Above: A Jesus Malverde scapular. For more, check out this article in today's New York Times:

Malverde items are typically sold at botánicas — alternative-medicine pharmacies found in Hispanic neighborhoods that sell herbs, ointments and assorted good luck and black magic charms and potions.

“People say Malverde helped me do this or that; mostly it’s people into drugs who think he’ll shield them from the police,” said Raul Gonzalez, owner of a botánica called Mystic Products in Compton, Calif. “It’s the power of the mind, you know. They believe it, so they take chances and get away with it, but they will eventually get caught.”

Indeed, drug enforcement authorities in Mexico and the United States said Malverde statues, tattoos and amulets can be tip-offs to illegal activity.

“We send squads out to local hotel and motel parking lots looking for cars with Malverde symbols on the windshield or hanging from the rearview mirror,” said Sgt. Rico Garcia with the narcotics division of the Houston Police Department. “It gives us a clue that something is probably going on.”

Courts in California, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas have ruled that Malverde trinkets and talismans are admissible evidence in drug and money-laundering cases.