
Chief Division Counsel Stephan Marshall told reporters Wednesday that the Albuquerque division of the FBI is launching a new initiative to tackle corruption in rural towns.
Marshall said the FBI won't accept the attitude that a certain level of corruption is acceptable.
And, he said, the FBI hopes residents will come forward to report wrongdoing.
In recent years, New Mexico has had two high-profile, rural, municipal corruption cases: Columbus, where a dozen people, including the town's former police chief, mayor and a trustee, pleaded guilty in a gun smuggling case, and Sunland Park, with an alleged extortion election plot involving the secret recording of a mayoral candidate getting a lap dance.