Drug Lord: A True Story: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin
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Tells how things became more violent under his rule. Lots of interesting stories about day to day operations, drug runs, corruption and crazy things that sometimes happened. Anyone who wants to know anything about the U. Aug 23, Laurel Starkey rated it liked it Shelves: If you are looking for a detailed description of the cartel's day-to-day operations along with a historical overview, this book is for you. The writing is uneven. It starts well and ends up repeating itself.
It becomes clear towards the end that the author derived his materials from interviews that Pablo Acosta gave to the media along with government intelligence reports and court transcripts. He repeats the anecdotes found in the beginning again as he describes the source. It bogs down the book If you are looking for a detailed description of the cartel's day-to-day operations along with a historical overview, this book is for you.
Drug Lord: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin
It bogs down the book and leaves the reader with a sense of: Didn't I already read this? Great for day to day insights in the slow days of rural drug staging and rather unorganized cross boarder runs and the understanding how cartels were born out of this place in time. Very well written, the book takes you into the Mexican mafia spanning a time period from the early 70's to late 80's. The book proceeds to describe the violent and more nurturing side of one of the most feared men of this era.
A compelling read which left me with mixed emotions upon finishing. Dec 06, Charles rated it really liked it. A coworker recommended this book in the midst of a conversation about the border towns of Big Bend. I was talking about Santa Elena which is on the Mexican side, a short walk from Castalon.
He had visited Santa Elena in the 90s and the locals were just a little on edge. This book tells some of the story of why. Pablo Acosta deserves a prominent place in the pantheon of Mexican drug lord A coworker recommended this book in the midst of a conversation about the border towns of Big Bend.
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Pablo Acosta deserves a prominent place in the pantheon of Mexican drug lords. He was an innovator, one of several at a time of innovation. He is perhaps most responsible for moving the cocaine trade from Miami to west Texas, a decision he came to regret. His mule was the guy who developed the false propane tank smuggling device. While brutal with his rivals, he was generous with his community. In life he took a lot of chances.
Several gun battles are recounted where Acosta would have been shot dead but for luck. Not one to not get high on his own supply, the Americans always knew when Pablo was back in Santa Elena because someone would cross the river and buy all the cigarettes at the shop at Castalon. Sprinkled with crack, they became Pablo's go-to pick me up. Pablo Acosta died a violent death in Santa Elena. The federales who had previously appreciated his kickbacks decided he had become too prominent thanks in part to this author to the point that the Mexican government could no longer keep a straight face in conversations with the US about combating drug trafficking.
It's a lesson El Chapo didn't learn. Pablo Acosta's direct successor expanded into Juarez, and life became there more brutal than it ever was in Ojinaga.
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At least one prominent member of the Big Bend community mentioned in this book remembers Pablo personally, and that is Mimi Webb Miller. She owns La Posada Milagro in Terlingua. They say she has some stories to tell. I visited Ojinaga a couple weeks ago. Oddly enough, their border control facilities are nicer than their American counterparts. Then you get to town and it's dusty and forgettable.
We could have stayed longer. This town has some history.
Some say a Pablo Acosta tour would be in bad taste. But eventually, why not? I enjoyed this book. It was a breeze to read, which is a testament to its crisp prose, its vividness in recreating these events. But all that said, this book is still completely relevant many years later.
Drug Lord: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin: A True Story
Dec 24, Nick rated it really liked it. Pablo Acosta an American, it turns out , showed them all how to do it. He took over the drug route in Ojinaga, just west of the Big Bend on the Mexican side. But Acosta in many ways created the character: Poppa evidently interviewed Acosta himself, along with some of his more picturesque smugglers -- an American woman, a man who figured out how to fool Customs with fake propane tanks on trucks.
As with many traffickers, the product began to control the man rather than the other way around, and he went to the Cancun area to dry out. It is not clear who he crossed so badly that the Mexican Army sent helicopters after him. The mouth of his corpse was so black that it was rumored he had committed suicide under siege, but it may just have been the effects of smoking large quantities of crack.
What is not in dispute is that his death cleared the way for the ascent of the Juarez cartel once run by Amado Carrillo Fuentes before his death. It is the remains of the Carrillo Fuentes Juarez cartel that is locked in a death grip with the Sinaloa group. Poppa's book is astonishing; perhaps no one has ever written with greater access to such a criminal empire -- not of a cartel, in any case. Drug Lord is the tale of the rise of king pin Pablo Acosta in Mexico's cut throat drug trade. The author does well to give the reader a sense of the seedy and violent world of drug running with the right mix of action and information.
A new edition of a True Crime Classic with new preface and introduction. Twenty years after writing Drug Lord , Terrence Poppa decided the information in his book was more important than ever. Mexico under the PRI. He smuggled tremendous amounts of drugs into the United States; he survived numerous attempts on his power--and his life--by rivals; and he blessed the town with charity and civic improvements.
He was finally slain in , during a raid by Mexican officials with the cooperation of U. The result is a nonfiction account with enough greed, treachery, shoot-outs, and government corruption to fascinate true crime and crime fiction readers alike. And it could end up in a very chaotic situation, much more than we see today.
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Library Journal 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. Penthouse 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.
He has shocked us with the conventions of the drug smuggling industry.
One of the best true crime books I've read in a long while, and a detailed, fascinating, and disturbing look at the workings of the Mexican narco-state of the '80s. It's a lesson El Chapo didn't learn. An Unnatural History of America. Dec 01, Beth Morgan rated it really liked it. But all that said, this book is still completely relevant many years later. Controlling crime along 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. To ask other readers questions about Drug Lord , please sign up.
He has penetrated its secrets and shows it to be something more ordinary than mystical. Albuquerque Journal Poppa is a gifted storyteller who has a clear eye for detail.