La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security

La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security [Global Challenges]

La Familia Michoacana, also known as La Familia, is one of the most bizarre and deadly cartels in the world. Its Bible-pounding leaders recruit young people from rehabilitation centers, insist that they throw off their dependence on alcohol, drugs, and other addictive substances, and, once clean, apply to join their organization. The novitiates must submit themselves to 2 months of brainwashing that includes scripture readings, exposure to motivational speakers, and long periods of silence and meditation. Upon completing their â€œinstruction,â€ they may become couriers, lookouts, or drivers. Those who show an aptitude for violence are taken in groups of 40 to a wilderness area known as the JesÃºs del Monte. There, they are directed to shoot, butcher, and cook 15 victims to demonstrate that they are neither squeamish about killing innocents nor repulsed by handling bloody body parts.

The leaders of La Familiaâ€”known as â€El Changoâ€ (JosÃ© de JesÃºs MÃ©ndez Vargas) and â€œEl Chayoâ€ (Nazario Moreno GonzÃ¡lez) assure those who successfully complete this exercise that they are prepared to do the Lordâ€™s workâ€”that is, safeguarding women, combatting competing cartels, and preventing the local sale of drugs.

This syndicate burst onto the national stage on September 6, 2006, when ruffians crashed into the seedy Sol y Sombra nightclub in Uruapan, MichoacÃ¡n, and fired shots into the air. They screamed at the revelers to lie down, ripped open a plastic bag, and lobbed five human heads onto the beer-stained black and white dance floor. The day before these macabre pyrotechnics, the killers seized their prey from a mechanicâ€™s shop and hacked off their heads with bowie knives while the men writhed in pain. â€œYou donâ€™t do something like that unless you want to send a big message,â€ said a U.S. law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity about an act of human depravity that would â€œcast a pall over the darkest nooks of hell.â€
Country USA
Manufacturer Didactic Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2015-07-23
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Didactic Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2015-07-23
Format	Kindle eBook

La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security [Global Challenges]

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