Broken News: Mexican drug cartels falling into trite Scarface stereotypes

JUAREZ—With the Mexican drug war entering yet another bloody month as the government and drug gangs fight over a multi-billion dollar illegal empire, there are increasingly signs of strife within the cartels. The impasses stem not from the escalating body counts, open war with the police and military, or the daily threat of impending death. Rather, sources say mid-level operatives are concerned that the extravagant lifestyle and machismo of the narcotics business has prompted cartel leaders to devolve into shopworn stereotypes of criminal culture.

“I’m walking around the pool of El Jefe’s mansion last month and you know what I see?” says a man identified only as Santino, a supplier for Baja’s El Guapo Sydicate. “A fucking Bengal tiger on a chain over by one of the palm trees. We’re out there trying to lay out distribution schedules and pickup dates and there’s a man eating animal on a flimsy looking chain in the corner. How can somebody concentrate with that 10 feet from you?"

He continued. "Jefe keeps getting up and giving these self-important speeches about money, power, and loyalty, strolling around in front of the tiger making these grandiose gestures. Finally his men bring out a guy they said betrayed the cartel and, after a long speech about betrayal, throws him to the tiger. Except the tiger isn't hungry and we waste the entire meeting trying to coax it into eating the guy. Finally Jefe just let us shoot the man. How can you run a business this way?”

Santino went on to provide detailed accounts, photographs, and expense reports of some of the more arcane expenditures. Included amongst the expenditures were the tiger, 1980’s style speed boats and Ferraris, gaudy faux-Italian marble statues, wide lapelled flowered shirts, and a multi-tiered plan to hunt and kill both Robert Loggia and F. Murray Abraham.

“The worst is the desk covered in blow,” said former gang member Savio Calderon, currently in prison. “It's gotta have a street value of at least $2 million to even look like a big pile and my boss had a fucking sand castle on his desk. He didn’t even do drugs, but he’s like ‘Savio, I’ve got an image to keep up here’ and going on and on about what people will think. I’m like ‘sell this and make some money.’ That is what we’re here to do, right?"

"The worst is when someone opens a door to come in, then the wind gusts and coke goes everywhere. You ever get cocaine in your eyes? It fucking stings.”

Others within the industry are quick to point out that the Scarface phase is preferable to the Godfather phase, where ultra-violent retribution and financial excess are replaced with Machiavellian scheming, backstabbing, infighting, Shakespearean drama, and interminable speeches about family.

“Ever have to sit through a 20 minute monologue on ‘way things used to be’ after a betrayal or murder over what amounts to pennies? It’s unbearable,” notes Carlos Vega, a member of the Cholo Bros. Cartel of Tijuana. “It really sucks all the fun out of being a drug dealing gangster.”

Most place the blame on the limited film libraries of the major cartel leaders as well as the lack of penetration of lesser known crime films into the Mexican pop culture consciousness. While films and TV shows like Traffic, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos haven’t made it across the border, the American rap industry, replete with its worship of Scarface and the Godfather, has been a mainstay for years.

“Here’s my brilliant idea,” Mr. Vega says. “How about the next time someone in this industry excitedly picks up a copy of Scarface, we slap it out of his hands? Maybe we start reading about building a high yield agri-business. How about we buy the Departed? That’s a good movie about gangsters, why don’t we watch that? If I have to hear one more ‘I’m the bad guy’ or ‘I’ll make ‘em an offer he can’t refuse’ speech I’m going back to contract killings for the CIA.”

Until that shift happens the drug war will rage on, enacting a horrible toll on the film tastes and originality of those who are swept up by it.