From what I've heard, there are extensive connections between the Sinaloa cartel and the Mexican federal government too. The cartels laundered over a billion dollars one year through the state-owned oil company Pemex, for example. It's even been alleged [0] by ex-cartel leaders that the US government props up the Sinaloa cartel with weapons and other material support, since in general the Sinaloa cartel tends to be less outrageously brutal toward civilians than for instance Los Zetas (whose founders unsurprisingly studied at the infamous School of the Americas [1]).
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Also consider that the Mexican government and "cartels" have a lot of overlap. Local governments and municipal police departments in particular.
I would add some state governments too.
From what I've heard, there are extensive connections between the Sinaloa cartel and the Mexican federal government too. The cartels laundered over a billion dollars one year through the state-owned oil company Pemex, for example. It's even been alleged [0] by ex-cartel leaders that the US government props up the Sinaloa cartel with weapons and other material support, since in general the Sinaloa cartel tends to be less outrageously brutal toward civilians than for instance Los Zetas (whose founders unsurprisingly studied at the infamous School of the Americas [1]).
[0] http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sin...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_f...