Mexican drug lord Arellano Felix given 22 years

MEXICO CITY, Sept 4 (Reuters) - A Mexican judged sentenced Benjamin Arellano Felix, a top member of one of the country's most notorious drug clans, to another 22 years in prison on Tuesday for drug trafficking and organized crime.

The sentence comes on top of a five-year jail term handed down in April. Arellano Felix is behind bars in a maximum security prison in central Mexico.

Arellano Felix ran the brutal Tijuana-based drugs cartel with his brother Ramon from the late 1980s until his brother's death in a shootout with police in 2002. Benjamin was arrested shortly afterward.

"Benjamin Arellano Felix, boss of one of the most violent organized crime and drug gangs on an international scale, was given a 22-year jail sentence," the attorney general's office said.

The trafficking family, famous for ruthless killings as it smuggled millions of dollars of illegal narcotics into the United States, was weakened by the loss of its top leaders but is still doing business.

Younger brother Javier Arellano Felix took over running the cartel but was himself arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard last year.

A fourth brother, Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, was extradited to the United States last year after serving a jail term in Mexico, and a fifth, Francisco Eduardo, is at large.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has declared war on the country's violent drug cartels, which is behind some 1,600 killings, many of them in turf wars, so far this year.