Drug Lord, The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin

Drug Lord traces the rise and fall of Mexican kingpin Pablo Acosta, a scar-faced bandit who created a powerful, far-reaching drug trafficking organization in Ojinaga, a small Mexican border town on the Rio Grande just south of the Texas Big Bend. At his height, Acosta sent incalculable amounts of marijuana, heroin, and cocaine through secret smuggling operations into the United States, and was involved in the theft of countless automobiles and airplanes in Texas and New Mexico. A talented writer, author Terrence Poppa brings Acosta to life, giving accounts of ferocious gun battles with the vividness of an action movie. More importantly, using Acosta's organization as the paradigm, he exposes the hidden mechanisms of drug trafficking, particularly the lucrative involvement of the Mexican government in protecting the drug kingpin's activities.

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

"The [drug smuggling] business goes on, the slaughtered dead pile up, the US agencies continue to ratchet up their budgets, the prisons grow larger and all the real rules of the game are in this book, some kind of masterpiece."Charles Bowden, from the introduction

"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, 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