As fucked as the American police force is, it only really deals in a handful types of corruption. You can count on American police to shake down citizens for every single cent they can grab their hands on… lawfully. They will ticket you for going 5 miles over the speed limit and hit you for a rolling stop at a clear intersection. They will slap every flavor of fine on you that they can. You can count on American cops to occasionally plant evidence and rough up suspects. You can count on them to exploit their authority up to the letter of the law for pure sadistic pleasure. You can count on “bad apples” who do the above to NEVER be turned in their fellows cops, and you can expect the police union, judges, and local government to rush to the defense of these sorts of corrupt piece of shit cops.
All of that said, America does very little straight up money for a service corruption. You can drop a bribe a thousand and one subtle and well defined legal ways; hell, that is the entire basis of our political system, but do it directly and you are playing with fire. The culture is pretty violently against open bribery. Unlike Mexico, the US has a strong federal system. If the narco gangs try what they have done to Mexico in the US, it really isn’t going to go well. The police will merrily arm up and make the nacro gangs look like unarmed school children. Even if they managed to corrupt the local police force badly enough, the US has a strong federal system that will come in with even bigger guns.
The best thing a nacro gang can do is keep quiet, keep the body count small, and build an operation that can take the occasional bust without falling apart. Open warfare inside the US is always a losing game.
