Jose Rodolfo Escajeda Escajeda was captured Friday in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, in what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration described as a significant blow against the cartel.

Mexican national defense officials said Escajeda, nicknamed "El Rikin," is also allegedly responsible for the deaths of anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron and LeBaron's brother-in-law Luis Carlos Whitman last July in Galeana, in the northwestern part of Chihuahua.

LeBaron, a dual U.S.-Mexico citizen, was killed after a community protest movement was born that forced the release of LeBaron's kidnapped brother, Eric, military officials said.

Mexican newspapers have reported that Escajeda may also be behind the shooting that killed 18 men inside a Juárez drug rehab center last week.

Special Agent Diana Apodaca, a spokeswoman for the DEA in El Paso, said the agency will seek Escajeda's extradition to face drug charges in the United States.

Escajeda's capture is "definitely important. We are very happy, very pleased with his arrest," Apodaca said on Sunday. " ... It should send a message that the United States and Mexico are working together to punish drug traffickers."

Law enforcement had said Escajeda had a dangerous reputation, including the alleged firing of AK-47 assault rifles skyward out of moving vehicles, burning down homes of farmers, murders, and beheadings.

The blatant force was intended to intimidate and keep control of the Escajeda family drug ring based in the farming village of Guadalupe in the valley along the Rio Grande east of Juárez. The U.S. Consulate has warned Americans to stay out of the valley.

Mexican military officials allege Escajeda is also behind the border standoff between men dressed like Mexican soldiers and sheriff deputies in Hudspeth County in 2006.

The DEA featured Escajeda last year in a "wanted" billboard in El Paso.

Escajeda is reputed to be one of the top leaders of La Linea, as the Juárez drug cartel is known.

Escajeda could be as high as third place in the cartel's hierarchy and reputedly works for cartel lieutenant "JL," whom the Mexico attorney general's office has identified as Jose Luis Ledesma.

Ledesma, also nicknamed "El Dos Letras" and "La Bestia" (the beast), and reputed cartel kingpin Vicente Carrillo Fuentes remain at large.

Escajeda had been under fire since the war began between La Linea and the "Gente Nueva," the new people allied with the Sinaloa cartel, erupted in January 2008.

Escajeda has been the focus of threatening, often-vulgarity filled Internet videos possibly made by rivals.

On Friday, Escajeda and three other men were captured by a Mexican army patrol checking reports of armed men riding in bulletproof vehicles in Nuevo Casas Grandes, military officials said.

The other men arrested were Angel Reyes Reyes, Adrian Cervantes Luis and Arturo Montes Ortiz.

After their arrest, the prisoners were flown to Mexico City and handed to organized crime investigators.

Law enforcement agents said it was unclear how Escajeda's capture will affect the violence in Juárez, where more than 3,000 people have been killed since the start of the cartel war.

The Juárez cartel has taken several blows during the narco war amid a federal crackdown and speculation has been growing that the organization has been weakened.

"A year ago nobody would touch him," said an anti-crime activist in northwestern Chihuahua who asked not to be named for safety reasons. "It seems like it (Escajeda's arrest) is a step in the right direction."

Daniel Borunda may be reached at

dborunda@elpasotimes.com

546-6102.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at

dvaldez@elpasotimes.com

546-6140.