MEXICO CITY — The Mexican authorities have captured a top leader of a drug trafficking organization, the attorney general’s office said Saturday, the second arrest of a drug kingpin confirmed by the government this month.

The suspect, Víctor Hugo Delgado Rentería, a leader of the Nueva Generación organization, was arrested more than a week ago in the western state of Jalisco, along with two other people believed to be members of the gang, the attorney general’s office said.

The arrests were first publicly confirmed by the attorney general on Thursday but had not been widely reported. They preceded the arrest on Monday of the leader of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug gangs, the Zetas, a bigger catch that made headlines across the globe.

Taken together, the arrests may assuage fears by drug-war hawks that Mexico’s new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, would soften the government’s crackdown on drug traffickers. Mr. Peña Nieto’s aides have frequently criticized the approach of his predecessor, Felipe Calderón, and Mr. Calderón’s partnership with United States law enforcement agencies.