Drug Lord

A True Story: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin
By Terrence Poppa, Charles Bowden
Paperback: $17.95

Drug Lord is the real thing. Raw, immediate, indispensable.” — Don Winslow, author of City on Fire and The Power of the Dog

Description

“Pablo Acosta was a living legend in his Mexican border town of Ojinaga. 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 1987 during a raid by Mexican officials with the cooperation of US law enforcement. Poppa has turned out a detailed and exciting book … 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

This gripping and thorough look into a pivotal period in drug smuggling from Mexico is based on interviews the author personally conducted with Pablo Acosta, who once controlled 60% of the cocaine trafficked into the U.S. This new edition includes front and back matter that gives an overview of how the Mexican smuggling trade and government has changed, and an argument from the author for drug legalization as a means to ending the violence once and for all.

About the Creators

Terrence Poppa
Terrence Poppa

Terrence E. Poppa, an award-winning journalist, is widely respected as an expert in narco-trafficking. He was a finalist for the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for his investigations into the connection between crime and government in Mexico. He was featured in Standoff in Mexico, a PBS production about fraudulent elections in Mexico. Due to his unique insights into the world of Mexican drug trafficking, Poppa has been widely interviewed on radio and television and served as a writer for the television show Narcos.

Charles Bowden
Charles Bowden

Charles Bowden was an investigative journalist who spent much of his career covering the drug wars in the American Southwest. He passed away of natural causes in 2014.

Reviews

  • "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
  • "[Poppa] describes, with uncomplicated ease, the franchise structure of the Acosta operation--involving a kind of interlocking, horizontal integration typical of organized crime. He points out that the core of that structure is control of the corruption, not necessarily control the smuggling, a notion sometimes lost on writers who fall in love with the romance of organized crime. . .Perhaps that is the compliment that should be paid Mr. Poppa. 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
  • "Pablo Acosta, born in abject poverty in Mexico, became drug czar of Ojinaga across the border from the Big Bend country of Texas. He launched his career by smuggling marijuana and heroin into the U.S., later adding cocaine, and forging an alliance with Colombian drug traders. At the peak, he may have controlled 60% of the coke trafficked into the U.S., according to Poppa. 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. Eventually, however, he became a coke addict; his iron entrepreneurial grip slipped; and he was tracked down and killed in 1987 by an international narcotic strike force. 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

Paperback

  • ISBN 9781933693859
  • Price $17.95
  • Publication Date Nov 30, 2010
  • Trim Size 8.25 × 5.375 × 0.913 in
  • Weight 0.9375 lbs
  • Page Count 368
  • Interests

  • Imprint Cinco Puntos Press
  • Audience Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology
  • BISAC Category 2 HISTORY / Latin America / Mexico
  • BISAC Category 3 HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
  • Themes Biography / Memoir, Latinx / Latino / Hispanic, Nonfiction
  • Reading Levels

  • Guided Reading Adult
  • Interest Level Adult
  • Reading Level Adult
  • This Book is Included in These Collections:

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