Dressed in their trademark white clothes, they have taken control of a number of villages and towns
Vigilante groups made up of civilians who say they are fed up with the lack of action by the security forces emerged in 2012 in the western states of Michoacan and Guerrero to fight the Knights Templar.
The Knights Templar have accused them of being in league with their rivals from the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion.