CONTENTS

Notes on Contributors

Abstracts

Editor’s note

Foreword: a view from the BorderlandsAlberto M. Melis

1 Strategic threat: narcos and narcotics overview Robert J. Bunker

Part 1: Organization and Technology Use2 Cartel evolution revisited: third phase cartel potentials and alternative

futures in MexicoRobert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan

3 Los Zetas: operational assessment LisaJ. Campbell

4 Sureños gangs and Mexican cartel use o f social networking sites Sarah Womer and Robert J. Bunker

Part 2: Silver or Lead?5 Corruption o f politicians, law enforcement, and the judiciary in Mexico

and complicity across the borderLuz E. Nagle

6 Firefights, raids, and assassinations: tactical forms o f cartel violence and their underpinningsGraham H. Turbiville, Jr.

Vll

xii

1

3

8

30

55

81

95

123

7 Torture, beheadings, and narcocultosPamela L. Bunker, LisaJ. Campbell and Robert J. Bunker 145

vi Contents

Part 3: Response Strategies8 Counter-supply and counter-violence approaches to narcotics trafficking ̂^

John P. Sullivan

9 Counter-demand approaches to narcotics trafficking Robert J. Bunker and Matt Begert

10 Afterword: criminal violence in Mexico - a dissenting analysis Paul Rexton Kan and Phil Williams

Index232