"La Tuta", the leader of the criminal organization known as "Los Caballeros Templarios" ("The Knights Templar"), one of the most prominent criminal cells in Mexico, gave an interview to Mundo Fox.
Servando Gómez Martínez better known as "La Tuta" told Mundo Fox that he's a criminal but a "quality" one, and said that neither he nor his associates steal from the poor.
"Yes, I'm a criminal, but I want to be a quality criminal, I'm not going to go around robbing and [expletive] around; I'm not going to rob stores or extort money from the guy selling enchiladas," said Gómez in the interview, which can be seen on YouTube.
Gómez, one of the visible leaders of "Los Caballeros Templarios", has stood out for his YouTube channel in which he uploads videos with anti-government sentiments, and defending the "principles" of what he calls "an enterprise" or a "brotherhood".
As it has happened in the past, the leader of the "Templars" told the American network that his organization is against extortions and kidnapping, and claimed that the criminal group "protects" the population.
Likewise, "La Tuta" said that the governments of former President Felipe Calderón and current President Enrique Peña Nieto, haven't managed to establish a state of law in the country, which is why, he claims, organizations like his are the answer to the incompetence of the Mexican government.
"We demand that the Federal government pays the necessary attention to establish a state of law. If we assume this posture it's because the judicial system was failing, and has been for years. We started out under the PAN system," Gómez said, quoted by Mexican magazine Proceso.
The criminal also said that self-defense groups are controlled by the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) and added that many self-defense groups' members are "Templars". However, they migrated towards the CJNG because they kidnapped people.
"It's our people, those that didn't fit in our ranks, because they stole and kidnapped and we didn't want them anymore. We want to take care of the people, and keep harmful people stay away. We're possibly harmful because our younger members don't behave," he said.
The full interview with "La Tuta" can be seen in this link.