Federal authorities in Mexico have agreed to investigate a local police chief after fed-up villagers formed an enormous posse and took over a town in the southwest.

More than a thousand armed vigilante villagers flooded Tierra Colorado and detained a dozen cops including the police chief, accusing them of working for the drug gangs.

This was in reaction to the murder of the villagers’ leader in the increasingly lawless region between Mexico City and the internationally known resorts of Acapulco.  The new leader of the villagers says this was not a protest: They want something done.

The region has been a battleground between drug gangs trying to control the smuggling routes along the Pacific Coast.

70,000 people have died in the violence as Mexico’s drug gangs gradually usurp law and order in the 6 year turf war.