So what is an enterprising cocaine cartel to do when tight airport and border security threaten to cause one to miss out on a massive boom in
european cocaine use? Well, for starters one sets up shop on Africa's west coast where the police often aren't paid for months and the 4 cars of some country's police force can mostly sit idle due to a lack of
gas money. Oh, and in
Guinea Bissau - no coast guard! In addition to bringing even more
corruption and
violence to Africa, the status of being
the transhipment point of about 3/4 of all cocaine heading to Europe brings
a Miami-style economic stimulus. And as colombian cartels are generally more concerned with getting cocaine out of Colombia at a profit than getting it all the way to its destination, we're probably only a few years away from a senegalese
Scarface.
posted by jake1
on Feb 12, 2010 -
26 comments
When
Pablo Escobar
escaped from prison in 1992, a lot of people in Colombia began to lose sleep. Some of these people formed
Los Pepes - People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar - a collection of Escobar's fiercest narco competitors,
paramilitaries and columbian authorities with perhaps even
american intelligence assisstance. After taking care of Escobar the victorious narcos, as the
Cali Cartel, went on to rule the world of cocaine. For about three years. A younger, more ruthless crew inside the Cali Cartel quickly did away with the old guard and established what is still today considered the largest supplier of cocaine in the world, the
North Valley Cartel.With many former police officers in its upper ranks and the assisstance of one of the Colombian military's
top antinarcotics officers, the North Valley Cartel was more likely to
run a wiretap than be caught on one.Still, as to the whole
omerta thing? North Valley Cartel bigshot Andres Lopez AKA Florecita (little flower?), after turning himself in to american authorities, cooperating and serving about 2 years in prison, wrote a book.
El Cartel de los Sapos (Cartel of the Snitches) was then made into
the most popular telenovela ever by Colombia's Caracol and dominated just about every market its played in. Oh yeah, and telemundo is streaming them
all for free with subtitles as we speak. Not quite The Wire, but still a must see.
posted by jake1
on Jan 28, 2010 -
37 comments
