The founder of one of the most notorious drug cartels in Mexico was left for dead along a motorway in Mexico on Monday morning.

BBC reported that the body of Carlos Rosales Mendoza, one of the brains behind the drug cartel La Familia Michoacana, was found along with three other dead persons, in the car park of a tollbooth on a Michoacan motorway.

Initial examination of the bodies revealed that they were tortured before being shot to death, and then dumped on the motorway. There are still no clear details on who was responsible for the killings.

It was noted in the BBC report that Mendoza's drug cartel has been known for its "extreme violence" in trying to defend religious and family values. The slain cartel founder was also reportedly on the most wanted list of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

According to InsightCrime, the La Familia Michoacana has made its mark in the drug trade for its "brutal tactics and strong base of operations."

The Michoacan state in Mexico has long been known to be a place where drug traffickers and drug trade thrive. Some of the areas in this locality house vast plantations of marijuana and poppy, the latter which is used for heroin.

During the 1980s, Rosales Mendoza was believed to have started his drug trafficking activities in the state, building a name by making alliances with known drug cartels like the Gulf and Zetas, BBC added.

It was in 2000 when he founded the La Familia Michoacana (The Michoacan Family), which became a powerful drug group and was known for trafficking drugs.

Rosales Mendoza's cartel claimed that their goal is to protect the poor and "defend traditional family values." They believed that their members have the "divine right" to end the lives of their enemies.

Quartz noted that the group displayed immense violence in 2006 when they threw five severed human heads on the dancefloor in an Uruapan nightclub. The human heads also came with this note: "The Family doesn't kill for money. It doesn't kill women. It doesn't kill innocent people, only those who deserve to die. Know that this is divine justice."

The cartel was also said to have been responsible for the 2004 prison break in a maximum security facility where 25 inmates, who are said to be members of the Gulf cartel, escaped.

BBC said that Rosales Mendoza was later on arrested and jailed for 10 years for masterminding the jail escape.

It was noted by InsightCrime that this is not the first time that the La Familia Michoacana experienced a great loss, since leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez was confirmed dead in a shootout last year.