Young heirs give Mexico drug cartels new face

By Mica Rosenberg, Reuters
8:31 a.m. April 8, 2009

Suspects and seized weapons are presented to the media in Tecate, Mexico, late Tuesday, April 7, 2009. Mexico`s Federal police arrested 21 suspects related to the organized crime, 12 of whom are allegedly involved on a shooting against Federal officers on Tuesday in Tecate. -

MEXICO CITY — Shunning the gem-studded pistols and gold chains flaunted by their fathers, a savvy new generation of drug smugglers is moving up the ranks of Mexico's cartels wielding college degrees and keeping low profiles to outsmart police.

The fashionably-dressed sons of two prominent drug bosses were recently arrested in smart Mexico City neighborhoods, suspected of laundering money for the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels while moving seamlessly among the country's elite.

They typify a new wave of leaders of Mexico's warring drug cartels, whose turf wars killed 6,300 people last year. Often the urbane offspring of cartel founders, they bring a clean-cut management style to the murky multibillion dollar enterprise.

“These people are usually better prepared, better educated and very useful for the cartels because they're professionals,â€