Mexican authorities have arrested the purported head of the once-powerful La Familia Michoacana drug cartel in the eastern region of Mexico state, prosecutors said.

Juan Carlos Muñoz Vargas, 36, was detained during a police operation in the state capital of Toluca, the attorney general of that state, which surrounds Mexico City on three sides, said Thursday in a press conference.

According to Alfredo Castillo, Muñoz controlled drug sales in the cities of Ciudad Neza, Chimalhuacan, Texcoco, Los Reyes La Paz and San Vicente Chicoloapan and ran extortion rackets at bars.