The Cartels: The Story of Mexico's Most Dangerous Criminal Organizations and their Impact on U.S. Security (Praeger Security International) - Hardcover

An up-to-date examination of Mexico's version of the "War on Drugs" that exposes the evolution of major cartels and their corruption of politicians, law-enforcement agencies, and the Army. * Documents the origins of Mexico's drug industry to explain today's situation involving a graft-ridden Army, suborned police, ruthless capos, unethical office-holders, and U.S. security forces * Emphasizes the threat that the widespread criminality represents to the United States, as well as the constraints on Washington's ability to solve its neighbor's crisis * Exposes the linkages between elected officials, particularly governors, and the underworld * Illustrates the challenges that will remain, even if the cartels were shattered, by the presence of a human infrastructure of 500,000 men, women, and children skilled in kidnapping, extortion, torture, murder for hire, human smuggling, and dozens of other crimes

George W. Grayson, PhD, is professor emeritus at the College of William & Mary; associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA; and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC.