BIRMINGHAM – Authorities have arrested a fifth person in the torture and killing of five men found dead in an apartment near Birmingham last month.

Federal marshals arrested Derrick Green of Birmingham in the Nashville, Tenn., area on Tuesday night.

The bodies of the five victims were found beaten, shocked and their throats slashed in an apartment in Shelby County on Aug. 20.

Sheriff’s officials have described the slayings as contract killings carried out by a drug ring over as much as $450,000 in missing money. Officers say they have seized numerous weapons during the investigation, plus cocaine and methamphetamine.