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

by Terrence E. Poppa

An exposé of the connections between crime and government in Mexico, this is the story of Pablo Acosta, the notorious scar-faced Mexican drug lord. Controlling crime along 250 miles of the Rio Grande, he was responsible for creating a narcotics hub in northern Mexico that smuggled 60 tons of cocaine a year into the United States. This book chronicles Pablo Acosta's bloody rise and his spectacular fall at the hands of the same system that had protected him until he made the mistake of talking to a U.S. reporter—the author—about the arrangement. Also included are details about Pablo Acosta's successor, Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crime, Biography, History, True Crime, Biography Memoir

364 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

also know as Terrence Poppa

Reviews

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drug Lord: A True Story: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin (Kindle Edition)

Its quite a story about Pablo Acosta, a Drug Lord who worked his way up, starting out as a roofer and subcontractor in the US, dealing small amounts of drugs as a sideline, and traveling to a small town in Mexico near the border to visit family. When his predecessors eventually lost power or were arrested, he had gained enough know how and connections to take a shot at taking the reins himself. Tells how things became more violent under his rule. Lots of interesting stories about day to day operations, drug runs, corruption and crazy things that sometimes happened.

[Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pablo Acosta was a man whose life needs no embellishment! His rise to prominence and subsequent tenure as the head drug trafficker in the Mexican border town of Ojinaga was a wild rollercoaster ride of backroom business deals with government agencies, cross-border smuggling operations, and wild gunfights.

Terrence Poppa's retelling of Acosta's life is imbued with the type of drama that whole movies and television shows are built around. His well-paced writing and vivid descriptions go a long way in placing the reader directly in the midst of the action. Particularly vivid encounters in the book include the assassination attempt on Acosta (in the presence of a bus full of children), Acosta's confrontation with Fermin Arevalo at Arevalo's ranch, and the final standoff between Acosta and Calderoni.

What I additionally enjoyed about Poppa's biography is that he took the care to provide the context for Acosta's drug operation and also to delve more deeply into the characters that surrounded and made up Acosta's organization. For example, the discussion of prior Ojinaga drug lords felt critical to understanding how such drug smuggling operations worked in cooperation with government agencies while also providing a good comparison between Acosta's approach to the business and that of his predecessors.

Poppa's more recent updates to the book (the Introduction and Epilogue were both written and added to the book in 2010) are also welcome expansions. They give new life to a book that is turning 30 years old this year. I especially appreciated the epilogue note on Calderoni. His role in the context of Acosta's life was of persecutor and hunter of the drug lord and hero to drug enforcement agencies in the United States, but his ultimate legacy was not much different than that of his more openly corrupt colleagues.

Where the book comes a bit short is in terms of the sequencing of events. The through-line is not chronological and I was therefore confused at times when a previously incarcerated character was once again taking action in an operation. Additionally, the book could have benefitted from a diagram to explain characters' associations with one another. Towards the end of the book, when about 10 primary characters and dozens of secondary characters have been introduced, it was hard to keep track of everyones' interests and associations.

(As an aside, this book and my subsequent internet searches led me to discover that Pablo Acosta is a prominent character in the second season of Narcos: Mexico. I have started watching the show as a result and am disappointed with their portrayal of Acosta, despite having Poppa on the show as a consultant. The version represented on that show is so diluted and separated from the version presented in Poppa's book that they may as well have just renamed him altogether.)

[Lori Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who wants to know anything about the U.S.-Mexico drug trade should start with this book.

[Brian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunate truths in this book

[Reet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chuck Bowden wrote the preface to this book, and he doesn't even spell Colombia right. He spells it Columbia! 🤣
Terrence poppy wrote a book about a so-called drug lord from Chihuahua. For a time this drug lord "controlled the plaza," meaning he gave money to the military and police of that district to allow him and his employees to buy and sell drugs, and they would not hinder him. Also, he could use soldiers and police to look after his affairs, such as guarding his marijuana fields.
This money could be worth as much as $100,000 a month.
In 1974, a mayor's race for the city of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, had been run and the opposition party mayor had been elected, something unheard of. But suspicions and rumors begin to run rampant about the new mayor. It was found that he had gone to the official party, but was turned down after they told him that a long-standing party loyalist would win the election, and only then he had gone to the opposition party. Rumors also ran that he was laundering money for a drug lord named Manuel Carrasco.
The department heads in Ojinaga were called into the mayor's office one by one, and sometimes severally, to discuss the situation with drug trafficking in the state:
"the mayor said to the administrator, 'we have to recognize that drug trafficking is a good business, and also that there is nothing that can really be done about it. And anyway, all of the drugs are going to the United States.'
The administrator replied: 'yes, but some of it always remains in Mexico where it is consumed. But the fact remains that there can never be any moral or ethical justification for that kind of activity.'
The Mayor and Manuel Carrasco exchanged smiles. The mayor said, 'maybe not, but it can be seen as having an historical justification as the vengeance of a vanquished country that lost half of its territory in a war with the United States – and is still being exploited by the United States.' "
I'll say!

In chapter 5 the author gives a little history into the background of the "plaza" in Chihuahua. The former drug lord in charge of the plaza, named Manuel Carrasco, had to flee the state, after a shootout with the nephew of a higher up, Heraclio Avilez, got shot, some say in order for Carrasco to avoid paying his uncle for a plane-load of marijuana.
Meanwhile, Pablo Acosta left New Mexico, after being indicted by a federal court for a bust that took place there. When Carrasco Fled the state, the Ojinaga plaza fell by default to shorty Lopez, a pal of Pablo Acosta from when they both were serving Time in Fort Leavenworth.
"Old Man Avilez not only put a price on Manuel Carrasco's head, he also put out a contract for every one of the municipal cops in Ojinaga. They were all to be killed.
Rumors flashed around town that two airplanes full of avilez men armed with machine guns and machetes were on the way with orders to kill Carrasco and butcher the policemen. to the last man, the Ojinaga police force fled to the United States."

1978, Pablo Acosta's name had become more familiar to customs intelligence as the one who was in charge of the plaza in Ojinaga, responsible for running drugs through the Big bend region of Texas.
Sometimes the Mexican military would pretend to go after narcotraficantes, in order to look better to U.S. customs.
In 1982, A 60- to 90-acre marijuana plantation south of Ojinaga was due to be harvested.
"That particular plantation was 'raided' and burned a couple of weeks after the intelligence report [of September 14, 1982] was written. The raid was duly played up by the Mexican media which touted it as a 'blow' against the narcotraficantes by the authorities. Mexican informants, however, Drew for their American contacts in precidio [Texas] a different picture of the military action. The fields were of sinsemilla, a strain of marijuana grown mainly for the potent tops. Pablo was allowed to harvest the tops. Only then, in the presence of the media, did the military move in and slash-and-burn what was left."

1981, Pablo had a serious setback when he lost a pilot, his ground crew, a plane, a lot of marijuana, and a first-rate landing site in Texas, and moreover, one of his brothers.
A landing site perfect for smuggling drugs into Texas was found west of Orla, a tiny farming community near the Pecos River and one of the most isolated regions in an already desolate West Texas.
About 9:30 on the evening of January 22nd Rogelio, the pilot, took off with the first of Pablo's loads. Pablo waited for hours, expecting Rogelio to return to fly the second of the two loads, and finally knew that something had gone wrong. Calls began to come in, and he found out what happened.
"... Texas State narcotics officers had been hiding next to the farm Road, waiting for the plane to land. As soon as Rogelio landed and taxied up, the ground Crew began unloading the bales of marijuana and putting them into a van. The police moved in, catching the pilot and ground crew by surprise. Contrary to his usual practice of remaining in the plane, rogelio had jumped out to help transfer the marijuana to the van. When one of the American cops shouted 'police!' Rojelio panicked and backed up along the cowling. As he did so, he stepped into the propeller blade, which sliced through his head all the way down to his chest. He was not the only casualty. One of the ground crew was shot when he aimed a machine gun at the policeman. In all, six men were arrested, including Pablo's brother."
Yikes! I got a visual when I read this. 🤢

Reading this book, I got a little bit of knowledge regarding cultivating marijuana: Marco [a drug runner working under Pablo] appointed an overseer and handed out assault rifles for defense against Intruders. A few people had to remain there during the entire three-month growing period To keep the field clear of weeds and to uproot male marijuana plants. As a result of the horticultural experimentation that went on in the 1960s and 1970s, pot growers learned that female plants contain the highest concentration of the psychopotent resins peculiar to cannabis. They also learned that the concentration dropped if the female plant became pollinated. It was crucial, therefore, to uproot the male plants as soon as they became identifiable."

David regela was a customs officer on the U.S. side. He actually crossed over the border and visited Pablo in Ojinaga several times, with the intent to use Pablo as an informant. He knew how the system in Mexico worked, the franchise nature of organized crime. How the government allowed people like Pablo Acosta to operate as an unofficial extension of government.
On one occasion, he and other agents in the presidio enforcement office were able to observe Mexican government involvement firsthand.
The agents had detected a 3-acre marijuana field on the Mexican side of the Rio grande in Colorado canyon, midway between presidio and Big bend national Park. On a ledge about 50 feet above the river, it was at the base of sheer cliffs that towered on both sides of the canyon. The field and irrigation pipes were not visible from the river, but you could see it through binoculars from the top of cliffs on the American side.
In an effort to try to stop the marijuana from being harvested and crossed over into the U.S., the customs officials channelled Information to authorities in Mexico City. The Mexican government announced it was sending a special unit with orders to destroy the field, agreeing to allow the Americans to lead them to it. But suddenly the Americans were told their assistance would not be needed. The next day the government of Mexico announced that the field had been located and destroyed and arrests had been made.
"regela did not have any reason to disbelieve the report, but a week later he decided to see how thorough an eradication job the Mexicans had done. He and a girlfriend kayaked downriver to Colorado canyon and climbed the slope up the edge of the field. Before even reaching the field they heard a gunshot and a bullet whizzing over their heads. Eight soldiers emerged out of nowhere demanding to know what they were doing there. Regela acted like a dumb tourist and explained they were searching for Indian ruins. The soldiers finally let them go but not before Regela was able to observe that the marijuana field was still intact."
The American agents later kayaked down the river, when they found that there was a 3-hour break between soldiers shifts. They climbed the cliff, pulled out the marijuana plants and the irrigation pipes, and threw it all in the river.

Acosta's reign did not last long, as any drug lord's couldn't. There's a lot of money to be made in drugs, but there's so much risk and bloodshed involved in it.
In My own experience, in my youth, I worked in a bar of a Mexican restaurant in San Jose California. It was owned by a certain [Señor] Franco, who had been a fairly big distributor in the San Jose East side area in the past. He had to lay low by the time I knew him, because of the heat that was put on him. But at the time I worked in the bar, I was approached many times, asking if I wanted to sell drugs. When I said that it was just too much risk to take, I was told that there was not much risk involved, and plenty of opportunity.
I learned a lot reading this book; I'm a bit familiar with the region, having lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, 50 miles north of El Paso and Juárez, in my youth.
This author writes in a very knowledgeable manner, having been a journalist for years.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the true story of the drug kingpin of Mexico, Pablo Acosta. Terrence Poppa extensively interviewed the drug kingpin and many associates. As a result, a startling, disturbing expose of Mexican and American policies that don’t do enough to stem the drug tide emerges. Starting as a marijuana salesman, Pablo quickly added heroin. When the Columbian drug lords came calling with cocaine, Acosta allowed them to use his distribution system — for a fee. After a while, the Columbians got too powerful, and Acosta tried to kill them off.

Acosta saw himself as a Robin Hood for the poor of Mexico. He “loaned” money to the poor (people were proud and wanted to feel there was a chance they could repay the loan), built and repaired schools, built nursing homes for the elderly, paid for surgeries, and provided civic support for the poor areas in his region of northern Mexico. Acosta avered that the government should have been doing these good works, not a drug lord. Acosta saw himself as a benevolent Papa. However, he killed rivals, stole thousands of American cars, trucks, and airplanes yearly, and corrupted officials, the police, and soldiers.

One of the author’s most upsetting declarations is that in the 1970s and 1980s, the Mexican government (state, local, and federal) and the Mexican Army were all part of the drug business. They protected approved drug dealers (Pablo Acosta paid them $100,000 monthly to conduct his business). The government also planted, grew, and sold marijuana on its own. US agents got virtually no assistance across the border to stop drug shipments because the Mexicans were making too much money by turning a blind eye. The only reason the Mexican government killed Pablo Acosta is that he talked with journalists, telling the dirty secrets of the Mexican government and military.

As soon as Acosta was killed by Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, he was kicked upstairs (gotten rid of, so the corruption could continue). However, it later came out that Calderoni was actually acting for the PRI (Partido Revoucionario Institucional). Calderoni worked through orders of the PRI (more info below), so they could appear to be trying to stamp out organized crime. In reality, the PRI was the drug cartel. The author points out that the deeply ingrained corruption ceased when Vincente Fox became President of Mexico. However, the author states that before Mr. Fox, the crime went all the way to the President of Mexico.

One of the most surprising things I learned from this book is that the Acosta clan sampling the goods. That is one of the cardinal taboos in drug dealing — to imbibe in the product. Unfortunately, this seems to have created the conditions under which drug lords were taken down. After they became addicted, they became unreliable as drug dealers.

Please note that this is the 20th year update of the original version (1998). With a well-trained eye, the author offers an update on the drug scene since Pablo Acosta. Things have changed in the Mexican drug scene. Now, there are $ 30+ billion of drugs pouring into Mexico yearly. However, the government is no longer acting as a mafia leader, controlling organized crime for the benefit of the people in power. The PRI (Partido Revoucionario Institucional) is no longer controlling the government. Now, the highest levels of government are separate from the drug traffic. However, so much money is to be earned that when one drug lord crashes, several more are ready to take his place. Politicians, bureaucrats, and moneyed citizens are now running the drugs. They aim to do it quietly, with no fanfare.

It took decades for reform-based Mexicans to oust the PRI from the government. The author points out that the US must support the democratic Mexican government trying to remove drugs from their economy. It is an uphill battle. This is an eye-opening book. I cannot recommend it too highly. The author tells his story in such an engaging way that the pages fly past.

[Greg Foss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting tale about Pablo Acosta - a man who may very-well have been Mexico's first bigtime kingpin. Gives you the backstory on how Mexico, and the Americans across the border, have used long established smuggling routes for all manner of products, finally arriving at the first large cash-crop: marijuana, and then followed shortly by cocaine.

Acosta was the last civilized drug lord, before his kind were replaced by vicious warlords - whose power and bloodlust seem barely human by comparison. By the time Joaquín Guzmán arrives on the scene, whole armies of crazed sicarios battle for territory and control of as much drug smuggling as they can acquire - killing hundreds of civilians in the process.

Good backstory on smuggling, and a detailed portrait Pablo Acosta, who led a very interesting life.

[Esteban Vega · Rating 3 out of 5]

A must if you plan understanding the complex relation and creation of the narco myth by mexican and gringo governments.
This one is very light on the american side, glaring over almost everything and focusing on the mexican authorities' side; if you want something cruder and more akin to reality, grab Los cárteles no existen: Narcotráfico y cultura en México by Oswaldo Zavala (that one got me here).

Narcos Mexico, the Netflix series, got a lot of inspiration from here.

Entertaining, if it weren't really tragic.

[Marc Binns · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in-depth chronicle of the life of Pablo Acosta by Terrence Poppa. Acosta was a prominent trafficker on the northern border town of Ojinaga during the 70s and 80s, he became one of the main distributors of Narcotics from Mexico to the USA during this time.

This is really informative book on the traffickers life, with the background setting of Mexico's rise as the main narco hub post the Columbia/Miami route crackdown. Pablo's connections to the Government, Judicial police, Mexican Army, other Plaza bosses and Columbian traffickers show how deep the corruption went.

Recommended read for anyone with an interest in Mexico's spiral into becoming a Narco state during this time .

[George Donithan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book must have been the basis for the Breaking Bad mini-series. The intricate dealings between the people in the US and those in Mexico bringing drugs to the border was thoroughly detailed. And the extent of the various Mexican government departments and the Mexican military in assisting the drug smugglers was shocking. The entire government from the president on down protected the Drug Lords like Pablo Acosta. All the cartels had to do was give a cut to the right people.

Not only is this book interesting, but it’s also well written. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about our neighbors to the south.

[Laurel Starkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a detailed description of the cartel's day-to-day operations along with a historical overview, this book is for you.

The writing is uneven. It starts well and ends up repeating itself. It becomes clear towards the end that the author derived his materials from interviews that Pablo Acosta gave to the media along with government intelligence reports and court transcripts. He repeats the anecdotes found in the beginning again as he describes the source. It bogs down the book and leaves the reader with a sense of: "Wait. Didn't I already read this?"

[Cold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess the "true story" aspect is why it's so highly rated.

For me, it wasn't great as a story. Everything was one-step removed, until the chapters where Pablo was being interviewed by journalists. And then the main insight, that the gangs and the military/federal police work together, was dragged out across a long, long story. If I want insights into the world, I want to read a proper history, not this. And if I want a good story, it needs to be fiction or at least a first-hand biography so you get to know the characters.

[Bernhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for day to day insights in the slow days of rural drug staging and rather unorganized cross boarder runs and the understanding how cartels were born out of this place in time. Yet, completely dated compared to today’s organization of the trade with even changing hierarchisches and alliances where the individual „drug lord“ is almost non existent as either Mexican authorities remembered them to maintain the storefront on the war of drugs with the U.S.

[sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, the book takes you into the Mexican mafia spanning a time period from the early 70's to late 80's. The book proceeds to describe the violent and more nurturing side of one of the most feared men of this era. A compelling read which left me with mixed emotions upon finishing. 4.5/5 would recommend to anyone with interests in narcotics, crime, and violence!

[Sally taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the Audio of this book and I really found it very good. It amazes me how some people live and justify why they live that way. This book was all written from actually manuscripts and records, but it didn't read like that, it read like a someone telling you a story. I love when a book does that.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The guy was a hick bandito, drug addict, alchy, philosopher, fearless. If you watched Narcos Mexico I guess you’d want more with Amador Carilles and more of the characters from the show but that’s not really the case. As with most drug/crime related epics, the characters are hard to keep up with. It’s pretty good. The guy had serious cajones.

[Yousef · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I read about Mexico drug operations and I learned a lot. The way the author describes the encounters, shootouts and geographics of the area is amazing. I never lost interest or felt book is turning into something unnecessary if anything it actually drown me more to look for other biography and history books from that era.

[Jan Notzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story and well-told. The incredible aspect of it is the pervasiveness of corruption in the Mexican government. It actually strikes me as a kleptocracy, in which there seems to be a lack of critical mass of honest people.

Of course, it is without a doubt that the origin of the problem is the United States citizens' appetite for illegal drugs.

Is legalization the answer?

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an immaculately-researched, well-written and highly entertaining book. I absolutely loved every page. Pablo Acosta was a large than life figure incredibly portrayed with both his best and worst attitudes and aptitudes on full display. One of the best books of its type I have read and thoroughly deserving of all its accolades.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay but not great book about Pablo Acosta a Mexican drug lord in the 80's. Most of the period is really before the big explosion in the cocaine trade as that happens towards the end of the book. The horrible violence he does is actually nothing compared to what the cartels do now.

[Thomas Sudderth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book. It's a true story that reads more like a novel. I'm going to keep this one and read it again soon.

[Jemima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a good insight into the life and demise of a Kingpin and the reality of the situation

[Iggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great ride but the epilogue is a rude awaking!!

[Joan Mcnamara · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring I fell asleep. Don’t torture yourself

[Moe Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exciting book because I taught school in Presidio.

[Juan Alvarado Valdivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was a breeze to read, which is a testament to its crisp prose, its vividness in recreating these events. However—and I’ve never lodged this protestation for any other nonfiction book before—but I felt like there were too many details peppered throughout the book that the author couldn’t have possibly known. Here’s a few examples, a few places where Poppa wrote very specific character actions or conveyed their mental interiority despite not being those real-life figures, nor being present in those moments:

-Pg. 90: “The teacher suddenly felt a chill up and down his spine.”
-Pg. 237: “As they sat there watching the swirling water, Marco and Becky were reminded of the history of the village Pablo had told them during previous stays there.”
-On pg. 290 Poppa somehow or another takes us into Acosta’s thoughts and feelings as they happened during the shootout.

Unfortunately, this took away from Poppa’s credibility for me—just a little bit, but enough to make me question where else in this narrative he may have indulged and fictionalized what he heard in order to make the recounting seem more story-like.

It made me wonder why I would give Truman Capote a pass on “In Cold Blood”—which is one of my favorite books ever, and one he clearly fictionalized at various points to create a more captivating narrative—and not “Drug Lord.” I think the difference for me was that this book, especially with its preface, purports itself to be a wholly journalistic work while "In Cold Blood" did not. (Maybe I'm wrong?)

But all that said, this book is still completely relevant many years later. If anything, today’s drug gangs in Mexico are far, far more vicious than Pablo Acosta.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pablo Acosta (an American, it turns out), showed them all how to do it. He took over the drug route in Ojinaga, just west of the Big Bend on the Mexican side. He was the king of the trade after the killing of DEA agent Kiki Camarena brought down the Guadalajara smuggling organization of Ernesto Fonseca and mentor to "the Lord of the Skies", Amado Carrillo Fuentes. But Acosta in many ways created the character: violent, generous, with a wife and a ranch and girlfriends, an organizational genius who nurtured talent (and punished treason). Poppa evidently interviewed Acosta himself, along with some of his more picturesque smugglers -- an American woman, a man who figured out how to fool Customs with fake propane tanks on trucks. As with many traffickers, the product began to control the man rather than the other way around, and he went to the Cancun area to dry out. It is not clear who he crossed so badly that the Mexican Army sent helicopters after him. The mouth of his corpse was so black that it was rumored he had committed suicide under siege, but it may just have been the effects of smoking large quantities of crack. What is not in dispute is that his death cleared the way for the ascent of the Juarez cartel once run by Amado Carrillo Fuentes before his death. It is the remains of the Carrillo Fuentes Juarez cartel that is locked in a death grip with the Sinaloa group. Poppa's book is astonishing; perhaps no one has ever written with greater access to such a criminal empire -- not of a cartel, in any case.

[Michael Flanagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drug Lord is the tale of the rise of king pin Pablo Acosta in Mexico's cut throat drug trade. The author does well to give the reader a sense of the seedy and violent world of drug running with the right mix of action and information.

What I got from this book was a look into the machinations of running drugs over the US/Mexico border from the politics and corruption to the risks and money to be made from it. The author has taken time to paint a realistic picture of this world and has not tried to glorify the violence for the sake of a good yarn. Overall a good solid entertaining and informative read.

[Lesley Brennan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the first quarter of this book interesting but it doesn't progress, the excitement reaches its peak early and then goes no further, as new events happened it became more like reading a timeline of events than a story. It was an eye opener into the culture of the Mexican drug Lords and police corruption. I found it difficult to read without some ill feeling towards the author who was responsible for the death of the person he is writting about and his remorse for this appears to be absent, capitalising on it evidently is not!

[Gus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poppa does a great job of succinctly describing the narco trade worked under and above Pablo Acosta. In order to understand the current narco crisis in Mexico one has to read this book to give you context.