Mexican authorities say former Knights Templar cartel boss Servando Gómez has been sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Prosecutors in the western state of Michoacan announced the sentence Monday in a brief statement and said Gómez was found responsible for the 2011 kidnapping of a businessman in the city of Uruapan.

Gómez is a former grade school teacher known by the alias "La Tuta."

He led the Knights Templar for years as it terrorized Michoacan.

The cartel became notorious for using extortions, kidnappings and killings to dominate social and political life in the state.

The Knights Templar lost control after thousands of civilians responded by taking up arms and forming self-defense groups.

Gómez was captured by security forces in 2015.