President Felipe Calderon has used the army to crack down on drug trafficking and related violence since taking office in December 2006. Organized criminals killed more than 2,000 people in 2007 and more than 100 so far this year, according to daily newspaper El Universal.
Police have netted dozens of hit men in northern states after deadly shootouts this month.
Special forces soldiers captured Alfredo Beltrán Leyva in the Sinaloa capital, Culiacán, along with three of his bodyguards, several weapons and $900,000 in U.S. currency, the Defense Ministry and the attorney general's office said in a joint statement. Mr. Beltran Leyva was then brought to Mexico City.
Mr. Beltrán Leyva, whose nickname "El Mochomo" refers to a desert ant, is a purported key operator for the cartel run by his cousin, JoaquÃn Guzmán Loera, known as "El Chapo" Guzman.
"This is one of the people who function as the right hand of Chapo Guzman," said Javier Ibarrola, who writes on military and drug issues for the magazine Milenio. "This is important."
Mr. Beltrán Leyva had broad responsibilities in northern states and held a position at the top tier of the cartel, along with his four brothers, officials said.
"Part of his functions consisted of directing drug transportation operations, money laundering and the cooptation of public officials for the organization in Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco and Nayarit," according to the government statement.
The government also said Mr. Beltrán Leyva controlled two groups of hit men within the cartel, one in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, and another in Sonora.
Sinaloa cartel hit squads have been on the front lines of a turf war with the Gulf cartel, which is based on the Texas-Mexico border, and its paramilitary enforcement arm, the Zetas.
Monday's arrest, Mr. Ibarrola said, appeared to be a nice piece of intelligence work by the federal government, which had said at the start of the year that its strategy had changed from patrolling streets in drug hot spots to more surgical strikes against top cartel operators.
The arrest was also a welcome change, Mr. Ibarrola said, from the recent bloody streets fights in border towns like Reynosa and Tijuana, contributing to a death toll of more than 100 this year from drug-related violence. Last year, about 2,500 people were killed in drug violence.
U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza congratulated Mexican officials on the capture.
"When Mexico takes dangerous criminals like Beltrán Leyva and his crew off the streets, the people of the United States also benefit," Mr. Garza said, adding that the U.S. commitment to working with Mexico against crime is "stronger than ever."
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