Drug Lord

The True Story of Pablo Acosta: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin

By: Terrence E. Poppa

Narrated by: Armando Duran

Drug Lord, a firsthand account of drug dealing, murder, and corruption, tells of drug kingpin Pablo Acosta, who smuggled up to 20 tons of cocaine each year into the United States before treachery brought about his downfall and grisly death.

©2019 Terrence E. Poppa (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

History lesson

Highly informative without exploiting or glamorizing the subject matter. Highly recommended. The narrator was also top notch .

Real facts not whats on netflix

Great details. Great sources. Accurate facts. The war on drugs is an exercise in futility. It will never stop. “As long as americanans want drugs ill sell them”-Pablo Acosta.

Reads Like a Cross Between Miami Vice and Sicario

The whole War on Drugs came of age in the 1980's and Pablo Acosta grew to prominence in Mexico during its height. Terrence Poppa really brings an impressive amount of historical research into how the Mexican drug trade grew to prominence in the waning decades of the 20th century. It's a story of how the corruption was tied to the political system and how the drug lord was elevated to a champion of the poorest of people in the country. Every level is corrupt, but accepted as a sign of the times.

The epilogue takes the legacy of Pablo Acosta and his successive successors and brings it into the mid-2010's. Now with new leadership in the presidency in Mexico, one can only imagine what lies ahead. Change comes slowly. It's a good historical take on the drug trade in the 1980's and Armando Duran does a fantastic job bringing Latin pronunciations to the reader. I enjoyed listening to him.

eye opening

good book. If you were naive about what goes on in Mexico, this should open your eyes.

Drug Lord review 2019

The book was recommended to me by a friend in 2018 but I had been unable to find it in an audible format until a few days ago. It was worth the wait. Captured my attention instantly and I finished it in record time considering i have not read a novel in many years. The story is very intense and being about true events, provides an education on something that everyone should be aware of. I would recommend this to anyone looking to learn about drug trafficking but it should be noted this book has a lot of well described and vivid violence.