Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America's Cartels

NARCAS:
The Secret Rise of Women
in Latin America's Cartels

You’ve heard of Pablo Escobar, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, and Rafael Caro Quintero. Their names conjure ghoulish images of bloody streets, white powder, bundles of weed, and a particular flavor of machismo unique to ruthless druglords. But what of the drugladies, las narcas? For the first time, investigative reporter Deborah Bonello takes you behind the curtain to introduce the women at the helm of organized crime south of the US-Mexico border. These women are the powerhouses behind violent cartels; masterminds of extortion rackets; right-hand ladies to El Chapo’s cocaine flow to the US; and matriarchs of major drug trafficking families. In these pages, you will meet women like Doña Digna, the leader of the Valle cartel, and Guadalupe Fernandez Valencia, one of “El Chapo” Guzman’s closest confidants.

Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America's Cartels, for the first time, gives voice to the women of notorious drug-trafficking monarchies, meticulously documenting the variety of roles they play. Bonello chronicles the complexity of their actions and their desires, the grey chasm between victims and victimizers, co-option and agency, and right and wrong. She examines why women’s experiences are under-reported, emphasizing the importance of understanding women as fully capable beings who are often as ambitious, innovative, ruthless, and violent as their male counterparts.

With careful detail, comprehensive research, and groundbreaking storytelling, Narcas paints a vivid picture of the women behind some of the most notorious drug cartels. You will not see Sebastiana Cottón or Marixa Lemus in the stereotypical portrayals of beautiful narco wives or girlfriends, or in the faces of trafficking survivors or drug mules. Rather, you’ll encounter—at staggering rates—the female cartel killers, money launderers, logistical heads, and transporters of Latin America’s infamous crime syndicates

VICE journalist Deborah Bonello reports from the trenches in this first-ever in-depth exploration of the hidden power women wield in Latin American drug cartels.

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Pablo Escobar: My Father

Until now, we believed that everything had been said about the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the most infamous drug kingpin of all time, but these versions have always been told from the outside, never from the intimacy of his own home.

More than two decades after the full-fledged manhunt finally caught up with the king of cocaine, Juan Pablo Escobar travels to the past to reveal an unabridged version of his father―a man capable of committing the most extreme acts of cruelty while simultaneously professing infinite love for his family.

Pablo Escobar: My Father, is not the story of a child seeking redemption for his father, but a shocking look at the consequences of violence and the overwhelming need for peace and forgiveness.

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Griselda Blanco: The Cocaine Queen

Griselda Blanco grows up in the suburbs of Medellin, surrendered in the prostitution which she was prey at the age of 12. At the age of 18, she met her first husband, Carlos Trujillo, who made her three children before throwing out her. She returned on the sidewalk before knowing the man who would change her life, Alberto Bravo. Together, they emigrate to New York. (Griselda Blanco: The Cocaine Queen (AT THE PRICE OF BLOOD) (Volume 3))

In the American metropolis, they dashed into the traffic of cocaine. Griselda and Alberto imported several kilos of white powder every week which they sold to a kingpin of the American mafia. John Gotti, the mafia Godfather, contacted Griselda so that supplies him the goods. The spouses Bravo organized the delivery of these goods based on their Medellin childhood friends. Their business became so important. But the demand kept growing.

They had set up a high-tech industry to supply their customers. Other friends of Medellin came into play, including the notorious Pablo Escobar Gaviria, who were given the manufacturing and delivery to United States. The business worked perfectly until the day where the DEA agents put an end to the traffic of the Bravo couple. Griselda and Alberto had to leave the North American territory. She never forgave him this error. Because American authorities had been warned by the Colombian police which noticed the excessive lifestyle of Alberto Bravo and put him under surveillance.

Annoyed by the excesses of her husband, she decided to kill him. Griselda Blanco became them the leader of a new network, settling in Miami to sell his white powder. It was the beginning of the time of Miami Vice. One day Griselda Blanco, the same day, escaped an arrest and a murder attempted. She took refuge at her mother’s, Ana Lucia, which live in Los Angeles. She had quiet moments with her mother and her son, Michael Corleone. But Robert Palombo, the DEA agent who had failed to arrest her in New York, found her trail and arrested her in the bungalow where she lived. She was incarcerated in the prison for woman of San Francisco. Over there, she met a boy who had her great admiration, Charles Cosby. Became lovers, she made him her representative outside of the prison. But her right-hand man of Miami, Jorge Riverito Ayala, was arrested by the police. And to escape from the prison, he began to speak.

The American authorities had their information. Griselda Blanco was extradited towards Florida, where she was judged for murder, but during the trial, Charles Cosby revealed to the judge having had sexual relations with a secretary of the Prosecutor. The judgment, which had to be a mere formality, turned in a fiasco. Therefore, the judge negotiated with lawyers of Griselda to put an end to this trial, which took a bizarre turn. Griselda Blanco was extradited to her country of origin, Colombia. She was sixty years old.

Griselda settled down in Medellin in the chic area of El Poblado where she had bought a villa in a secure subdivision. It was for her, the only way to escape from those who wanted her dead. She lived there for several years before being shot to death on September 3, 2012 by two men circulating on a motorcycle and who put two bullets in the head. Griselda Blanco was almost 70 years old.

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Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels - Chronicles Epic Struggle Between Pablo Escobar & Cali Cartel in History’s Biggest #GangWar

Escobar VS Cali: The War of the Cartels (Gangland Mysteries), chronicles the fascinating story of history’s biggest gang war. The setting: Colombia, South America; the time: the 1980s and early 1990s. The participants were known as cartels, and they were responsible for flooding the world with billions of dollars worth of cocaine. The epic death struggle pitted Pablo Escobar, the so called “World’s Greatest Outlaw” and leader of the Medellin cartel, against the brothers Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Chess Player,” and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Boss”. the leaders of the powerful Cali cartel. The war left thousands of Colombians dead, spawned the term “narcoterrorism” and almost turned Colombia into a narcodemocracy. The gang war, moreover, had major implications for the U.S.’s War on Drug.

When the momentous battle ended, Escobar was dead and the Cali Cartel stood tall as the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organization. So who were the major players in the gangland war? How did it play out? Who took out Pablo Escobar? What role did the U.S. play? Author Ron Chepesiuk takes the reader behind the scenes of the war to the death and investigates a gangland mystery. Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels is must read for anyone who enjoys true crime and a good story. D4 Entertainment has optioned the film rights to the book.

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Pablo Escobar was a rapper (More Narcos)

Pablo Escobar was a rapper. A member of the underclass with no upward mobility who decided to take matters into his own hands and not only triumphed, but had the whole world watching and his minions paying fealty.

If you remember, rap replaced hair bands. Not overnight, the initial hits were nearly a decade before. But when MTV saw the rap ratings, they switched videos, guys from the ghetto became millionaires. And the white people who thought they ran this country, controlled people's hearts and minds, found out they didn't.

Like Escobar, the newly-minted rap impresarios lived large. They weren't saving for retirement, they weren't even planning to get to retirement. Money can't buy you love, but it can buy you a boat, some sex and a big 'ol house and a Maybach. Which everybody can view. A college degree sits on the wall, but clothes and babes and parties and jets are for all to see.

Now eventually the rappers got co-opted by the money. That's what happens with anti-establishment figures, once they have something to protect, they want to. And the public...it's left out, withering on the vine, kind of like today.

We've got a great unwashed underclass with no opportunity. We've got a failing middle class that just can't believe the jobs are gone. And a horrified upper middle class, that believed its Ivy League degrees were a Get Out of Jail Free card, that they could survive on their education, when the truth is we live in the land of money, and unless you've got it, you're screwed.

Oh, you can be a techie. And what's most interesting about the techies is like Escobar and rappers they see no rules, and those that are in their way are broken. It's what happened with Napster, and if you think the music industry won there, you're probably still buying CDs. Because once the flower of justice blooms, life is never the same.

Fifteen dollar CDs with one overpriced track were too much. People poured through the hole Napster provided. To bitch about Spotify and Apple Music is to misunderstand history, they're just trying to put a wall around the chaos. The people want all the music for a very low price, and that ain't gonna change. And then there are the bankers. Who skim in ways not only the government can't understand, but neither can most of Wall Street's workers. As for the hedge funders, they've rigged the tax system to their advantage, the government can't get them, because they're paying elected officials off. If you think this is any different from how Pablo Escobar reigned, you think bankers don't snort cocaine. But they do. And the leader of the rap cartel was Jay Z. Who escaped the streets with the most money and the best babe and got cash from major corporations to boot. But then he made a mistake, he forgot his roots, he bought Tidal, not realizing that once you've left your audience's side, once you're no longer doing it for them, you're screwed.

So Jay Z has been replaced by Donald Trump. Who was born on third base, maybe second, and is far from home, he lies about his success, but he's a beacon to the underclass...that someone at the top is on their team, someone at the top is telling the truth.

Did you see Trump came down on Karl Rove?

"Why does @oreillyfactor and @FoxNews always have Karl Rove on. He spent $430 million and lost ALL races. A dope who said Romney won election"

Who says this stuff? Who speaks the truth?

Once upon a time Pablo Escobar did. And then the rappers. And now Trump.

Illustrating that he who ties in with the underprivileged ultimately wins. Not only do politicians no longer get it, that the public is fed-up with D.C., but it's musicians too. Musicians haven't been in bed with their audience for such a long time. They scalp their own tickets and rake in money from endorsements and keep bitching that's someone's screwing THEM without realizing that the system is screwing their audience every damn day, and unless you're humble and know which side your toast is buttered on, your piece of bread is going to be burned.

Out of fear our whole nation has been running for safety, in a game of musical chairs where most are left out. Not realizing there will be a price to pay.

We're looking for leaders.

Don't like today's music? Just wait a while, the slate's gonna be wiped clean. Just like the gays killed corporate rock with disco and the rappers killed hair bands, something is gonna come along and knock vapid pop off its perch. Could take years, but it's coming.

As for politicians and the rich... Let this be the great awakening, you can't leave the rest of us this far behind for this long. Rules, schmules. Laws, schlaws. Did laws stop the internet? Where the revolutionaries spread their gospel? Hell, even Muslim terrorists employ the internet for propaganda today. There's less control than ever before. And what side you're on counts. In Colombia, they shot the rich, those who got in their way. Because the truth is nobody is protected. How it goes down in America..? We'll see. But one thing we know is what's happening today ain't gonna last.

Never does.

The oligarchs and their sycophants, everybody worshipping cash and believing they're immune, they've got another thing coming. Because human nature trumps money. And those who help their brother ultimately succeed.

Fight abortion and unions and taxes and then find out...

The public isn't with you. Isn't that the essence of Trump? Read Paul Krugman's piece for insight ("Trump Is Right On Economics": http://nyti.ms/1NkPeik). Everything you thought you knew was wrong. And the control the media thinks it has is nonexistent.

This is when people fight for their rights. When their backs are up against the wall and they see no options.

That's how we got Pablo Escobar. And that's how we got rap.

What's next?

Thanks to Bob Lefsetz.

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New Book Chronicles the Provocative Odyssey of Jack Reed, Adventurer, Drug Smuggler and Pilot Extraordinaire

Strategic Media Books announced the publication of Buccaneer: The Provocative Odyssey of Jack Reed, Adventurer, Drug Smuggler and Pilot Extraordinaire. Buccaneer is the exciting, true crime tale of the life and times of Jack Carlton Reed, an All-American boy turned drug smuggler, turned Robinson Crusoe, and then infamous prison inmate. For the first time, Jack Reed discloses his extraordinary tabooed journey as a high flying international cocaine smuggler and personal pilot for Carlos Lehder, partner to Pablo Escobar, the drug kingpin founder of the Medellin Cartel.

Reed flew drug runs for Lehder’s cocaine transport empire based at Norman's Cay, a tiny out island in the Bahamas. Having gained notoriety in the late 70s as a staging point for drug smuggling, Norman's Cay was immortalized in Blow, a motion picture starring Johnny Depp. Reed lands in court as Lehder’s co-defendant in the longest running drug trial in U.S. history.  Despite the tempting opportunity offered by the prosecution, Reed refused to snitch on Lehder. As Reed explained, “I’m no G*d d***n rat! I’m a player. I’m a pirate. I’m a hedonist; and one hell of good smuggler, but I’m no rat!

The self-proclaimed hedonist co-authored this book with pilot/journalist MayCay Beeler, who would not only help record his life story, but would become a character in Reed's twist of fate ending. The book is the stunning account of Reed’s erotic and provocative life with an unforeseen storybook ending that will make readers believe in destiny.

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Great Reviews for "The Sound of Things Falling" by Juan Gabriel Vasquez #MedellinCartel

From a global literary star comes a prize-winning tour de force – an intimate portrayal of the drug wars in Colombia.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez has been hailed not only as one of South America’s greatest literary stars, but also as one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation. In this gorgeously wrought, award-winning novel, Vásquez confronts the history of his home country, Colombia.

In the city of Bogotá, Antonio Yammara reads an article about a hippo that had escaped from a derelict zoo once owned by legendary Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The article transports Antonio back to when the war between Escobar’s Medellín cartel and government forces played out violently in Colombia’s streets and in the skies above. Back then, Antonio witnessed a friend’s murder, an event that haunts him still. As he investigates, he discovers the many ways in which his own life and his friend’s family have been shaped by his country’s recent violent past. His journey leads him all the way back to the 1960s and a world on the brink of change: a time before narco-trafficking trapped a whole generation in a living nightmare.

Vásquez is “one of the most original new voices of Latin American literature,” according to Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, and The Sound of Things Falling is his most personal, most contemporary novel to date, a masterpiece that takes his writing—and will take his literary star—even higher

* One of NPR’s 6 Best Books of the Summer
* Esquire recommends The Sound of Things Falling “if you read only one book this month”
* Starred early reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus
* Lauded by Jonathan Franzen, E. L. Doctorow and many others

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Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks of Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel

On June 20th, Robert Mazur discusses his book, Infiltrator: My Secret Life inside the Dirty Banks behind Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel, which is being made into a movie. Margaret McClain, Special Correspondent will report on the Bulger trial.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

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Griselda Blanco, "Godmother of Cocaine" Killed by Motorcycle Hitman

A 69-year-old woman known throughout the drug world as the "Godmother of Cocaine" was gunned down by an assassin on a motorcycle in Colombia Monday, according to international news reports.

Griselda Blanco, once listed alongside Pablo Escobar as one of the "most notorious drug lords of the 1980s" by the Drug Enforcement Administration, was fatally shot as she left a butcher's shop in western Medellin Monday afternoon, according to a report by Univision and El Colombiano. Colombia's El Espectador reported authorities are looking for Blanco's killers and are investigating possible motives for the killing.

Blanco served nearly 20 years in an American prison on drug trafficking charges and was at one point tied to as many as 40 murders in the U.S., according to a 1997 Senate testimony given by then-director of DEA international operations Michael Horn. Horn said that Blanco ordered a Florida mall shooting in 1979 that left two dead and four injured, and she apparently enjoyed her line of work.

"To foster her reputation as the 'Godmother' of cocaine, [Blanco] named her fourth son Michael Corleone, after the fictional mob character portrayed in the movie 'The Godfather,'" Horn said.

Court documents filed in 1988, three years after Blanco was caught, detail the shadowy, decade-long hunt for the queenpin that involved federal agents chasing false identities and checking Miami hospitals for gunshot wound victims that matched Blanco's description. But she wasn't able to elude them forever and after being captured in 1985 in Irvin, Calif. and serving nearly two decades behind bars in America, Blanco was released from prison and deported back to Colombia in 2004.

The DEA referred all inquiries into Blanco's death to Colombian authorities, telling ABC News, "she served her time here." The Colombian National Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this report.

Thanks to Lee Ferran.

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Mob Month Panel & Book Signing: From Medellin to the Mob: Meet Ronin of the Underworld Kenny “Kenji” Gallo

Mob Month: From Medellin to the Mob: Meet Ronin of the Underworld Kenny “Kenji” Gallo

1/31/2012 • 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Clark County Library
1401 E. Flamingo Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Room: Main Theater

Our final event features a panel discussion with Breakshot author Kenny “Kenji” Gallo about his life growing up as a mixed-race teenage dealer/distributor for South American drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, becoming a leading porn director/producer in California, partnering with West & East Coast mob families, and switching sides to become one of the most successful and notorious undercover operatives for the FBI. Joining the panel are Kenji’s former crime associate-turned-lawyer Ramon and Kenji’s ex-wife and adult film superstar Tabitha Stevens. Moderated by national TV crime commentator/author
Vito Colucci.

Book sales/signing will be available at each event. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Entry wristbands will be issued starting at 6 p.m. from the Theater box office on day of event only. For more information about any of our Mob Month events, please call 702-507-3458.

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Mob Month Panel & Book Signing: From Medellin to the Mob: Meet Ronin of the Underworld Kenny “Kenji” Gallo

Mob Month: From Medellin to the Mob: Meet Ronin of the Underworld Kenny “Kenji” Gallo

1/31/2012 • 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Clark County Library
Room: Main Theater

Our final event features a panel discussion with Breakshot author Kenny “Kenji” Gallo about his life growing up as a mixed-race teenage dealer/distributor for South American drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, becoming a leading porn director/producer in California, partnering with West & East Coast mob families, and switching sides to become one of the most successful and notorious undercover operatives for the FBI. Joining the panel are Kenji’s former crime associate-turned-lawyer Ramon and Kenji’s ex-wife and adult film superstar Tabitha Stevens. Moderated by national TV crime commentator/author
Vito Colucci.

Book sales/signing will be available at each event. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. Entry wristbands will be issued starting at 6 p.m. from the Theater box office on day of event only. For more information about any of our Mob Month events, please call 702-507-3458.

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