6. Knights Templar Cartel
An offshoot of the defunct La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, the Knights Templar Cartel, Guard of Michoacan, or Los Caballeros Templarios Guardia Michoacana, was formed following the death of La Familia leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez. La Familia had been known as a “narco-Evangelist” cartel whose leader wrote a book of religious ramblings he forced his troops to read. The leaders of the new cartel, led by Servando Gomez Martinez, or “La Tuta,” decided religious discipline was needed to keep cartel members in line. He modeled their organization after the medieval crusaders of Jerusalem. They announced their presence by raising banners throughout Michoacan reading, “Our commitment is to safeguard order, avoid robberies, kidnapping, extortion, and to shield the state from rival organizations.” But soon they were hanging corpses, claiming them to belong to criminals and sinners, and wiping out their old allies still loyal to La Familia.
The Knights Templar believed in a code of honor, which they detailed in a pamphlet bearing images of knights on horseback bearing lances and crosses. They claimed to promote “gentleman-like behavior,” respect for women, and opposition to poverty, tyranny, and injustice. Evidence seized by Mexican Federal Police indicated the use of hooded robes, crosses, and metal helmets in rituals. Many who join the cartel are drug addicts who are put through a religious rehabilitation program by the group, then forbidden to take drugs.
Some claim new initiates of the group perform blood rites and even consume children’s hearts. After the capture of La Tuta in early 2015, the cartel’s cult appears to have collapsed, but some fear the collapse of the Templar command structure will lead to more violence and another cartel sweeping in to fill the power void.
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