Mexican drug lord, Beltran Leyva, dead at 56 of cardiac arrest

FILE PHOTO: Soldiers escort head of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel Hector Beltran Leyva in Mexico City, in this handout picture taken October 1, 2014 and released to Reuters on October 2, 2014 by the Attorney General's Office. REUTERS/Attorney General's Office/Handout via Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hector Beltran Leyva, a Mexican drug lord whose cartel earned a reputation as one of the country's most vengeful and ruthless, died late on Sunday in hospital of cardiac arrest after being transferred from jail with chest pain, Mexican authorities said.

Beltran Leyva had been incarcerated since March 2, 2016 in Federal Prison Number 1, a maximum security facility in central Altiplano, Mexico, where he was facing federal prosecution for various crimes, the Mexico Interior Ministry said in a statement announcing the death.