Top Mexico City gang leaders arrested

The leaders of two of Mexico City's biggest criminal gangs were arrested Tuesday, authorities said, amid a bloody turf war between the rival groups.

Pedro "R," the leader of Union Tepito, and Jorge "F," the leader of the Anti-Union Force, were arrested in separate operations on charges including arms possession and drug trafficking, prosecutors said in a statement.

Nicknamed "The Ham" and "The Sandwich," the two men -- whose last names were not given, under Mexican privacy laws -- allegedly lead two of Mexico City's most lucrative criminal organizations.

Union Tepito and the upstart Anti-Union Force have been battling for control of the extortion and drug trafficking businesses in the capital. The turf war has unleashed a wave of violence in a city that has typically been spared from the gruesome drug cartel battles that have racked other parts of the country in recent years.

The most notorious incident between the two groups was last September, when gunmen dressed as mariachi musicians opened fire on a crowded square near the city center, killing four people and wounding nine others in an apparent settling of scores between the rival gangs.

Police and soldiers arrested five other people in the double raid, seizing guns, drugs, cash, vehicles and cell phones, prosecutors said.