Drugs: Capturing a Kingpin

; As patriarch of an extended family of 2,000 members in Mexico, Jaime Herrera Nevarez, 60, was known as the “Drug Lord of Durango.” The former policeman directed a heroin-smuggling pipeline into the U.S. Midwest that generated an estimated $200 million annually. Herrera was so sure he was untouchable that he regularly appeared at weddings and christenings.

But the pressure the U.S. is exerting on Mexico to crack down on drug trafficking may finally be paying off. Last week the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mexican Federal Judicial Police confirmed the arrest of the drug lord and his son Jaime Herrera Herrera. After DEA agents helped locate the Herreras last month, federales raided their houses in Guadalajara and Torreon. Said Antonio Gonzalez of the Mexican embassy in Washington: “These arrests show that our effort is going firmly and showing results.”