mordida

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

My experience in Mexico over the years has been that the police expected a
mordida only if I had done something wrong. It was kind of in place of a
fine--not exactly a bribe, because they were expected to make part of their
living that way. Sometimes what they so as "wrong" was pretty trivial, e.g.,
driving with no front license plate (the state of North Carolina only
requires one plate, but try explaining that to a hungry Mexican cop).