Drugs, Murder and Mexico

Familiar URL, but some context in this article:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Drug-gangs-resort-to-horrific-killings-3535925.php

Hanna speculates that Guzman may be hoping to gain control of Nuevo Laredo before the July 1 presidential elections in Mexico, which seem poised to return the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to power.

Reverand, El Paso and Nuevo Laredo have had their share of problems.

You mean (viejo) Laredo, right? Nuevo Laredo is on the Mexican side.

From what I understand, the cartels don't want to risk the full wrath of the US, so they mostly try to do things on the quiet north of the border.

so here's a question - not to be dense, but what exactly is the "full wrath" of the US? and why aren't they afraid of the wrath of the mexican govt? is it because we have a much more transparent govt with much less corruption? or because it's mostly easier to make an honest buck in america than a dishonest one

(by honest of course i mean one that doesn't involves chainsaw decapitations and corruption i mean passing officials briefcases full of money)

just speculating, but i expect that the mexican cartels are more-or-less used to working against (and with) the mexican gov't. that's a familiar situation for them, "the way things have always been". the ire of the american government, otoh, isn't something they ordinarily have to contend with, and i don't imagine that they're eager to invite it.

sooner or later they will kill someone from the new york times, then we'll see results

I learned a new word from a (Spanish) friend yesterday -- alevosía -- and I think it's worth mentioning here. We were talking about work and blablabla and she asked me if there's a word in English for the killing that happens when it's not just premeditated, but also gruesome and overzealous. For example, someone is shot in the head, and then the body is mutilated for no apparent strategic reason. That kind of killing. And I couldn't think of anything. We were talking about work and engaging in that sort of hyperbole, so she wanted to use the correct word/phrase to describe a situation. The Merriam-Webster dictionary did not satisfy my friend, and I was wondering --

-- is there a word in English for that and I just don't know it?
-- is this a word like fusilar that has (afaik) no direct one-word translation in English?

(Added tidbit: Apparently fusilar also means plagiarize (informally), a tidbit I am VERY happy to learn)

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/05/mexicos-drug-war-50000-dead-in-6-years/100299/

won't anyone answer my questions about alevosía?

La Lechera I think we call that "overkill"

wordreference translates alevosía as either treachery, aforethought (as in murder aforethought) or premeditation so your friend's use my be colloquial or new.

Mad dog killing? I don't think English has a single word. Gruesome, barbarous, deranged all spring to mind as adjectives but overkill lacks enough punch to convey what she's talking about.

Overkill makes me think of someone trying too hard or wasting effort. Drug-trafficking atrocities are meant as terrorizing warnings.

overkill comes from the nuclear arms race initially tho iirc. so pretty punchy there.

Did not know that, interesting.
I still wouldn't imagine anyone describing what is going on in Mexico as "overkill" based on the changing connotation of that word over time.

Overkill implies there is a correct amount of kill and you, friend, went over it.

mayhem

Are you guys familiar with fusilar?

It's a one-word verb that means "to kill by firing squad".

I'm sure there's a Greek word for it, Achilles dragging Hector around the walls of Troy is an example kinda right

xp yeah same root as "fusillade" right?

Right. Afaik, there is no widely used one-word verb equivalent in English?

I'm sure it comes from fusil. Fusiller in French (which comes from fusil, a gun or shotgun) means to shoot, though tirer, (literally 'to pull') is used more often for a single shooter. Fusiller tends to mean there were several shoots from several people.

Interestingly, if you fusilles someone with your eyes, in English it would be to look daggers at them.

This documentary is showing in Chicago this weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqpyZ1Jzng

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/us/drug-money-from-mexico-makes-its-way-to-the-racetrack.html

Pretty interesting. Not sure if this was posted elsewhere.

yeah that was a great story. reads like a real life Breaking Bad episode.

since you're the expert, should I start making picks based on whether the word "cartel" is in the horse's name?

It works when you see a greyhound from Kenosha.

i can't remember the last time i read through all 6 pages of a NYT story. this one was worth it. thx poly

yeah, great read

if i was that dude villareal i think i'd have gone to jail instead of turned. zetas don't fuck around!

plenty of zetas in jail too

well if he hadn't informed then the zetas in jail would be cool, right?

if i was that dude villareal i think i'd have gone to jail instead of turned.

ya srsly

was thinking the same thing

the article talked around villareal being gay, right?

Referred to him as being "effeminate".

and being interested in women's fashion

still

i was thinking maybe that's why he didn't want to go to jail?

El Gordo arrested:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-marines-capture-son-of-cartel-figure-el-chapo/2012/06/21/gJQAyXeUtV_story.html

possibly not him?!

Apparently a "car salesman"/body double(?) -- http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/mexico/120623/felix-beltran-el-chapo-el-gordo-guzman-arrest-sinaloa-drug-lord

The US Drug Enforcement Administration was credited with providing the intelligence that led to Thursday's raid, and had applauded the arrest, the Washington Post reported.

New William Finnegan report:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/07/02/120702fa_fact_finnegan

i have a fondness for targeting institutions for their role in the global drug trade

A US Senate investigation has disclosed how lax controls at Europe's largest bank allowed dirty cash to be laundered for almost a decade.

The report into HSBC, released ahead of a Senate hearing on Tuesday, says Mexican drug money passed through the bank over seven years.

Suspicious funds from Syria, the Cayman Islands, Iran and Saudi Arabia also passed through the bank.

HSBC said it expected to be held accountable for what went wrong.

The damning report comes at a difficult time for the British banking sector, with standards and practices are under the spotlight.

Critics say the current furore over the manipulation of the Libor inter-bank interest rate is the latest example of a banking system in need of fundamental reform.

The report also concludes that the US bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, failed to properly monitor HSBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18866018

Not really drugs, but guns -- is anyone following the reception of this Fast and Furious report from the inspector general?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-ig-critical-of-atf-in-gun-operation/2012/09/19/379daf18-0273-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_story.html

The inspector general’s report recommended that the Justice Department review the actions of 14 officials and consider whether disciplinary action is warranted. Among them are former acting deputy attorney general Gary Grindler, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, former acting ATF director Kenneth Melson, former ATF special agent in charge William Newell and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein.

The inquiry “did not find persuasive evidence that any supervisor in Phoenix, at either the U.S. Attorney’s Office or ATF, raised serious questions or concerns about the risk to public safety posed by the continuing firearms purchases or by the delay in arresting individuals who were engaging in the trafficking,” Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, wrote in the 471-page report. “This failure reflected a significant lack of oversight and urgency by both ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

There's a link to a pdf of the report if reading 500 pages of government document is your bag.

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-mexico-cartel-may-targeted-cia-201223176.html

Zetas kingpin down:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/09/world/americas/mexico-zetas-cartel-boss/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/nov/22/mexico-risking-life-truth/

Shit... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/maria-santos-gorrostieta-dead-mexico-mayor-tortured-killed_n_2193219.html?utm_hp_ref=world

Earlier this month, Maria Santos Gorrostieta, a former small-town mayor in the drug-trafficking western state of Michoacan in Mexico, was reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her young daughter.

A few days later, her body was found by the side of a road in the southern part of the state. It is believed that the woman was tortured before she was killed, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Gorrostieta had previously survived two assassination attempts, the LA times adds. The first, in 2009, had claimed the life of her husband, Jose Sanchez, another former mayor of the town; while the second, three months later, had left her badly wounded.

The newspaper continues:

Gorrostieta had been mayor of Tiquicheo, a remote town in the so-called hotlands of Michoacan, farmland firmly under the thumb of drug-trafficking cartels. She had denounced traffickers; she also had to confront accusations that her late husband was involved in criminal business.

Gorrostieta, whose mayoral term ended in 2011, reportedly knew that her life was constantly in danger. Yet, even after her husband was murdered and the second attempt on her life left her riddled with bullets and "in constant pain," Gorrostieta refused to give in, the Christian Post notes.

ugh