Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, 63, a former leader of the Tijuana Cartel, was shot in the head late on Friday at a family gathering in the southern tip of the state of Baja California Sur, a spokesman for state prosecutors said.

"A person dressed as a clown took his life," he said.

Local media reported that the killer had two accomplices, but this was not yet clear, the spokesman said. The gunman fled the scene.

Arellano Felix spent nearly 15 years behind bars for drug-related offenses after his arrest in Mexico in late 1993. Extradited to the United States in 2006, he was later paroled and walked free on his return to Mexico in early 2008.

Another official working with state prosecutors said Arellano Felix, the oldest of the brothers who headed the gang, was not wanted by authorities at the time of his death.

The possibility that his killer had ties to organized crime was being investigated, the official said.

Led by a large family of brothers and sisters, the Tijuana Cartel was one of the most powerful drug gangs in Mexico until it was gradually weakened by the capture or killing of several its leading members during the previous decade.

Arellano Felix's younger brothers, Francisco Javier, Benjamin and Eduardo are serving prison sentences in the United States. Another of his brothers, Ramon, was killed in a shootout with police in 2002.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268028)

(Without clarifying whether he survived or not his assassination.)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268075)

GET YOU'RE FACTS STRAIGHT.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268207)

: to kill (someone, such as a famous or important person) usually for political reasons.

--Merriam Webster Dictionary

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268263)

--I killed Tommy. But he just got up and walked away...

--How come? Didn't you kill him?

--Well yes, but I failed at taking his life completely.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268311)

E.g. He was beaten to death, he was bludgeoned to death, he was shot to death.

You cannot say he was "killed" to death or "assassinated" to death, those are redundant phrases. hth

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#25192945)

"Mr. Trump victim of assassination--not to death--in serious condition at the hospital."

or

"Mr. Trump survives murder attempt, but is in serious condition at the hospital."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#31433581)

Is Quintero, the narco of narcos, clearing the way to be in power again?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268093)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268604)

Are we supposed to congratulate you for poasting in you're own thread?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268291)

you gotta wonder. weird.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24268484)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#24289627)

--Oh hai, did you hear Jerry, our former college classmate, was assassinated?

--WTF, are you serious? Where, how, when?

--It was a few days ago, right in the middle of Manhattan.

--Holy shit. That sucks, mang. But he's still coming to our college year reunion, right? I mean, he was not assassinated to death, was he?

--Of course he's coming. And no, he wasn't assassinated to death. He was assassinated without success.

--Good for him.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#25113357)

must be really obvious over in Mexico, sounds like 180 family business

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#34446506)

Being an Arellano, I'm 180 satisfied that a clown took his life, though I would have want enjoyed it more if the clown had tortured this fuckhead for hours before his death. This is the brother of the dude in Tijuana who would beat people to death at his night club if he didn't like them.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2391551&forum_id=2,#37793714)