Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Noe Ramirez Mandujano, former chief of the anti-organized crime unit at Mexico’s attorney general’s office, took at least $450,000 from drug traffickers in exchange for information on police investigations, officials said.

Ramirez, who turned himself in on Nov. 19, has been charged with tipping off the Pacific cartel of drug smugglers to police activity in Mexico’s airports, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said today in a news conference in Mexico City.

Ramirez is the most prominent official charged under President Felipe Calderon’s “Operation Cleanup” campaign to stamp out corruption in law enforcement agencies. Dozens of public officials are being investigated on charges of corruption and ties to drug cartels that local media say have killed more than 4,400 people this year.

“Corruption has been putting down roots for years, perhaps decades, in the organs of power, justice and police investigation,” Calderon said today in Santiago, where he signed bilateral accords with Chile. “That’s what Operation Cleanup will address.”

Ramirez was appointed to the post in January 2007 and left office in July of this year.

Last month, authorities arrested 35 employees of the organized crime unit on charges of passing information to the Sinaloa drug cartel. A director in the unit was arrested and is awaiting extradition to the U.S. for allegedly conspiring to sell cocaine there. The employees were each paid as much as $450,000 a month by the cartel, according to Medina Mora.

Operation Cleanup

Mexican cartels have grown rich by selling $13.8 billion a year worth of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines to the U.S., according to White House figures.

Operation Cleanup will be expanded to target local government agencies and the judicial system, Calderon said. On Nov. 12, Excelsior newspaper reported that the federal judiciary appointed six new judges with expanded authority to improve the courts’ handling of the fight against organized crime.

El Universal newspaper reported that one cartel informant claimed to have infiltrated the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. The U.S. State Department said it would investigate the report in collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Ramirez isn’t accused of leaking information on international law enforcement agencies to the cartel, Medina Mora said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugh Collins in Mexico City at hcollins8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 21, 2008 13:43 EST