These organizations center their criminal operations in small municipalities in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, but they are international traffickers. The soccer teams form part of their vast economic portfolio, and provide them with local support in their areas of operation, which they use to expand their business and political connections and protect their licit and illicit interests.

Part of this protection comes from the fact that the fortunes of these soccer franchises rise with organized crime at the helm. In Guatemala, for instance, the Heredia Jaguars in the Peten province -- which are owned by the Mendoza clan, an infamous family that has made its fortune via contraband, drug smuggling and government corruption -- have been virtually unbeaten since 2010.

In El Salvador, the Isidro Metapan club, from the municipality of the same name, has won eight titles in the last seven years. Their president, Wilfredo Guerra Umaña, is the son of Juan Umaña Samayoa, the mayor of Metapan. Their partner, Adan Salazar, alias "Chepe Diablo," is the head of the Texis Cartel, according to the Security Ministry.

And in Honduras, Real Sociedad de Tocoa, from the Colon province, is reportedly owned by the Rivera Maradiaga family, also known as the Cachiros. Honduran and US authorities say the Cachiros are one of the most powerful criminal groups in Honduras, moving cocaine and other illegal substances for larger crime groups from Mexico.

The US is pushing the Honduran government to capture and extradite the group's leaders, but if the local soccer fans have any say about this persecution, it may be a hard sell. After climbing to the premier division in 2012, Real Sociedad de Tocoa made it to the championship final two years in a row.

The reasons criminal groups buy into local soccer teams are numerous. To begin with, the soccer teams give them a way to launder money. There are few regulations regarding the teams. The owners can invest in whatever infrastructure they want.  

Plaza Publica reported that the mayor of the municipality of San Juan (in Peten province), Julian Tesucun, spent close to $2 million on the Jaguars' stadium, a small fortune in that part of the world. It is not known how much money the Mendozas put into the construction, but Tesucun baptized it the "Milton Mendoza Oswaldo Mendoza Matta" stadium. (Its official name is the "Julian Tesucun y Tesucun" stadium.)

"[Mendoza] has contributed to the development of sports in the municipality," the municipality's website reported at the time, according to Plaza Publica.

The stadium deal helped Tesucun firm up his relationship with the Mendoza family, which Plaza Publica suggests led the Mendoza family to contribute to his political campaign for Congress in 2011. Tesucun won a congressional seat that year.

Soccer teams can also falsify contracts with employees and players, investigators say. They can set up "friendlies" with other teams for money. They can draw up papers showing earnings that do not exist, since there is so little regulation. And they can evade taxes.

In April, Salvadoran authorities charged alleged members of the Texis Cartel for tax evasion. Although the Isidro Metapan club was not mentioned as part of that investigation, La Prensa Grafica raised questions about the owners' ability to make tax-deductible donations to the club.

These "donations" are made via another cash-heavy business, the rice and granary complex the group manages, and result in an advertisement on the team jerseys .

(The owners of the club were so angry with La Prensa Grafica's coverage, they did not allow its reporters in the stadium following the publication of the article on tax evasion and the club.)

The interconnected nature of these businesses illustrates an important aspect of the money laundering trade: the movement of money between and amongst businesses of the same conglomerate help mask earnings and camouflage illicit activities.

Soccer clubs also help forge alliances with legitimate businesses and politicians. In Honduras, Real Sociedad de Tocoa is sponsored by one of the country's preeminent banks, Banco Continental, as well as a popular zoo owned by the Rivera Maradiaga family, which was taken over by the government last year as part of the investigation into the group.

The Cachiros also have a mining business, and African Palm and cattle ranches. Like the Mendozas, they intersect with local and national politicians of various political parties, government investigators told InSight Crime.

Despite the open connection between organized crime and soccer, there are no investigations into these clubs' finances, the movement of players, or the development of infrastructure.

In essence, soccer is untouchable, especially when it relates to a perennial winner. The clubs' success also gives these dubious economic groups power in the municipalities in which they operate. Business and political figures want to be associated with a winner, even if that winner is on the United States' list of extraditables.