A long-active 76-year-old cartel leader was sentenced to life, Liberty Times reported, with inside cooperation said to have been the decisive break in his capture and indictment.

The organization inflicted enormous violence and harm through decades of cross-border trafficking; the life sentence is the outcome of a long judicial process.

Drug crime is hard to eradicate by punishing single organizations alone. Curbing demand, international cooperation and social safety nets must work together, observers say.

Authorities are wary of power realignment and follow-on crime after the group's dismantling; pairing punishment with prevention is the challenge.

We avoid glamorizing perpetrators or lurid description, relaying facts from the standpoint of victims' and communities' safety.