well, I don't know your sources but my mother worked in New
   Jersey with the prosecutors office and they had dealings with
   the county and state troopers, federal agencies, judges,
   politicians, etc.

   Are there secret networks in some places? Probably. But at least
   where we were, while politics was definitely king; it was
   fickle. The whims of whoever was in power would change the
   people in the structure of things, and very quickly.

   I also knew people I went to school with that became NJ State
   Troopers. No secret society there. Somewhat of an "old boys
   network" but not as much of a secret society, but rather
   learning whose ass to kiss for promotions.

   I _wish_ they had it all together like a secret society would,
   but all I ever saw and heard of were people scrambling and
   jockeying for position. The people that rose to power the most
   quickly were the consciousless individuals who ALSO knew how to
   play nice when necessary; the ones that rose but got hit by a
   glass ceiling with the consciousless individuals who really
   *believed* they were powerful: the smart ones knew they had to
   play the chess match carefully.

   Of course, this is a single state in the 50 states in the USA.
   There's 49 others and I suspect there's likely things going on
   just like you're saying in some parts of the country.