Customer Reviews

Drug Lord: The Life & Death of a Mexican Kingpin-A True Story

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I had the privelege of living close to Ojinaga during the time Acosta was alive. I remember very vividly when he was shot on the other side of the border by Federal Agents. I had never met Acosta nor his direct enemies, but was acquainted with relatives of Arevelo's. I know his son and the book does not lie. This was every day life for the people of Ojinaga. It is run by druglords still to this day, but to the ignorant eye, you only see a run-down, dusty- almost surreal town of nothingness. Most border towns are gleaming with touristy shops and a bustling market. Not Ojinaga. Bulletholes are still in the side of the Bikini Bar in the Sqaure where a gunfight broke out between Acosta's men and his rival- Most roads are not even paved and Donkeys are a coomon site even in the downtown area. People still talk of him and how he helped the entire town- throwing parties- giving people money- helping out the needy. I read this book and it was almost like listening to Arevelo's son and other residents of O.J. tell me the stories before Poppa ever even wrote the book.

Pablo Acosta was no glamour-big shot- He looked like the illegal alien you would see working illegally on a ranch in the hot sun of South Texas. Rough hands, sun-dried skin. I have seen pictures of him other than the book and the book depicts him perfectly. He was a genuine, deep rooted Mexican drug smuggler with nothing to prove other than the fact he knew how to get his drugs across the border and get paid for it. If you like mafia movies, books- if you are looking for genuine stories that depict real life- things you can almost relate to-- this is the book you need to get. It turns you on to the world of real life drug smuggling in Mexico-- The dirtiness of it. The everyday Mexican that turns from a nobody into a native hero and a foreign enemy.

I first read Drug Lord, the Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin, two years ago and was amazed by the amount of information the author was able to pack into the narrative without bogging it down. For me, it was like a journey through the looking glass, stepping into the distorted realities of a Mexico run by a perverse and frightening political system. I ended up sympathizing with Pablo Acosta, wishing he would save himself by giving up to the Americans. His misdeeds as a border drug trafficker were eclipsed by the ruthless system of government that exploited him. After reading Drug Lord, the stories I read about Mexico in the newspapers made so much more sense. I read the book again recently and was taken this time by the mature, vigorous and sometimes passionate prose. Some of the chapters are in fact brilliant short stories. It took a great deal of courage for an American journalist to explore this border underworld. Perhaps because of the dangers, no other American journalist that I know of has dared to repeat his noteworthy accomplishment. His work is a classic.

I will start by saying that I am the first Ojinaga native to admit to what was taking place in Ojinaga at the time. I grew up in the small dusty town and my father was a wealthy man and well known. We owned 4 businesses and I got to meet the Drug Lord himself while he was visiting my father at one of the liquor stores. I witness one of the executions that took place on trasvina street. This book is nothing but inside information on one of the most notorious drug lords of our time and the mentor of Amado Carrillo. It's like reading a fiction gangster moive only this is the real thing. No book I've read comes close to detailing as much information and getting the reader involved in the story. If you want to know how Amado "Lord of the Skies" Carrillo got his start and how Mafiosos lived and died, this book is a must read. I lend this book to my professor and friends and they read it in 3 days, you'll be hooked from page one. Goodfellas doesn't come close to this one.

In Drug Lord, Terrence Poppa manages to capture all the elements that a book about America's War on Drugs should have: engrossing, multidimensional heroes and villains, clearly-defined connections between the men and women who move oceans of narcotics across the Rio Grande and the larger governmental interests on both sides of the border that profit, one way or the other, from the trade, and guns, guns, guns. Drug Lord was an engrossing read, which I happened to read while touring the Big Bend area of West Texas. The book had such an impact on me that I made a 100-mile detour to visit Ojinaga, the stage where Pablo Acosta made his rise from dirt-poor campesino to mafia kingpin. Although Ojinaga today does its best to disassociate itself, at least to outsiders, from Acosta's legacy (even this pinche gringo knew better than to walk into a cantina and start asking questions), many of the tangible remnants of the bad old days Poppa describes, such as the smuggler's trucks with questionable propane tanks in the bed and houses surrounded by 12 foot-high cinderblock walls, are still readily visible. Although the book succeeds as narrative and will satisfy anyone interested in the drug war, the conclusion that Poppa comes to can be summed up in one sentence: it is all Mexico's fault. True, the Mexican government is rotten to the core, and six years under Vicente Fox doesn't seem to have changed much. But any honest examination of the War on Drugs must acknowledge the fact that Acosta and those who have come before and after him are only supplying a demand created by Americans; if the Mexicans don't sate that demand, then the Colombians will, and if the Colombians don't sate it, then the Cosa Nostra, or the Russians, and so on and so forth. I found Poppa's willingness to foster the blame for an unwinnable war on the shoulders of a country that has lost so much fighting a conflict whose victory will primarily benefit Americans to be a sad and myopic conclusion to an otherwise great book. Readers wanting an equally-engrossing but more balanced read should try Charles Bowden's Down By The River, about the Amado-Fuentes organization.

Pablo Acosta, in his heyday, was delivering more drugs into the United States than all of the drug smugglers operating in and out of the state of Florida combined. Working out of his stronghold of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, on the border of the Texas near Big Bend National Park, he operated with impunity because of his payoffs to the Mexican Army general in Chihuahua City, who acted as the conduit for the system of bribes which is the backbone of the Mexican political system. Author Terrence Poppa first began publishing stories about Acosta and his drug ring in the El Paso Times, and later went to Ojinaga to interview Acosta and his lieutenants, in preparation for the eventual publishing of this book. Acosta was finally killed in raid conducted by Mexican police operating from American territory, after his fall from grace as the political current changed and other drug king pins prepared to take his place and offer their bribes to top Mexican officials. The epilogue in the current reprint of this classic details the system that fell into place after the fall of Acosta, when his former lieutenant, Amado Carrillo, went on to become the biggest drug king pin of them all, surpassing in power even the notorious leaders of the Columbian cartels.

Although the book is exciting and hard hitting, Poppa is alleged to have been given some erroneous information by Acosta and his associates who were attempting to conduct a rather bungling public relations exercise with the author, who proved to be gullible enough in many instances to have printed information that insiders hold in dispute. It also seems that Poppa was trying to emulate Mario Puzo and "The Godfather" in many ways, to no real benefit of the work. In spite of these flaws, this book is still one of the most revealing and important books of our times: a must for those who wish to understand the nature of this plague that is ripping apart our society from the seams.

Drug Lord is a pleasure to read even though its message is quite disturbing. Terrence Pappa's journalistic talents are obvious; by focusing primarily on the biography of the Mexican drug lord, Pablo Acosta, rather than directly on the issue of drug smuggling, he immediately engages the reader's interest. Acosta is a fascinating character, reminiscent in some ways of Chicago's Al Capone. However, there is one huge difference: Pappa provides convincing evidence that even most powerful drug lords, such as Acosta, are only pawns in a drug trade that involves the highest levels of the Mexico's ruling party including the brother of the former President and possibly even former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, himself. The rampant corruption in the PRI - the political party that has ruled Mexico over 70 years - illustrates how difficult it will be for Mexico to get its social and economic house in order. This means that we can expect the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs (and they are related) will end no time soon.

If you want to understand what is currently going on with the drug cartels on the U.S. Mexican border, read this book.

Pablo Acosta is a fascinating character and the book is hard to put down. It describes his personal life, how he got into the business, how the business operated, and how he got out of the business... or was removed from the business, actually more like a hostile takeover.

Although it focuses on a drug kingpin in a small Mexican border town, the author does a great job of showing how the Mexican government, judicial police and military are all involved in the top to bottom distribution of weed, cocaine and heroin.

Excellent, well written book.

This book was very interesting. You feel as though you are in the midst of the desert standing right next to these traffickers as they do their business. The dust is in the air as you turn the pages and you feel the danger as you read.

No book in recent memory has captured the truth regarding the infamous Mexican Drug Cartels like Drug Lord. If someone were smart the movie would not be far behind this undercover masterpiece. Terrence, you are the man!!!

I've read the book and it is everything my friends told me it was. In the book Comandante Oscar Prieto is one of my friend's dad. The author gives good detail of the story of Pablo because i've heard a lot of true stories which are in the book, and of course a lot that aren't. I have family in Ojinaga and you still have the same business going on, but a lot of people from the town don't worry about it. I've seen pictures where Pablo just looks like a normal rancher from town. He always helped the people in need for food or money. He always remembered where he came from. That's why people don't remember him as a drug lord but as a person who helped the community and the poor. You will be surprised by how Pablo did his deals to cross the drugs over the border. When you read the book you will picture in your mind everything that is going on just like I did. Believe me, you will visualize.