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Gangster Warlords
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
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Publisher's Summary
In a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Executioner dumps 500 body parts in metal barrels.
In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit men to gun down 41 police officers and prison guards in two days.
In Southern Mexico a meth maker is venerated as a saint while enforcing Old Testament justice on his enemies.
A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: part CEO, part terrorist, and part rock star, unleashing guerrilla attacks, strong-arming governments, and taking over much of the world's trade in narcotics, guns, and humans. What they do affects you now - from the gas in your car to the gold in your jewelry to the tens of thousands of Latin Americans calling for refugee status in the US.
Gangster Warlords is the first definitive account of the crime wars now wracking Central and South America and the Caribbean, regions largely abandoned by the US after the Cold War.
Author of the critically acclaimed El Narco, Ioan Grillo has covered Latin America since 2001 and gained access to every level of the cartel chain of command in what he calls the new battlefields of the Americas. Moving between militia-controlled ghettos and the halls of top policy makers, Grillo provides a disturbing new understanding of a war that has spiraled out of control - one that people across the political spectrum need to confront now.
Critic Reviews
"Grillo is a breathtakingly intrepid reporter, diving in where police fear to tread, seeking out men who wouldn't hesitate to kill him.... A grim, gripping book." (Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday)
More from the same
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What listeners say about Gangster Warlords
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- James H. McDonald
- 30-10-2019
Good analysis and interpretation, but...
I have worked for many years as a social scientist in Western Mexico. The description and analysis rings true with a few exceptions. Grillo centers narco activity in Michoacán as if it were only occurring in the tierra caliente (yet his cases jump around the state from the Chapala lowlands; the temperate region; and the tropical lowlands as if they were one in the same.
The narrator also manages to mangle Spanish. It’s remarkable to me that there wasn’t a great narrator available with a good working knowledge of Spanish pronunciation. Otherwise he does a sound job.
4 people found this helpful
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- RUBEN AGUILAR
- 25-08-2020
hard to keep up with story line
it was and ok listen jumped from on gang to the next couldn't really tell when he started talking about a new gang
1 person found this helpful
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- Rod
- 08-02-2020
A Framework for Drug Work
Easy to follow explaination of how and why drug organizations of the western hemisphere rise to power, using a handful of rich examples from latin america and the carribean, most notably the usually neglected Jamaica and Brazil.
1 person found this helpful
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- JRA
- 10-02-2019
Disappointed—not his best
His Narco book was WAYY better but the narrator absolutely does NOT fit the subject or topic of the book (British accent man). It was severely monotone and made me tired. Also the story itself was a little all over the place. Not his best book by far. But his El Narco book he wrote earlier was fantastic!
1 person found this helpful
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- DAMIAN
- 10-07-2018
Interesting Twist And Turns
The narrator was awesome the insight into other worlds poverty stricken environment was eye opening this is a mist have to make other cultures and races know the world is not flat its round just because you ate dinner last night doesn't mean everyone else did ....
1 person found this helpful
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- taylorp.eod
- 28-04-2022
Overall great listen
Its a great book full of interesting stories. Narrator is kinda bland but doesn't ruin anything from the content of the book cause it's fascinating. But probably not something you'd wanna listen to if you were trying to stay awake on a long car ride. I'd reccomend it.
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- Jeremy
- 20-06-2020
Wow! Incredible!
Well researched and well written. Learned quite a bit and I have been in this field for many years. Great work.
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- Casper Larsen
- 02-10-2019
amazing book by ioan grillo!
Grillo continues his perfect explanation of these gangs and how we got in this situation
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- Ms C
- 08-06-2019
Love it!
loved the story but I didn't like the fake Jamaican accent. but other than that I loved it!
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- raymundo figueroa
- 16-05-2019
In-depth journalist...
The most shocking part was the coverage of Jamaica warlord I glued to the book from then.
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- Nick Anderson
- 26-01-2017
the greatest insight you could have!
phenomenal delivery and more depth into a secret world that would be impenetrable to the normal person
10 people found this helpful
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- Mr
- 02-10-2017
Intriguing, enlightening and horrifying.
I honesty thought Grillo might have been pulling my leg at some points in this book. Such as when he described the written litanies of prayer members of one Mexican drug cartel say to their founder, or the fervent socialist selling rocks of crack to the people he claims to be fighting for. But a few minutes on google confirms all these to be true, adding surreal colour to the doleful litany of murder and torture that forms the backdrop to all the people and groups he profiles, and is careful not to glamorize.
He also does an excellent job of conveying to someone who comes from a completely different world, why these loathsome bands of thugs and predators often enjoy a surprising degree of support in the communities they blight. Thriving not only through fear, but by offering a ghastly alternative government to impoverished people who feel utterly abandoned and betrayed by the authorities.
This book is well researched (at obvious risk to the author and many of his sources), well told, and opened my eyes to a world I knew little about. It's a depressing commentary on the western media that we hear almost nothing about a whole slew of countries that are in a state of de-facto civil war between gangsters and government.
The one slight criticism I have is that I would have liked a smattering of global context to get a better idea of whether this is a phenomenon more pronounced in Latin America than elsewhere.
Narrator is also very good.
8 people found this helpful
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- Clive
- 06-02-2022
A worrying picture
A real insight into drugs, gangs, killings, criminals etc
A shame that it is a few years old.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 16-12-2021
absolutely shite
my daughter could have narrated this better. I honestly turned it off after 60 seconds
1 person found this helpful
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- "supersapper"
- 30-03-2021
Brilliant!!
I absolutely loved this book! The narration is awesome too! This book is exceptional in subject matter! Some of the descriptions of the violence and gun fights are fantastic. Superb book!!
1 person found this helpful
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- ASHISH SINHA
- 17-05-2022
Shocking facts about the drug wars in LATAM
I have been on several trips to Latin America and crossed the border from Texas to Mexico multiple times to work with my customers there. I had seen things on the street that were unbelievable and safety was always on my mind. I thought I knew the stories. However this book really shook me on the scale and hopelessness of the violence. Its a well researched book and well narrated. Unfortunately there are no heroes in this story
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- Andre Anthony
- 28-06-2021
Mixed feelings
The content was great, highly informative and detailed.
The narrator themselves and very good too. However, occasionally the juxtaposition between the two is insurmountable. I think a better narrator could have been picked for this topic.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-05-2021
Great read
Very interesting full of lots of information over 3 different place in South America brilliant
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- Umar Mirza
- 05-04-2021
What an eye opener.
Haven't heard anything faster. Great intro for people not aware of this longstanding rot across Latam. Funny how it's not better known the world over. Would be amazing if author took a shot at analysing similar outcrops in other parts of the world.
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- davidfallon
- 24-11-2020
Very in-depth
Excellent insight to another world, some accents were a break from the seriousness of the research but over all a fascinating world put together by the author
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