Half of this Nuevo Leon police department may work with the drug cartels

Santa Catarina is a suburban community outside of Monterrey, Mexico in Nuevo Leon state. Monterrey, of course, was the scene of a deadly August 25 arson attack against the Casino Royale, which left 52 customers and employees dead. The casino was the victim of extortionists, and when it failed to pay up a hit team from the Los Zetas stopped by for a friendly reminder.

Today comes word from state authorities in NL that 113 police officers on Santa Catarina's force are being investigated for possible connections with the drug cartels, and 44 of them are already under arraigo. Arraigo is an oppressive Mexican criminal procedure (probably unconstitutional) which allows a suspect to be held for an extended period without being charged, presented before a judicial officer or allowed bail. The preventive detention, as it's called here, gives investigators time to check things out.

Since Santa Catarina's "Finest" totals 250 officers, 45% of the force may be corrupt. Two cartels, Los Zetas and the Cartel Golfo, are engaged in a vicious, take-no-prisoners war to gain control of the lucrative drug routes north towards the U.S. border, 100 miles away. Extortion of businesses is also rampant in the area.

Nuevo Leon's state government says that it's going to clean from stem to stern dozens of little police departments like that of Santa Catarina to rid them of crooked cops. The plan is to replace local and suburban forces with a state-wide agency known as the Fuerza Civil, or Civil Force.