Jesús Malverde Chapel

Little for certain is known about the Mexican folk saint known as Jesús Malverde. He is said to have been a Robin Hood figure who stole from the rich to give to the poor. After being murdered, miracles were attributed to him, creating a religious following throughout Mexico and especially in his home state of Sinaloa. As Sinaloa is a center of Mexico's drug trade and those involved seek to identify with Malverde's "generous bandit" image, he has become an unofficial patron saint of narco-traffickers.

Despite this notoriety, Malverde is pretty openly revered. That fact can be seen in the main shrine to him in Culiacán, which is ironically just a block away from the Sinaloa state government building. Every year on May 3, the anniversary of Malverde's supposed death, a festival occurs at the shrine. It involves parading a bust of him around the nearby streets and a raffle for the poor of the city. Trinkets of Malverde are also sold at the shrine year-round.