'An atmosphere of terror': the bloody rise of Mexico's top cartel

The Jalisco cartel's violence has taken a horrific toll on the state and experts say it poses a threat to Mexico's government

It was mid-spring when residents of the wasteland behind Guadalajara's international airport noticed a dog roaming their community with a strange object in its mouth: a human forearm.

Search teams in the ramshackle neighbourhood of La Piedrera entered a roofless red brick shack flanked by trees decked with bright orange mistletoe. Under several layers of dusky earth they made an even more grotesque discovery.