Alvaro Acosta, chief of one of the police forces in Mexico City, was arrested recently for hiring hit men to shoot municipal prosecutor Victor Hugo Moneda. Moneda, a prosecutor for the district attorney’s office of the capital city, was gunned down in December of 2008.

Hit man Darkin Emanuel Grimaldo Lopez was arrested and charged as one of the shooters and investigators say that information obtained from Grimaldo eventually led them back to Acosta. Acosta now stands accused of masterminding the murder of Moneda.

The Milenio newspaper reports that while Moneda was carrying out his regular charge of overseeing police investigations, he uncovered evidence that Acosta had been providing protection to prominent local crime bosses. Widespread corruption among police departments has made it incredibly difficult for Mexico to fight and contain the drug cartels.

Acosta paid 10,000 pesos, or the rough equivalent of $711, to each of the hit men involved in the murder, including Grimaldo. Three other suspects remain at large.