The dangerous Mexican 'Kim Kardashian' of organised crimes

Claudia Ochoa Felix is known for her curvy figure, pouting selfies and tweets but also for alledgedly heading the world's most ruthless gang of killers.

As a young mum with glamorous looks, curvaceous figure and bee-sting pout, the simi­­lar­­ities with reality star Kim Kardashian are there for all to see.

Claudia Ochoa Felix even has the millionaire life and army of bodyguards.

However unlike the US celeb’s heavies, the armed security of the Mexican beauty are not to protect her from over-zealous fans... but from assassins.

For Claudia has reportedly become the new head of the world’s most ruthless hit squad Los Ántrax, responsible for hundreds of bloody murders as the deadly Sinaloa drug cartel’s elite contract killer squad.

The Mexican gang is known to US intelligence as “the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organisation”, its hitmen feared as the planet’s deadliest.

In recent years they were linked to three frozen bodies hung from a bridge, eight people shot playing volleyball and a gun battle with rivals which left 30 dead.

But after Los Ántrax boss Jose Rodrigo Arechiga Gamboa – known as El Chino – was arrested, his Twitter-loving girlfriend Claudia is said to have been installed as the new chief.

Until then her every move had been charted on social media sites where she regularly posted pictures of herself in stilettos, caressing her custom-made pink AK-47 automatic rifle, reclining among masked men and propping a deadly M16 assault rifle on her curvaceous hip.

Her portrayal of a life of narcotics and narcissism undercut her emphatic denial that she is La Emperatriz de Los Ántrax - the Empress of Los Ántrax.

Known as the Mexican Kim Kardashian, the mother-of-three gained notoriety after it was wrongly reported she had been tortured and assassinated. The victim was, in fact, Yurina Castillo Torres, a former girlfriend of Gamboa who looked remarkably like Claudia. Despite her insistence that she is just a devoted mum, Claudia wasted no time in capitalising on the mistake by raising her notoriety through her internet sites with a flood of incriminating pictures.

But as news emerged of her rise to power she was quick to delete as much evidence as she could linking her to Los Ántrax. Instead she created a new Facebook page adding she had done so “to clarify all your doubts so as also to answer your questions... the only thing I ask is you to be respectful!” she wrote.

Gone were the pictures she had revelled in and in their place appeared photos of a loving mother devoted to her two young sons children and her “princesita” daughter.

The images of her past however remain across the internet. Pictures showing her AK-47 on the red leather seats of a BMW Series 3, the skull symbol of Los Antrax painted in black on the ammunition clip and another of one of her young sons lying on a bed covered in bundles of cash. She can be seen posing with members of a folk band which composed a ballad to Los Ántrax. In one photo the 27-year-old is even seen holding a grenade launcher while warning: “Watch your step, friend!”

Claudia is also seen countless times in images posted by young members of the Sinaloa. One intelligence source said: “Felix claims she is just a regular mum but how many mothers have custom-made guns?

“She has access to astronomical wealth but has never worked a day nor come from a family with money. None of her former boyfriends have either.”

The father of her children is reported to be feared cartel lieutenant El Chavo Felix. However they split and Claudia moved on to another gang member Dorian Trinidad Leon Angulo. He died in a car

crash – shortly after escaping jail – in 2011 while Claudia sat by his side.

She survived and again found love inside the cartel, becoming involved with El Chino who, according to reports, she went on to marry. The playboy was the gang’s top enforcer. His main roles were to oversee its armed squadron and protect Sinaloa’s top brass, which included the leader of the cartel, El Chapo (Shorty) Guzman, who is currently under arrest in Mexico.

Like Claudia, El Chino loved social media, inundating Twitter and Instagram with photos showing his ill-gotten sports cars, yachts and guns. Away from the internet he was busy ensuring the Sinaloa cartel remained the most powerful gang in the world.

A blood-soaked war between drug gangs, raging in Mexico since 2006, has claimed 100,000 lives. Anyone who threatens to stand in Sinaloa’s way is immediately killed, with El Chino accused of being personally responsible for many murders, including the killings of the three hung from a bridge in 2011.

The execution was seen as revenge after a Sinaloa leader was murdered in a war with the rival Beltran Leyva cartel.

Countless victims have been executed by the gang’s trademark chainsaw beheading. Several folk songs, known as narcocorridos, mention El Chino Antrax as an elegant and fit man with a taste for the high life – and extreme violence. His nickname, El Chino, is said to have been coined as he looks to some as though he has Chinese ancestry.

In Twitter and Instagram posts he would often blur his face, while wielding automatic weapons and posing with scantily clad girls.

Other flashy shots show cars, boats, helicopters and expensive jewellery. One picture is with Paris Hilton. According to a report, he photo-bombed the US socialite while she gave a TV interview. However US authorities used his addiction to the web to build a case against him and in December he was arrested in Amsterdam. Two weeks ago a Dutch court approved extradition to the US where he is wanted on drug charges.

America quickly moved to seize the wealth he flaunted online. Wanting to maintain his power base, El Chino apparently ensured that his wife became his successor. Claudia strenuously denies taking up his reins but she is now a target for rivals. Last month gunmen grabbed Castillo Torres as she left a gym believing her to be Claudia. She was tortured, hanged and her body dumped behind a school.

And news of Claudia’s alleged “appointment” led to a frenzy of activity on her media sites. She soon accumulated more than 100,000 followers.

Despite the assassination bid, Claudia refuses to quit her champagne lifestyle and is often seen in the clubs of Mazatlan, Culiacan and Guadalajara.

But now she is always surrounded by armed men.