MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Police have captured the suspected leader of a
                 notorious kidnapping ring responsible for dozens of Mexico City taxicab
                 abductions, authorities said.

                 Hector Vicenti Rodriguez, who was arrested late Monday, is accused of running a
                 band of "express-kidnappers" who terrorized several upscale neighborhoods,
                 Rosario Cruz, spokesman for federal prosecutors, said Wednesday.

                 Rodriguez is charged with masterminding 14 kidnappings that saw members of his
                 gang hijack people riding in taxis and rob them before quickly letting them go.

                 Cruz said that instead of demanding ransoms from the families of their victims,
                 Rodriguez and his accomplices would use threats of a second kidnapping to force
                 those they had abducted to put money onto their stolen credit cards after they were
                 released.

                 "This was a method that generated lots of money but did not require the kidnappers
                 to negotiate a ransom," Cruz said. "This was a very dangerous band of kidnappers."

                 Cruz said authorities were also looking into allegations that gang tortured victims
                 who did not comply with demands.

                  Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.