de Samalayuca, where at least 21 people were killed. The fatalities includes one soldier, 6 of the 9 prisoners and 14 assailants that were killed by The Mexican army. This event shares much with the attack of May 17, 2008, and it is presumed that the attackers were members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
February 12 - Octavio Almanza, alleged head of Los Zetas in Cancun is arrested.
February 12 - Gunmen assassinate Detective Ramón Jasso Rodríguez, the chief in charge of the homicide division for the state police of Nuevo León.
February 13 - A police patrol was ambushed in a grenade attack in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. Two municipality police officers were injured and evacuated to the hospital, they were reported to be in stable condition.
February 14 - In the municipality of Villa Ahumada, 125 kilometers south of Ciudad Juárez. Mexican troops on patrol fought a gunbattle with cartel gunmen, leaving three assailants dead.
February 15 - Five people were killed by alleged narco assailants in Gomez Palacio, Durango.
The Mexican Navy with the help of The United States Coast Guard, confiscated 7 tons of cocaine being transported on a fishing vessel in international waters in the Pacific Ocean.
Gunmen in Tabasco kill a policeman, ten members of his family, and another person.
February 16 - Seven people were killed by alleged narco assailants in Jalisco.
February 17 - A muliple-hour running gun battle between elements of the Mexican Army and unknown attackers (sicarios) has resulted in five dead soldiers and 5 dead assailants in a shopping district and several residential neighborhoods of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Approximately 20 additional people were injured by gunfire and grenades.
February 20 - Ciudad Juarez Police Chief Robert Orduna announced his resignation after two police officers are killed. Drug traffickers had threatened to kill a police officer every 48 hours until the chief resigned.
February 22 - Five assailants attacked the convoy of Chihuahua governor, José Reyes Baeza, killing a bodyguard.
February 24 - Mexican authorities extradited Miguel Angel Caro Quintero (the brother of Rafael Caro Quintero) to the U.S.
Heavily armed gunmen assassinated the Vista Hermosa Mayor in Michoacán.
February 25 - assailants attacked a police patrol with gunfire and fragmentation grenades in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, killing four police officers.
American raids code-named Operation Xcellerator on the Sinaloa cartel in California, Minnesota and Maryland lead to 755 arrests, the discovery of a 'super meth lab' and laboratory equipment capable of producing 12,000 ecstasy pills an hour.
February 28 - Close to 1,800 Mexican troops arrived in Ciudad Juarez as part of a contingent of 5,000 Federal Police and troops.
March 4: 2009 Mexico prison riot leaves 20 dead.
March 9: French President Nicolas Sarkozy meets Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico, Sarkozy and Mexican President Felipe Calderon held a private dinner and will sign deals on health and education and meet with French and Mexican business leaders. Frances security and defense company Thales will sign today a contract with Mexico City to develop a video-surveillance network aimed at curbing gang violence. Thales will jointly build the close-circuit television (CCTV) system with billionaire Carlos Slims Telmex Internacional SAB, according to French newspaper Le Monde. Separately, Sarkozy will discuss with his counterpart the fate of French national Florence Cassez who was sentenced to a 60-year jail term for being involved in kidnappings in Mexico. Cassez may ask to be returned to France to finish her sentence in her home country.
The Mexican Army confirmed the arrest of 26 members of the Arrellano Felix Cartel, including Ángel Jácome Gamboa (El Kaibil'), one state police officer, one municipal police officer, and other suspects.
March 10: The Mexican Ministry of Defense orders 6 Eurocopter EC 725 Helicopters from Eurocopter to transport Mexican soldiers in special operations. The deal was finalized behind closed doors between Mexican President Felipe Calderon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
March 10: 5 human heads found in coolers in Jalisco, Mexico. Jalisco state Public Safety Secretary Luis Carlos Najera says threatening messages aimed at drug traffickers were found with the heads, which were covered with tape and discovered in individual coolers near the community of Ixtlahuacan del Rio.
March 12: The United States Department of Homeland Security stated that it is considering using the National Guard as a last resort to counter the threat of drug violence in Mexico from spilling over the border into the US.
March 19: The Mexican Military captures alleged Sinaloa cartel drug trafficker Vicente Zambada. Zambada's father, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, also is considered a top leader of the Sinaloa cartel and is among Mexico's most-wanted suspects.
March 22: Gunmen have killed a state police commander in charge of investigating kidnappings and extortion in the western state of Michoacan. Edgar Garcia was sitting at a red light in his car Sunday when two other vehicles pulled up and opened fire, the state government said in a communique late Sunday. He died at the scene. State police in a nearby patrol car chased the suspects. One of the cars went out of control and crashed into a university building, according to the statement. A gunman got out of the car and began shooting at police, injuring one officer. Police then shot the gunman dead while his partner fled with apparent gunshot wounds.
March 25: A battle took place between The PFP and members of a kidnapping gang linked to "La Familia" cartel. Two federal policemen were injured and 3 of the delinquents were captured.
Mexican Army Special Forces Unit captured one of Mexico's most-wanted drug smugglers Hector Huerta Rios, whose nickname "la burra" female donkey belies his power as the alleged trafficker controlling drugs flowing through the northern city of Monterrey.
March 26: A US Marshal, Vincent Bustamante who was the subject of an arrest warrant, was found dead in Juarez, Mexico.
April 1: Three gunmen were killed by The Mexican army in a 10 minute gun battle.
April 2 - Vicente Carrillo Levya, son of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, was arrested near Mexico City.
April 19 - Eight police officers are killed in an attack on a prison convoy transporting senior leaders of the Beltran Leyva cartel cartel. Federal Police captured 44 members of "La Familia", including its chief Rafael Cedeño Hernández "El Cede".
April 22 - The bodies of two undercover government agents are found in Durango state, 50 km south of Guanacevi, along with a note saying "Neither priests nor rulers will ever get El Chapo" (El Chapo referring to Joaquin Guzman and with clear allusion to the comments of the Archbishop of Durango Hector Gonzalez Martinez)
April 30 - Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, an influential figure in Los Zetas, was captured in the city of Matamoros.
May 17 - An armed gang linked to the Gulf cartel disguised as police officers break into a prison in Zacatecas and free 50 inmates.
May 27 - 27 high-ranking officials including 10 mayors and a judge in Michoacán suspected of collaboration with La Familia cartel.
June 6- 16 gunmen of a drug cartel and 2 Mexican Army soldiers are killed during a four hour shootout in Acapulco.
June 15 - Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza of the Gulf Cartel is captured in Cancun.
June 26 - Federal police kill 12 members of Los Zetas in Apaseo el Alto.
Gunmen kill two assistants of Ernesto Cornejo, a Partido Acción Nacional candidate, in Sonora, but fail to kill him.
July 7 - Anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron and his brother-in-law Luis Widmar are murdered after armed men storm their house in Galeana.
July 11 - Several Police headquarters are attacked by gunmen in Michoacan leaving several injured, and 2 members of the Mexican Army dead.
July 14 - On July 14, 2009, the organization tortured and murdered twelve Mexican federal agents and dumped the bodies along the side of a mountain highway. The agents were investigating crime in President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan.
