“Mexico’s ‘Mordida’: Bribes Are a Way of Life—and Death" - Mike Goodman and Patt Morrison - Los Angeles Times

U.S. Families Pay Up to $1,000 to Recover Loved Ones’ Bodies

Byline: Mike Goodman, Patt Morrison; 1977-02-09; Los Angeles Times; pages B3

Report: Working with Migrants; Shadowing the Undocumented

Tags: immigrants, mexico, mortuary, posed as clients

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"In America, it is the bribe."In Russia, it is the 'vzyatka.' "And in Mexico, they call it 'mordidia,' the bite -- so much a way of life that even the dead are not beyond the power of a well-placed peso. . . . "

Description:Two [LA] Times reporters went to Tijuana posing as a sister and brother searching for a missing cousin. Their purpose was to investigate complaints by Americans who had been obliged to pay bribes of up to $1,000 to recover the bodies or possessions of loved ones who died in Mexico. They were accompanied by a Spanish-speaking San Diego mortuary employee who pretended to be a hired guard. "Within a few hours, after bribing a state police officer and a mortuary attendant, the two reporters were offered - for a price - the body of their 'cousin,' an unidentified derelict who had lain unclaimed in a mortuary for 29 days."

Rights: copyright, Los Angeles Times

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Two [LA] Times reporters went to Tijuana posing as a sister and brother searching for a missing cousin. Their purpose was to investigate complaints by Americans who had been obliged to pay bribes of up to $1,000 to recover the bodies or possessions of loved ones who died in Mexico. They were accompanied by a Spanish-speaking San Diego mortuary employee who pretended to be a hired guard. "Within a few hours, after bribing a state police officer and a mortuary attendant, the two reporters were offered - for a price - the body of their 'cousin,' an unidentified derelict who had lain unclaimed in a mortuary for 29 days."