MEXICO CITY , Mexico ( CNN ) -- Suspected drug cartel leaders in Mexico do n't often answer reporters ' questions , although one did call a radio station a few days ago to offer the government a deal . Police escort suspected drug cartel leader Jose Alberto Lopez Barron on Wednesday in Mexico City . So it was rather unusual for Jose Alberto Lopez Barron to speak to journalists shouting at him during a police lineup Wednesday , opening up a new window on how his reputed cartel operates . Lopez Barron was arrested this week in connection with the torture and killings of 12 federal police agents in Michoacan state July 13 . Mexican federal officials say Lopez Barron , also known as `` El Gordo , '' is one of the top leaders of La Familia Michoacana , a drug cartel blamed for a rash of violence that has left at least 18 federal agents and two soldiers dead since July 11 . Speaking in a calm manner , Lopez Barron said that even if the cartel acted outside the law , it operates in an orderly manner and under rules that not only cartel members have to obey , but also residents in Arteaga , one of the cities the cartel controls . `` You ca n't go around shooting off guns , '' Lopez Barron said . `` You ca n't go around killing people , not only us but for the whole town . You ca n't speed in your vehicle . You ca n't traffick any kinds of drugs without telling us first . '' Anyone who wants to sell drugs , he said , has to go through the Familia Michoacana . `` It has to be the company 's merchandise , '' Lopez Barron said . `` He has someone there who I believe is in charge of distributing cocaine . '' Cocaine can be sold retail , he said , but not methamphetamine , known as crystal or ice , since La Familia has prohibited it in the whole state . Lopez Barron said his direct boss was Servando Gomez , known as `` La Tuta . '' Authorities said Gomez is La Familia Michoacana 's top leader . Gomez went on a radio show recently to offer a truce with the federal government . Mexican President Felipe Calderon quickly answered that the government does not make pacts with criminal organizations . Lopez Barron said authorities have tried to capture Gomez but local residents have protected him . `` Elements from the federal investigations agency arrived in town -- I would n't know the exact number of agents -- and we had to leave town for the hills . We arrived at a small ranch called La Peña , and they gave us nourishment and refuge . '' The suspect said municipal authorities respect the cartel and it respects the local police . He said that although the sale of drugs has diminished , the cartel has not stopped paying local police for protection . Lopez Barron was one of four suspects arrested this week in connection the slayings of the 12 federal agents in southwestern Mexico . Officials said he had a handgun that was traced to one of the slain officers . The other three suspects -- Gamaliel Rodriguez Granados , Evaristo Armas Bello and Jaime Rafael Navarro -- were captured inside a taxi in a town in Michoacan , officials said . The killings were among a series of reprisals by La Familia after the federal police captured one of their top leaders , authorities said .
Lopez Barron arrested in connection with deaths of at least 18 police agents . Michoacan officials : Jose Alberto Lopez Barron a top leader of La Peña drug cartel . `` You ca n't go around shooting off guns , '' suspect tells reporters . Anyone who wants to sell drugs has to go through cartel , Lopez Barron says .