The Cartel Trilogy--by Don Winslow
Power of the Dog This is part one of the trilogy. Winslow spent more than 10 years researching this novel. Borrowing from his previous professions as Private Investigator and Crime TV creator, Winslow breathes life into every character in every faction. This novel courses the early years of the cartels when they morphed into an organized syndicate, a territory-abiding oligarchy. The protagonist, Arturo Keller, is a Mexican-American ex-soldier whose background and training make him the perfect fit for the DEA. He gradually freelances his way into the inner world of the narco figures and sees a panoramic view of the drug war from both sides of the border. While several crime figures vie for the antagonist title, Adan Barrera, claims it as the composed leader, who employs ruthless power plays and negotiations that rewrite the rules of the underworld. The book ends with several sacrifices and indignities on both the good and the bad guys.
The Cartel This book wasn’t a planned sequel but was triggered by the real world happenings around El Chapo’s prison escape. The Cartel continues the Keller-Barrera cat and mouse saga but also focuses on the larger effects on society, the devastations caused by unrelenting war for decades on the inhabitants of Mexico who asked for no part of this bloody drug war. Of special mention is the devastating price paid by heroic journalists in this corrupt world where no one seems off limits. This book also sheds light on the immeasurable courage and determination displayed by housewives and everyday citizens who rallied against the might of the government and the underworld and stared them down to startling consequences. Keller manages to finish what he started to the detriment of his personal ties and a peaceful life. But Sisyphus has nothing on the DEA agent.
The Border This book probably wrote itself with the rise of Trump’s candidacy and presidency, both of which play a significant role in the final book of the trilogy. However, the author credits the rise of the Heroin epidemic as the catalyst that drew him back to this world. With just a few U.S. states legalizing marijuana, it already has cut 40% of the Cartels’ profit and rendered pot as an unprofitable venture for them from sheer logistics and competition given that local U.S. growers can easily compete with marijuana from across the border. Alas, the cartels switched to a cheaper synthetic form of Heroin by mixing Fentanyl and poppy seeds.
This reality is played out along with power struggle amidst the splintered crime syndicate where each faction makes an unholy alliance to cling or climb to the top. As Keller heads the DEA as a crusty veteran, his cohorts and protoges contend with a rapidly changing political and criminal scene within the U.S. and in Mexico. The displacement of powerless victims and the hoards of migrants who pay the ultimate price for just a shot at normalcy is captured in all its brutality and grimness.
Rather than manufacturing glitter and depravity to hook the reader, Winslow records the facts of the travails of a region, a people, a class devastated by the tug-of-war between the U.S. DEA, the Mexican army, cops, politicians, narcos, cartels, bagmen, lawyers, justice, and law on both sides. Beyond any doubt now, I'm convinced that legalizing drugs is the only sane option for U.S. in light of Mexico. The corruption, carnage, incarceration, and billions of tax-payer money have not stemmed the flow of drugs for 50 years anyway. Another 50 years like this is not only unthinkable, it would be unconscionable for all the powers that prolong this situation.
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