"Pineda was known for her extreme brutality such as dismembering bodies, removing hearts, and placing the hearts in front of 'Santa Muerte' altars and statutes," the FBI said in a news statement.

Sporting gloves and a red ribbon to ward off evil, Ecuadoran police raiding a drug den apprehensively inspect an altar to Santa Muerte — a Mexican "death saint" adopted by local gangs as their ...

Santa Muerte, the skeletal figure dressed in robes and wielding a scythe, is one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the Western Hemisphere. Though often linked to drug cartels and ...

Santa Muerte and other folk saints adopted by drug cartels, MS-13 gangsters and immigrant smugglers can be found across the United States, a researcher said. Criminals are also "misusing ...

A local leader of the Mexican folk saint cult "La Santa Muerte" was gunned down at an altar to the skeletal figure late Friday, authorities said. Two other people were killed and eight injured in ...

Santa Muerte (Saint of Death or Our Holy Lady of Death) is a Mexican folk saint whose devotion has significantly increased ...

The discovery in El Salvador of a shrine to Santa Muerte, a female deity associated with the criminal underworld, has revealed how the new religious movement has become popular among criminal groups ...

This is a glimpse of last year's festival dedicated to the Santa Muerte. Coatepec, Veracruz, is famous for being a coffee-growing town in the Sierra Veracruzana. Tourism has grown substantially in ...

A Leader of Mexican Folk Saint Cult 'La Santa Muerte' Is Killed at an Altar to the Skeletal Figure MEXICO CITY (AP) — A local leader of the Mexican folk saint cult “La Santa Muerte” was ...