Its like a Holywood movie a gunman in a clown suit has shot dead the oldest brother of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug trafficking families at a children’s party in a beach resort town.

Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, 63, the former head of his family’s Tijuana Cartel, was killed at the gathering at a hotel in Cabo San Lucas in northwest Mexico.

The killer wore a clown costume complete with a wig and a round red nose, an official of the Baja California Sur state prosecutor’s office said.

Arellano Felix’s relatives confirmed his identity at the scene of the crime, the attorney general’s office said.

Local media reported that the killer had two accomplices, but this was not yet clear, a spokesman for state prosecutors said.

The gunman fled the scene.

The seven Arellano Felix brothers once dominated drug trafficking between Mexico and California through their brutal Tijuana Cartel, inspiring characters in the Steven Soderbergh movie Traffic.

Known for its violent and brutal control of the drug trade in the border city of Tijuana in the 1990s, the arrests or death of most of the Arellano Felix brothers have reduced the cartel to a shadow of its former self.

But even though the power of the clan has waned in recent years, but they do control part of the border with California, experts say.

Security experts believe the cartel is now run by the brothers’ sister Enedina and her son Fernando, known as The Engineer.

Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix served time on drug charges in the United States but was released and deported in 2008, and he was already in prison when the gang rose to its height.

Another brother, Ramon, was killed in a police shootout in 2002. Three other brothers are in US prisons, including Eduardo, who was sentenced to 15 years by a California court in August for money laundering.

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