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I Am the Market: How to Smuggle Cocaine by the Ton, in Five Easy Lessons
A page-turning account of the international cocaine trade, presented as five lessons in how to move tons of the drug across borders
Forget about cocaine concealed in false-bottomed suitcases or swallowed in ovules resistant to gastric juices. When entire national economies are kept afloat by the money from cocaine smuggling, the quantities these tactics represent are meaningless. When a commodity like cocaine becomes a mainstay of the international economy, grams and kilos are irrelevant. Because what is needed to sustain the market is cocaine by the ton.
Tons of cocaine means ships, cargo planes, and containers: large, cumbersome, extremely tangible, and visible amounts of white powder. So how is all that merchandise moved through harbors and airports? How are customs offices deceived, fiscal checks eluded, police networks infiltrated, and documents prepared to disguise mountains of cocaine?
It’s done with coca made into cubes, dissolved in liquid, hidden in marble blocks or inside electric cables. With friends in the right places. With cocaine smuggled in cranes. With sniffer dogs supplied to the police, free of charge. With money in cash, always. And yes, with willing mules swallowing drugs. But they will be arrested, and that’s part of the plan.
Drawing from years of research and conversations with criminal sources and convicted drug smugglers, with new information on the techniques, methods, and strategies used, Luca Rastello brings us a devastating portrait of the international cocaine trade. Told from the perspective of the formidable entrepreneurs whose tactics evolve and adapt to keep pace with shifts in the global economy, I Am the Market is a masterful exposé of a world we thought we understood—until now.
Forget about cocaine concealed in false-bottomed suitcases or swallowed in ovules resistant to gastric juices. When entire national economies are kept afloat by the money from cocaine smuggling, the quantities these tactics represent are meaningless. When a commodity like cocaine becomes a mainstay of the international economy, grams and kilos are irrelevant. Because what is needed to sustain the market is cocaine by the ton.
Tons of cocaine means ships, cargo planes, and containers: large, cumbersome, extremely tangible, and visible amounts of white powder. So how is all that merchandise moved through harbors and airports? How are customs offices deceived, fiscal checks eluded, police networks infiltrated, and documents prepared to disguise mountains of cocaine?
It’s done with coca made into cubes, dissolved in liquid, hidden in marble blocks or inside electric cables. With friends in the right places. With cocaine smuggled in cranes. With sniffer dogs supplied to the police, free of charge. With money in cash, always. And yes, with willing mules swallowing drugs. But they will be arrested, and that’s part of the plan.
Drawing from years of research and conversations with criminal sources and convicted drug smugglers, with new information on the techniques, methods, and strategies used, Luca Rastello brings us a devastating portrait of the international cocaine trade. Told from the perspective of the formidable entrepreneurs whose tactics evolve and adapt to keep pace with shifts in the global economy, I Am the Market is a masterful exposé of a world we thought we understood—until now.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
9 people are currently reading
358 people want to read
About the author
Luca Rastello
17 books6 followersLuca Giovanni Maria Rastello (Torino, 9 luglio 1961 – Torino, 6 luglio 2015) è stato uno scrittore e giornalista italiano. [da: it.wikipedia.org]
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 6, 2016
I'm always curious about the logistics of large-scale drug trafficking, so this book caught my attention right away. It's essentially an interview/oral history from one of the upper echelon smugglers in the game, a sistemista, who contracts his services to various cartels. He remains anonymous of course.
The loads move by ship, in large amounts, typically encased in expensive granite or marble, or else liquified and pasted between sheets of glass, or else some other scheme, but always with a lot of kilos involved-- like 1200 kilos at a time, more than a ton-- enough that one or two in a year will net a handsome profit, more than enough to live on. (estimated profit on 1200 kilos for the smuggler = $3.5 million)
Mules are just diversions; they're meant to get caught. They're sacrificial lambs. The real load passes through undetected.
Most interesting is the concept of "the darkness"; this is the guy's masterstroke. You bribe a single Customs official or social engineer him into letting you handle the return for 'accidentally' invoiced goods going to some major well known above board corporation; like IKEA or MSG Marble or whatevs. Unbeknownst to the corporation, the goods have coke inside. You pick it up on the other end. The load is unlikely to get checked cos who checks marble going to MSG Marble? It's the unknowns who get the most suspicion. No-one's the wiser and the only person who knows anything is the official you bribed. You pick up the returned goods, extract the coke and return the containers, simple as that.
Surprisingly, transportation of cash (brinco rabioso) is a more significant problem than laundering it. You can just walk the cash up to Cayman Islands and deposit it but how you gonna transport so many bills? They go for 500 euro notes (need a contact at the bank, just a teller willing to convert cash to 500 euro notes w/ no questions asked). They vacuum pack the bundles-- apparently you can compress bills in this way to a quarter of their original volume! And then the cash gets smuggled just like the drugs.
There are less savory methods of course. "Payment in lead" -- a dealer get a bunch of mules to carry stuff across, then at the end 'pays' them by shooting them and ditching their bodies in the swamps for the alligators to eat. Not as common now because people wised up. But you can always exploit the poor in this way, finding mules is easy.
This book also claims to have the definitive real story behind Archbishop Posadas Ocampo getting gunned down at Guadalajara Airport in 1993... the guy claims that some cartel had a connect in the archbishop's palace, and they were using the archbishop's armor plated car to smuggle out large amounts of cash. (Cos nobody's gonna check an archbishop's car.) Some other cartel that was owed money heard about this and tried to intercept the car, and then everybody started shooting.
Who knows if that's for real.
Electric arches -- the smugglers foe -- these are like "CAT scanners for cargo"-- they can do sophisticated analysis of containers passing underneath, identifying different types of substances (cocaine appears as a distinctive shade of yellow). So you have to mask using something that interferes, graphite is ideal. Or if you're doing big enough loads, just play the numbers game and hope you don't go under an arch. Rotterdam alone has 9000 containers per day passing through; only a fraction of those get checked.
The loads move by ship, in large amounts, typically encased in expensive granite or marble, or else liquified and pasted between sheets of glass, or else some other scheme, but always with a lot of kilos involved-- like 1200 kilos at a time, more than a ton-- enough that one or two in a year will net a handsome profit, more than enough to live on. (estimated profit on 1200 kilos for the smuggler = $3.5 million)
Mules are just diversions; they're meant to get caught. They're sacrificial lambs. The real load passes through undetected.
Most interesting is the concept of "the darkness"; this is the guy's masterstroke. You bribe a single Customs official or social engineer him into letting you handle the return for 'accidentally' invoiced goods going to some major well known above board corporation; like IKEA or MSG Marble or whatevs. Unbeknownst to the corporation, the goods have coke inside. You pick it up on the other end. The load is unlikely to get checked cos who checks marble going to MSG Marble? It's the unknowns who get the most suspicion. No-one's the wiser and the only person who knows anything is the official you bribed. You pick up the returned goods, extract the coke and return the containers, simple as that.
Surprisingly, transportation of cash (brinco rabioso) is a more significant problem than laundering it. You can just walk the cash up to Cayman Islands and deposit it but how you gonna transport so many bills? They go for 500 euro notes (need a contact at the bank, just a teller willing to convert cash to 500 euro notes w/ no questions asked). They vacuum pack the bundles-- apparently you can compress bills in this way to a quarter of their original volume! And then the cash gets smuggled just like the drugs.
There are less savory methods of course. "Payment in lead" -- a dealer get a bunch of mules to carry stuff across, then at the end 'pays' them by shooting them and ditching their bodies in the swamps for the alligators to eat. Not as common now because people wised up. But you can always exploit the poor in this way, finding mules is easy.
This book also claims to have the definitive real story behind Archbishop Posadas Ocampo getting gunned down at Guadalajara Airport in 1993... the guy claims that some cartel had a connect in the archbishop's palace, and they were using the archbishop's armor plated car to smuggle out large amounts of cash. (Cos nobody's gonna check an archbishop's car.) Some other cartel that was owed money heard about this and tried to intercept the car, and then everybody started shooting.
Who knows if that's for real.
Electric arches -- the smugglers foe -- these are like "CAT scanners for cargo"-- they can do sophisticated analysis of containers passing underneath, identifying different types of substances (cocaine appears as a distinctive shade of yellow). So you have to mask using something that interferes, graphite is ideal. Or if you're doing big enough loads, just play the numbers game and hope you don't go under an arch. Rotterdam alone has 9000 containers per day passing through; only a fraction of those get checked.
May 7, 2011
Ah yes, the criminal underworld, the underground economy, the black market - whatever you want to call it, we all know it's there but aside from what we see in movies, we don't really know a whole lot of details. For those looking to a get a brief glimpse in to what goes on "down there", this is the book for you.
Told by an anonymous insider aptly named "Mr. Market", "I Am the Market" is told through a series of stories that starts in the early days of the cocaine trade and goes straight through to its current incarnation. The "5 Easy Steps" relate to how the market has changed throughout the years and how the "narcos" continue to re-invent themselves, and smuggling strategies that can be totally mind blowing at times.
Many of the stories are fascinating as they teach us about territorial disputes in S. America, how the smugglers live at home and abroad, and some tragic stories of narcos that simply went too far. Real estate, prostitution, Italian shoes, murder and corruption are all common themes. Most narratives are filled with exciting visuals and witty remarks, while some lag or seem without context. My favorite parts are the detailed explanations of smuggling tons of cocaine in the modern world. Packing cocoa powder in to high end Italian marble or complex electrical wires is truly an art form that takes a high degree of skill, craftsmanship and perhaps even some genius.
The effects of the cocaine trade can seemingly be felt in every corner of the world. It keeps governments in power, plays a role in geo-politics and single-handedly fuels the luxury goods industry. While most of us will never feel the adrenaline and joy that comes with successfully shipping thousands of kilos to Amsterdam or hopping between 5-star hotels using numerous passports, in a way we can be thankful. You don't have to read the book to know how most of the stories end - in a jail cell. And in Mexico, that is never a good thing.
-JRS
Told by an anonymous insider aptly named "Mr. Market", "I Am the Market" is told through a series of stories that starts in the early days of the cocaine trade and goes straight through to its current incarnation. The "5 Easy Steps" relate to how the market has changed throughout the years and how the "narcos" continue to re-invent themselves, and smuggling strategies that can be totally mind blowing at times.
Many of the stories are fascinating as they teach us about territorial disputes in S. America, how the smugglers live at home and abroad, and some tragic stories of narcos that simply went too far. Real estate, prostitution, Italian shoes, murder and corruption are all common themes. Most narratives are filled with exciting visuals and witty remarks, while some lag or seem without context. My favorite parts are the detailed explanations of smuggling tons of cocaine in the modern world. Packing cocoa powder in to high end Italian marble or complex electrical wires is truly an art form that takes a high degree of skill, craftsmanship and perhaps even some genius.
The effects of the cocaine trade can seemingly be felt in every corner of the world. It keeps governments in power, plays a role in geo-politics and single-handedly fuels the luxury goods industry. While most of us will never feel the adrenaline and joy that comes with successfully shipping thousands of kilos to Amsterdam or hopping between 5-star hotels using numerous passports, in a way we can be thankful. You don't have to read the book to know how most of the stories end - in a jail cell. And in Mexico, that is never a good thing.
-JRS
January 16, 2018
Bear with me while I start my review with a quick story.
So, I had this friend growing up. He was a sweet guy, very funny, and will always hold a special place in my heart because he brought me flowers when my dog died.
He also exaggerated everyday occurances to the point that most of my other friends couldn't stand him because they thought he was full of sh*t. My favorite exaggeration was when he told me he got a job working with the police department in a college town and helped with drug busts. Another friend lived in the town and laughed when I told him about my pal's job. Turned out he was a meter maid and literally drove a golf cart. He wrote parking tickets for lookie-loos at the drug bust.
I kind of wonder if my friend wrote this book. It would explain a lot. We lost touch for some years. Maybe he was in jail for smuggling. It's full of the exact same arrogant, over-the-top bragging about getting away with stuff us mere law-abiding fools cannot fathom.
90% of the book is bragging or convoluted tales about other less successful smugglers. 10% is actually useful. There are not five easily laid out lessons, so here's the interesting stuff in a nutshell:
- the 1980s heydays of the drug cartels in South America ended when the DEA finally figured out that maybe they should check cargo ships. The drug routes now had to go over land, thus giving birth to the idea of using Mexico as an overland route.
- smugglers you see busted at airports for sneaking cocaine in headphones or potato buds packets aren't necessarily set up so that agents will be busy with them and let more drug mules through as the press tells us. They're actually part of a bribery exchange with local law enforcement agencies. They get a few big busts with an alleged street value of millions, and presto the government official you've bribed gets promoted, the local government gets more money from the US for cooperating in the war on drugs, and all they gotta do is turn a blind eye to specific packages. HAHAHA.
- transport cocaine in high end construction materials, such as marble or glass, but don't try putting it in a crane. DEA is on to that.
- if you're a successful drug lord, stay out of politics.
- if you have to go to prison, apparently Italian ones really suck. The author actually laughs at how luxurious some countries' prisons are. It's a big joke to them. So much for you bleeding heart types that preach rehabilitation.
- bonus lesson #6: don't buy a drug sniffing dog from the Bahamas. In the most genius bit of illicit activity I read in the book, the fact that the cartels trained dogs to avoid drugs and then sold them to the DEA is freaking brilliant, in a horrible and awful way. If only they could put that creativity to use, we'd have true hoverboards and a way to spontaneously combust people who talk on their cells at the theatre.
The author would probably be fun to have a beer with, but something must be lost in translation. The book rambles all over the place like a Family Circus cartoon of Billy picking up the mail. The handful of interesting tidbits aren't enough to make me recommend the book, but since it's a quick read go for it.
So, I had this friend growing up. He was a sweet guy, very funny, and will always hold a special place in my heart because he brought me flowers when my dog died.
He also exaggerated everyday occurances to the point that most of my other friends couldn't stand him because they thought he was full of sh*t. My favorite exaggeration was when he told me he got a job working with the police department in a college town and helped with drug busts. Another friend lived in the town and laughed when I told him about my pal's job. Turned out he was a meter maid and literally drove a golf cart. He wrote parking tickets for lookie-loos at the drug bust.
I kind of wonder if my friend wrote this book. It would explain a lot. We lost touch for some years. Maybe he was in jail for smuggling. It's full of the exact same arrogant, over-the-top bragging about getting away with stuff us mere law-abiding fools cannot fathom.
90% of the book is bragging or convoluted tales about other less successful smugglers. 10% is actually useful. There are not five easily laid out lessons, so here's the interesting stuff in a nutshell:
- the 1980s heydays of the drug cartels in South America ended when the DEA finally figured out that maybe they should check cargo ships. The drug routes now had to go over land, thus giving birth to the idea of using Mexico as an overland route.
- smugglers you see busted at airports for sneaking cocaine in headphones or potato buds packets aren't necessarily set up so that agents will be busy with them and let more drug mules through as the press tells us. They're actually part of a bribery exchange with local law enforcement agencies. They get a few big busts with an alleged street value of millions, and presto the government official you've bribed gets promoted, the local government gets more money from the US for cooperating in the war on drugs, and all they gotta do is turn a blind eye to specific packages. HAHAHA.
- transport cocaine in high end construction materials, such as marble or glass, but don't try putting it in a crane. DEA is on to that.
- if you're a successful drug lord, stay out of politics.
- if you have to go to prison, apparently Italian ones really suck. The author actually laughs at how luxurious some countries' prisons are. It's a big joke to them. So much for you bleeding heart types that preach rehabilitation.
- bonus lesson #6: don't buy a drug sniffing dog from the Bahamas. In the most genius bit of illicit activity I read in the book, the fact that the cartels trained dogs to avoid drugs and then sold them to the DEA is freaking brilliant, in a horrible and awful way. If only they could put that creativity to use, we'd have true hoverboards and a way to spontaneously combust people who talk on their cells at the theatre.
The author would probably be fun to have a beer with, but something must be lost in translation. The book rambles all over the place like a Family Circus cartoon of Billy picking up the mail. The handful of interesting tidbits aren't enough to make me recommend the book, but since it's a quick read go for it.
February 20, 2017
Czyta się to trochę jak skrzyżowanie poradnika samodoskonalenia z instrukcją obsługi wiertarki udarowej.
Być może to wina tłumacza.
Poczytać trzeba, bo może coś w tym jest.
Chociaż mnie znudziły i Narcos, i Breaking Bad, i Weeds (takie seriale).
Być może to wina tłumacza.
Poczytać trzeba, bo może coś w tym jest.
Chociaż mnie znudziły i Narcos, i Breaking Bad, i Weeds (takie seriale).
November 17, 2017
Świetna lektura. Już nigdy nie spojrzę na przemytnika jak na jakiegoś małego szpenia, który szmugluje kilogram narkotyku. Rastello pokazuje inne oblicze narcobiznesu.
Polskie tłumaczenie niestety czasem szwankuje.
Polskie tłumaczenie niestety czasem szwankuje.
December 12, 2024
This was just a generic memoir of one smuggler and his antics; only 30% of the (sometimes rambling) tale is dealt on the subject matter of smuggling cocaine. In true style of someone who likes to make ‘friends’ by telling loooong stories (who they can later count on as a ‘friend’ to help out) the memoir drags on with tangents that may be amusing sharing bread with the narrator, but don’t add much detail of what I was trying to find out: the intricacies of how the white stuff is produced, packed, shipped and distributed. It’s merely a small glimpse of the shipping side to the story (of which one chapter was all).
November 29, 2012
A fascinating subject matter, but either not written well, or translated poorly.
There's a slightly condescending tone to the whole book, for us plebs who live outside this rarified world.
It's a mix of bizarre smuggling tales interspersed with cod psychology and philosophy.
A quick read, but left me with a whole lot more questions. On second thoughts it's a drug dealers dream: give you a taste of what you want and leave you wanting more...
May 15, 2011
Apart from being fascinating, well-written and VERY informative, this book has an incredibly enticing title that stopped me in my tracks when I saw it in a library display. (I wonder what it would be like carrying this book around an airport, or on the dashboard of your car at a border crossing. Heheh.) Reading this book will make you feel awfully cynical, though.
January 2, 2019
Narkotyki, a zwłaszcza kokaina, jest źródłem szybkiego i dużego zarobku w krajach Ameryki Południowej. Może nawet wpłynąć na politykę międzynarodową.
November 6, 2021
Reportaż, który czyta się jak książkę przygodową. Pokazuje handel narkotykami z bardzo ciekawej, logistyczno-biznesowej perspektywy!
September 6, 2018
przechwałki dorosłego chłopczyka o tym, jakim jest złym gargamelem i ilu złych klakierów poznał w swoim życiu
May 11, 2020
Easy read, to take with a grain of salt.
The book contains a few pearls and it will make you look at airport searches and at the rows of containers one can find in any city with different eyes.
The book contains a few pearls and it will make you look at airport searches and at the rows of containers one can find in any city with different eyes.
June 4, 2016
Wielki, niezbyt ciekawy monolog. Praktycznie zero informacji o głównym "bohaterze", za to garść (mnie) nieinteresujących anegdot, nie zawsze ściśle związanych z tematem przewodnim książki. Interesujące były ze dwa systemy na przewiezienie wielkiej ilości kokainy i rozdział o kurierach wożących drobnicę. Książka mnie raczej wynudziła, patrzyłem na wskaźnik postępu na Kindle odliczając czas i procenty pozostałe do końca. Czytałem dużo lepsze pozycje o przestępcach.
May 17, 2011
I found the back story of how large quantities of cocaine move around the world very interesting. At times, this book is difficult to read because it doesn't seem to flow very well. Maybe that is intentional or maybe it is the result of the translation, I don't know.
August 7, 2012
Fun book to read...and very interesting to see the creativity behind some of the schemes. Business people can take to this book to learn a lesson that to solve complex problems you need to be creative and willing to take risks.
August 27, 2016
I'll never know how accurate this book is in terms of smuggling tons and tons of cocaine but one thing is certain: this book is fun to read. My standing ovation for the Polish translator who pulled it off perfectly.
April 16, 2025
It was an interesting funny read, that gave some fascinating insights and unexpected methods of drug smuggling. It seems like words may have sometimes not been translated entirely correctly, because it just at times felt like the writing was a bit scattered and random.
December 4, 2012
Entertaining
October 20, 2013
Lekturka na jeden wieczór, dość ciekawa, szczególnie we fragmentach o zależnościach między handlem bronią i narkotykami.
February 4, 2016
Jutro zostaję systemowcem! Zbiór anegdot o problemach z logistyką kokainy. Przyjemna lektura. Bardzo fajna narracja, przypominała mi tą z Narcos, tylko z przeciwnej strony.
April 17, 2014
kilka, parę złotych rad dla managerów
May 3, 2014
This is not a classic book by a writer. It's a manual or diary of a businessman. Really funny and educating. Will never look at a crane or marble in the same way as before ;)
November 14, 2014
A big dissapointment.
December 7, 2024
Taking apart an air conditioning unit and putting drugs. How could we stop this?
September 30, 2012
Skip it.
April 23, 2017
A story of a 'businessman' working in the drug industry, or more precisely, the organizer of intercontinental drug trafficking. On one hand the hero of the book is a real businessman solving complicated organizational, financial and logistical problems, on the other hand he is a mere criminal. Maybe the most interesting part of the book is description of the ways of transporting drugs, great business ideas!
In this book, an anonymous 'businessman' talks about a serious business of drug smuggling: tons of white powder transported on ships, in containers, through ports and airports. He talks in detail about how he transported cocaine in marble, glass or granite, and how big sums (millions of dollars) he made from one transportation. The guy certainly has big financial, business and logistic abilities. Somehow surprising is to know that he wasted his life in drug trafficking: he spent 22 years in jail. This is quite interesting story, even there is no way to verify its truth.
The book is chaotic, but interesting because it portraits narcobusiness as an economic activity that attracts outstanding talents. It once again shows that the fight against the drug industry is a lost case as long as they are huge profits there (due to prohibition). Only a form of legalization combined with control could destroy this business, but this is hard to imagine.
In this book, an anonymous 'businessman' talks about a serious business of drug smuggling: tons of white powder transported on ships, in containers, through ports and airports. He talks in detail about how he transported cocaine in marble, glass or granite, and how big sums (millions of dollars) he made from one transportation. The guy certainly has big financial, business and logistic abilities. Somehow surprising is to know that he wasted his life in drug trafficking: he spent 22 years in jail. This is quite interesting story, even there is no way to verify its truth.
The book is chaotic, but interesting because it portraits narcobusiness as an economic activity that attracts outstanding talents. It once again shows that the fight against the drug industry is a lost case as long as they are huge profits there (due to prohibition). Only a form of legalization combined with control could destroy this business, but this is hard to imagine.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews