Mexico kills drug kingpin three years after mistakenly reporting him dead

Government security spokesman Alejandro Rubido speaks during a news conference at Interior Ministry in Mexico City March 9, 2014. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican drug lord who was falsely reported dead more than three years ago was killed by the armed forces in western Mexico early on Sunday, the government's second major victory in its fight against organized crime in as many weeks.

Known as "El Mas Loco," or "The Craziest One," Nazario Moreno led a violent drug cartel that has ravaged the western state of Michoacan. The previous government said Moreno was killed in a firefight in December 2010, but his body was never found and he was widely believed to have survived.