Drug Lord*** O/p - Softcover

Poppa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0966443004 ISBN 13: 9780966443004

Publisher: Demand Publications, U.S., 1998

Synopsis

An exposé of the connections between crime and government in Mexico, this is the story of Pablo Acosta, the notorious scar-faced Mexican drug lord. Controlling crime along 250 miles of the Rio Grande, he was responsible for creating a narcotics hub in northern Mexico that smuggled 60 tons of cocaine a year into the United States. This book chronicles Pablo Acosta's bloody rise and his spectacular fall at the hands of the same system that had protected him until he made the mistake of talking to a U.S. reporter—the author—about the arrangement. Also included are details about Pablo Acosta's successor, Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

About this title

Review:

"Poppa, a news reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist for his work on this story, has turned out a detailed and exciting book, covering in depth Acosta's life; the other drug factions that battled with him; the village of Ojinaga; and the logistics of the drug operation. The result is a nonfiction account with enough greed, treachery, shoot-outs, and government corruption to fascinate true crime and crime fiction readers alike. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

"[Drug Lord] is impressive for its thorough investigatory research...and for its lively style."—Kirkus Reviews

"Drug Lord is one of the few stories about double-dealing, murder, and endemic Mexican government corruption ever told from inside a drug ring, and is a must for anyone who wants to understand how drug rings really operate."—Penthouse

"[Poppa] describes, with uncomplicated ease, the franchise structure of the Acosta operation involving a kind of interlocking, horizontal integration typical of organized crime...He has shocked us with the conventions of the drug smuggling industry. He has penetrated its secrets and shows it to be something more ordinary than mystical." —Dallas Morning News

"Poppa is a gifted storyteller who has a clear eye for detail." —Albuquerque Journal

"At times reading more like a Wild West novel than a true-to-life piece of non-fiction, Drug Lord exposes revealing snapshots of the seamy world of a drug smuggler at work." —Austin American Statesman

"Pablo Acosta, born in abject poverty in Mexico, became drug czar of Ojinaga across the border from the Big Bend country of Texas...The author shows that Acosta consolidated his power by murdering rivals, corrupting local police and soldiers, distributing money to the poor and contributing generously to civic projects...Poppa interviewed the drug lord in 1986 for the El Paso Herald-Post and bases this enlightening book in part on those talks." —Publishers Weekly

"Drug Lord is the real thing. Raw, immediate, indispensable." Don Winslow, author of The Power of Dog and California Fire and Life

Synopsis:

This is a riveting portrait of Pablo Acosta, the scar-faced Mexican padrino who controlled crime along 250 miles of the Rio Grande. It is a linear work that traces the drug lord's rise from humble beginnings, his rapid ascension to power through murder and treachery, his smuggling of sixty tons of cocaine a year into the United States, his struggles to defend his expanding empire against rivals, the betrayals and over-indulgence that fostered his downfall, and his dramatic death at the hands of the same police system that had been giving him protection.

About this edition

• Publisher: Demand Publications, U.S.
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0966443004
• ISBN 13: 9780966443004
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 364