[3][4][5] He is a former leader and founder member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, the split-off group of the Knights Templar.

[8] Gómez Martínez served as the operational chief and spokesperson for the now extinct La Familia drug cartel, which sometimes was described as quasi-religious, since its former leader, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, referred to their assassinations and beheadings as "divine justice.

[14] According to the Gómez Martínez indictment, he was, among other things, responsible for ensuring that La Familia's drug trafficking activities were not impeded by law enforcement, and also for acquiring weapons for use by the cartel.

He also offered the Mexican federal security forces a truce in exchange of freedom to continue their illegal drug trade.

[18] 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.[19] During the first trimester of 2010, he was still registered as a teacher in the state of Michoacán, and earned a salary of 50,000 pesos during this period.

[29] The police was able to spot him in a cave near Morelia after his girlfriend ordered a chocolate cake for his 49th birthday, which raised the suspicion of the authorities looking for him.

[32] On 11 March, he was officially charged by a federal court in Toluca, State of Mexico for organized crime, kidnapping, and drug trafficking offenses.

[20] Francisco Javier Sotelo Barrera, aka El Pancho, the presumed leader of La Familia, was identified in 2009 as the nephew of Servando Gómez Martinez.

[39] His brother Aquiles Gómez Martínez was reportedly found dead in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán with a gunshot wound on 19 September 2014.