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

Drug Lord is the real thing. Raw, immediate, indispensable. -- Don Winslow, author of City on Fire and The Power of the Dog

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 ... 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

This gripping and thorough look into a pivotal period in drug smuggling from Mexico is based on interviews the author personally conducted with Pablo Acosta, who once controlled 60% of the cocaine trafficked into the U.S. This new edition includes front and back matter that gives an overview of how the Mexican smuggling trade and government has changed, and an argument from the author for drug legalization as a means to ending the violence once and for all.

Terrence Poppa, an award-winning journalist, is widely respected as an expert in narco-trafficking. He was a finalist for the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for his investigations into the connection between crime and government in Mexico. He was featured in Standoff in Mexico, a PBS production about fraudulent elections in Mexico. Due to his unique insights into the world of Mexican drug trafficking, Poppa has been widely interviewed on radio and television and served as a writer for the television show Narcos.

Charles Bowden was an investigative journalist who spent much of his career covering the drug wars in the American Southwest. He passed away of natural causes in 2014.