MEXICO CITY, (AFP) - Mexican police have detained the alleged leader of the New Juarez Cartel, a 47-year-old man known as "Ugly Betty," authorities said on Sunday.

Alberto Carrillo Fuentes was arrested by federal police in the western state of Nayarit and he was later questioned by prosecutors, an official from the attorney general's office said on condition of anonymity.

He faces charges of drug trafficking, murder and organised crime.

The official declined to provide more details.

Carrillo Fuentes is believed to have taken over the drug cartel named after Ciudad Juarez, the city bordering Texas, after his brother Vicente "The Viceroy" Carrillo Fuentes gave up the job.

The original group was founded by another brother, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias "The Lord of the Skies," who died in mysterious circumstances following plastic surgery in 1997.

According to the weekly magazine Proceso, the Juarez gang was in an intense turf war in several northwestern states against the Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man.

The two cartels waged a fierce battle for control of Ciudad Juarez in recent years and Guzman is believed to have come out on top.

The city was once considered the world's murder capital but the murder rate has dropped since a peak of more than 3,000 in 2010.

Carrillo Fuentes's arrest marks the third capture of a high-profile drug lord since July.

Authorities detained Zetas cartel kingpin Miguel Angel Trevino, alias "Z-40," on July 15, followed by Gulf cartel leader Mario Ramirez Trevino on August 17.