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Book Reviews of Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family

Down by the River Drugs Money Murder and Family
Author: Charles Bowden
ISBN-13: 9781435289970
ISBN-10: 1435289978
Publication Date: 5/29/2008
Pages: 496
Edition: Reprint
Rating:
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0 stars, based on 0 rating
Book Type: Library Binding
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seadragontampa avatar reviewed Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family on + 19 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Back in the 1980's the major concen of the US Govenment was that Columbia would fall to the cartels and they woud be running their own country. We would pump billions of dollars into a proxy war to keep that from happening but little did we realize that the threat was closer, much closer.

Over the past 20 years we have watched on our nightly news how the situation in Mexico has deteriorated as what started out as a drug war to reign in the cartels as turned into an insurgency. This is where the book picks up.

The gist of the book is whether or not the killing of a high ranking DEA agent's bother was a hit, therefore a warning, or not. The narrative flips back and forth between the murder investigation and the history of narcotics trafficking in Mexico. It is left to the reader to decide if the two are connected. There is also an extensive amount of speculation or innuendo over how much the US Government knows, tolerates or condones.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the "drug war" and how it is being handle on either side of border. One thing is for sure that when you are done reading you will be infuriated at what the Feds are doing and not doing at the same time.