Mexico has initiated just 29 legal proceedings to reclaim assets linked to organized crime since a 2009 law provided prosecutors with new powers, calling the law's effectiveness into question.

Authorities arrested nine alleged members of one of Mexico's newer criminal organizations, the so-called Laguna Cartel, who stand accused of attacking the building of local newspaper El Siglo de Torreon in Coahuila state.

Mexico's Attorney General Jesus Murillo has dropped corruption charges against Tomas Angeles, a retired army general and deputy defense minister, just the latest of the premier anti-corruption prosecutions pushed by former President Felipe Calderon to collapse, illustrating the continued fragility of the judicial system.

Led by the Beltran Leyva brothers, this Mexican drug trafficking organization worked with the Sinaloa Cartel before it split off in 2008, managing the groups’s hitmen networks and controlling the state of Sonora and the lucrative port of entry in Acapulco. After a series of arrests and deaths at the hands of rivals and government authorities, the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), once one of Mexico’s bloodiest and most powerful criminal organizations, is gravely weakened. It is currently run by Hector Beltran Leyva, alias "El H," the middle sibling. The arrest of Alfredo Beltran Leyva, alias "El Mochomo," in 2008 sparked a bloody battle with the Sinaloa Cartel, and the group's precipitous fall.

Two large Mexican drug cartels -- once thought to be reeling due to infighting, pressure from authorities, and constant assaults by rivals -- appear to be on the rise again, according to law enforcement and independent crime analysts.

Nine people were killed in Concordia, in Sinaloa state, part of a continuing war between two drug cartels for control of this strategic piece of drug trafficking real estate.

In an elaborate hit, two gunmen dressed as medical personnel entered a hospital in Mexico City and killed an alleged gang leader who was recovering from gunshot wounds, evidence of the pervasiveness of criminal influence in the country.

Imprisoned cartel leader Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias "La Barbie," has accused Mexico's former president and public security secretary of corruption, though the capo's claims are undermined by the fact that he is about to be extradited to the United States.

A village in Sinaloa, Mexico was burned to the ground by armed men in an attack likely linked to the ongoing battle between the Beltran Leyva Organization and the Sinaloa Cartel for control of Mexico’s “Golden Triangle” region.

Recent declarations from jailed Mexican capo “La Barbie” have weakened the case against a general accused of corruption, providing another example of the government’s inability to effectively prosecute corrupt officials.