GANG BEHEADINGS COMMON IN CENTRAL MEXICO

VILLA MADERO, Mexico -- The drug lords at war in central Mexico are no
longer content with simply killing their enemies. They are putting
their severed heads on public display.

In Michoacan, the home state of President-elect Felipe
Calderon, 17 heads have turned up this year, many with
bloodstained notes like the one found in the highlands
town of Tepalcatepec in August: "See. Hear. Shut Up. If
you want to stay alive."

Many in Michoacan's mountains and colonial cities are doing just that:
They are tightlipped, their newspapers are censoring themselves and in
one town, 18 out of 32 police officers quit saying they had received
death threats from drug smugglers.

In the most gruesome case, gunmen burst into a nightclub and rolled
five heads onto the dance floor. In another, a pair of heads were
planted in front of a car dealership in Zitacuaro, a town best known
until now as a nesting ground for monarch butterflies.

By a highway outside Tepalcatepec, suspected drug smuggler Hector
Eduardo Bautista's tortured body was dumped on July 10. Near a black
metal cross put up by his family at the spot, killers apparently
avenging his death have been leaving severed heads -- five so far --
each with a threatening message.

Beheadings and accompanying notes in sometimes cryptic and misspelled
Spanish are becoming a ghoulish vogue among the gangs that grow
marijuana, cook methamphetamine and run cocaine in Michoacan. There
have been 420 homicides in the state this year, including 19 police
chiefs and commanders, and Juan Antonio Magana, the state's attorney
general, says well over half the killings were drug-related -- the
work of smuggling gangs reorganizing after authorities captured some
of their top leaders.

"These are groups that are very big, very strong and are out to
dominate territory," Magana said in an interview.

Drug smuggling in Michoacan has traditionally been controlled by a
syndicate known as Los Valencia. Police arrested its leader, Armando
Valencia, in August 2003 and one of his lieutenants, Carlos Alberto
Rosales Mendoza, a year later.

Now, anti-narcotics investigators say, the Gulf cartel based in
northern Mexico is battling its way into Los Valencia territory,
relying on "Los Zetas," ex-Mexican army operatives-turned hit men. Los
Valencia loyalists have fought back fiercely.

Many notes attached to slaying victims are signed "The Family," a
possible reference to Los Valencia. Some mention "La Chata," a known
alias for a top reputed Gulf cartel hit man.

"They don't need to leave written messages. The mere fact that they
are using such high levels of violence is sending messages of
intimidation, causing fear," Magana said. "But doing it shows other
gangs they can act in even more gruesome and violent ways than their
rivals."

With a vast and sparsely populated Pacific coast and the rugged Sierra
Madre del Sur Mountains, Michoacan is good territory for producing and
smuggling drugs.