Customer Reviews

Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In Contrabando, Don Henry Ford tells the story of his 10 years as a marijuana smuggler on the Texas-Coahuila border. He recounts a period of his life that reveals the prehistory of the border drug trade. As a freelancer, Ford brushed up against the likes of Pablo Acosta and Amado Carrillo, but in contrast to their star power, he remained in the shadows.

This book does not pussyfoot around the hard facts of the drug business and the economic ruin that forces so many into it, in both Mexico and the United States. Some will say that the things in this book can't be true, but that is because they don't go there. Some people DO go there, but Don Henry Ford is the only one to come back to write about it.

And he can really write! Like earth smells--beans frying in lard over a wood fire, coffee under crystal stars, green-sweet stickiness as he pinches seed heads on a crop, dank ruin as storms strip $600,000 of ripe cotton from its stalks, the hard rush of ozone and adrenalin as he pulls his daughters from an angry river in flood, blood-in-the-mouth fear in a dealer's motel room or a Mexican cave or a federal prison cell. And the warmth of caring for people and horses and making things grow. He's a writer who lives and breathes grit and blood and life itself.

And it's hard to argue with a witness like Don Henry Ford, a man who spent years enmeshed in the dark entrails of the business. And lived to tell the tale.

Contrabando is a real life account of a Texas cowboy/farmer who began smuggling to save the farm. It escalates quickly into tales of murder, danger, corruption, and hilarity. There are many characters that settle in the badlands and their stories are told without judgement or prejudice here. The book is an easy read yet precisely descriptive. The author paints beautiful pictures of the almost uninhabitable deserts and mountains of Texas and Mexico. Throughout the book are incredible tales of survival and an informal philosophical commentary which really helps one to understand the mechanics of the drug trade. This book offers a perspective seldom heard which is the true force of human nature. This natural human survival is pointedly at odds with societal and governmental policies concrning the drug trade. That conflict is addressed honestly and without moral judgement in the book.

I was witness to part of what Don wrote and having read Contrabandos, can testify to its accuracy. Any errors are only those of perspective, because we all see events in a slightly different light. Ms. Kirkpatrick reviews the book as fiction. I can assure you that it is not. A 'Mule' only recieves a fee for his services and is notinvolved in any other part of the business. If anything, this book lacked space to tell much more of the story as it happened.

Not too long ago I was on a hiking trip in the middle of the near-desert of West Texas. On the verge of exhaustian and still fifteen miles from my destination, a friendly driver pulled over and offered me a ride. Before long he was talking about his old life, the life of an outlaw, smuggling drugs across the border in the dead of night, running from the police, breaking out of prison, hiding from the Mexican Government and living through a shootout with major drug runners such as Pablo Acosta. Standing on the side of a deserted farm road in the middle of nowhere, this man introduced himself to me as Don Henry Ford, Jr., author, social activist, cowboy, ex-convict, ex-drug smuggler. I was a bit skeptical of his story at first, yet the manner in which he told it didn't leave much room for disbelief. After he took his leave I made my way home again and immediately went to this site -- sure enough, here it is: Contrabando by Don Henry Ford, Jr. I couldn't wait to read it, and found that the wait was indeed worthwile.

Mr. Ford's is truly an amazing story, and the fact that he lived to tell it at all is even more astounding. From his first attempt at purchasing marijuana, ending in a run-in with the Mexican Police, to being set up by the DA, to the shootout with Pablo Acosta, to the rich description of life in rural Mexico, this book will entertain you from start to finish. More so, it will inform you of a culture that exists today on the fringes of society, a culture that is ignored by most and looked down upon by almost all. You will not regret the purchase of Contrabando in the least.

First off; everyone should read this book and therefore five stars.

After reading this book my thoughts are:

1) The author showed great courage in many instances. He crossed the border with contraband knowing that the car would be inspected. He searched out his product at the source in the mountains of Sinaloa. He escaped from prison. He grew and guarded his own patch in Mexico. He didn't pay into the 'plaza' protection system (courage our ignorance? see below). Men such as these build great nations.

2) The author was ignorant of the seas in which he was swimming. He didn't pay into the plaza system and Acosta stole his crop as a result. He should have paid with his life, not just his crop. He severely underestimated US law enforcement and did have to pay with years of his life.

3) The author displays brutal honesty and insights in his assessment of himself, his situations and decisions. At times he seems like a hard worker at other times he seems like a typical stoner.

I hope that the author succeeds in his future endeavors since he displayed the same talents and skills as many successful people all across the world; hard work, innovation, intelligence, honesty, and courage.

I've worked in the Texas border area for years,and lived on both sides of the Rio Grande.I'm not a smuggler,and I'm not a drug user.I'm pretty familiar with all the locations in the book.
This guy isn't a BS artist-he had to have been there and experienced all he wrote about.His picture of life in northern Mexico is right on the money,and I can almost smell the carne asada cooking!
This guy is an extremely talented writer,and I would encourage him to write a sequel.I know this book only covered a small part of the story,and I would love to hear more about it! I've heard this is a movie coming out sooner or later,and it should be a good one.
Take it from a Texas good ol boy who knows the border and knows Mexico-this book is the real deal!
Buy it! It's a great read!

I've never seen the drug world, but I know some people Don knows and have had some similar experiences (membership in the A&M Corps about 10 years later, farm work, and more than a few days spent in South Texas on a deer lease. My personal experience is, like an earlier reviewer stated, a bollillo who speaks the language and obviously respects the culture gets along fine. Based on this, my guess is his less legal activities probably are portrayed accurately as well.

Ford comments about how he wished he'd been a better writer when he wrote this...but the story is so compelling, it shines through. In fact, I might have enjoyed the book less if he'd been trying for Shakespeare. Approach the book as if a friend was telling his story over a few beers, and you won't be able to put the book down.

Don, if you're reading this, I hope your son got his head straight and is doing OK now.

Day before yesterday, I received a couple of copies of Contrabando, the original hard-backed version. For whatever reason, I picked up the book and began reading. It's been long enough that it was almost, (but not entirely), like reading the work of another.

I felt like I needed a marking pencil. The writing is stilted and disjointed in places. I found repititions. Inaccuracies. But the story behind the words still has value. It's a flawed depiction taken from the front lines of this so-called war on drugs which is really a war on people. A flawed version of one that has actually been there is better than a well written version of those that have not.

Stephen King compared the skills needed to write a book to a box of tools. He went on to say if a person has a good story, they can write a decent book with a minimal amount of tools

I wrote Contrabando with a hammer, a crescent wrench, a pair of vice grips and a single slot bladed screw driver. I needed more tools.

I won't try to rewrite the book. Life has moved on; I've better and more timely subjects to address.

Ray Wylie Hubbard once said, be careful about the song you write because you might still be singing it thirty years later. To this day, Ray gets requests to sing up against the wall red-neck mother, quite possibly the worst song he ever wrote.

I know how he feels.

Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down and I did not until I finished it. Knowing the background of the hard-working people he came from and growing up in that same era and areas, it was like peering in a window and watching another world that I had only heard about whispered with girlfriends. I am grateful for the glimpse from Mr. Ford, as I know how painful the retelling must be for all, and hopefully cathartic as well. I could not imagine living in that drug culture or being a part of that desperation, growing up a wide-eyed and naive small-town girl at that time. I only knew the rumors of those that did, somewhat in awe at their audacity, like local versions of a forbidden rock star in some ways. What a tough character he was and a parents nightmare! The high stress of living such a life would seem to exact a heavy toll and the authors words conveyed a dilemma of ethics in a world where little seemed to exist. Yet I found myself oddly cheering him on and wanting him to succeed and be redeemed in the end, not admiring the lifestyle but appreciating the experience without having to live it. I felt for his family and children and all they must have endured. I was sad when the book ended as I felt there should be a neat and happy ending somehow, and hope it is as best it can be. The reader is left with a sense of lessons learned and regrets to overcome from the author (maybe part two?), yet a hope for a better life for he and his family. Good luck to the author and his family and I looking forward to reading some of his other books.

Contrary to the comments made by Genny Kirkpatrick, this is an outstanding narrative. Genny does not understand the culture of the border. A Spanish speaking Anglo, sincerely interested in Mexican culture, will have no difficulty being accepted by Mexicans near the border, and for this, the book is believable. It is definately an eye opener, and very informative regarding Mexican culture. Several passages discussing food found my stomach growling lol. My hat is off to Mr. Ford. He accepts responsibility for his actions, is not afraid to face the consequences, and all the while tells an interesting and sometimes amusing story.