From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Ketroef.

This is the Daily.

When the Mexican military captured and killed the country's top drug lord, it revealed how much President Trump's growing pressure is forcing the country

to take on the cartels.

Today, my colleagues Maria Abi Habib and Jack Nicas on the operation to take down that drug lord,

El Mancho, and whether Mexico has what it takes to win a war on some of the most powerful criminals in the world.

It's Thursday, February 26th.

Maria, Jack, wonderful to have you both on the show, three Mexico City Bureau Chiefs.

I'm sitting in your old office, Natalie.

Jack, current, Maria, former, Natalie, former.

We all were in Latin America as correspondents together.

Maria, you and I both covered the cartels at the same time and did some intense reporting on that. To put it lately.

So we have you here because the news that Mexico had taken out El Mentiono, the head of the

Holisco cartel, was massive.

And we've learned in the days since that the Trump administration played a big part in that.

So level set for us.

Why is the takedown of this one cartel leader such a big deal?

Well, El Mentiono was arguably the single biggest criminal in the world.

He was arguably the most wanted man in the world.

He led the biggest cartel in Mexico.

He led the biggest cartel perhaps in the world.

And I know we tend to avoid using superlatives,

...