Dionisio Loya Plancarte (born 21 October 1955) is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar Cartel, a quasi-religious criminal organization based in the state of Michoacán.
[8] At the same time, however, the cartel was responsible for shipping multi-ton shipments of narcotics to the United States from Mexico, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.
[12] As a high-ranking lieutenant in La Familia Michoacana, Loya Plancarte coordinated the buying of narcotics, managed the cartel's finances, and took on the role of the organization's press figure and spokesperson.
[13][14] In July 2009, he allegedly coordinated an attack that killed 12 Mexican federal police officers in Michoacán two days following the arrest of Arnoldo Rueda, one of La Familia Michoacana's leaders.
[18] In December 2010, La Familia Michoacana's spiritual leader Moreno González was killed in a two-day shootout with the Mexican federal police in Michoacán.
[24] The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.[25] Loya Plancarte was arrested by the Mexican Army in Morelia, Michoacán on 27 January 2014.