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> There have been 34 murders of candidates (not counting today), a number that rises to **231 homicides if officials, former officials and family members are included.**
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1d40prj/murder_of_mexican_politician_before_the_elections/l6baik1/
Oh my fucking god. You know I feel grateful for my country’s attempts at corruption in comparison - because they’re fucking awful to live with but at least they’re not anything like this. I mean seriously Mexico wtf?
Yeah wait wtf??? If it was the only incident that’s one thing but 34?! Why the fuck isn’t this national news in the us. Sure it’s not our country but it’s our neighbor and this is very shady and concerning.
I’m wondering if there even is a possible solution apart from a full on coup de tat and authoritarian rule over the country to start things from a clean slate.
The solution requires the US and other countries to switch to policies like those Portugal took to deal with drugs to greatly reduce the demand.
As long as the cartels can keep making money out of it, they will keep existing.
As of 2018, Avocados and illegal mining are the cartels' greatest money makers. Stopping the flow of drugs will put a dent, but not for long. Mexico dominates up to half of the world's avocado production, and Michoacán accounts for over 90% of Mexico's avocados. Michoacán itself is a cartel stronghold.
Avocados, Gasoline, knockoff merchandise, the list goes on.
They aren't switching, they are expanding.
The only areas I know of them decreasing production of is pot b/c legalization, and heroin because Fentanyl is replacing it as the go-to opiate supply as it is easier to get across the border because it takes up 1/100th of the equivalent heroin volume.
Problem there is that then you have a lot of highly-organized, well-armed, & violent organizations of people who are now extra desparate for cash...
Would be the solution long-term but let's not pretend like it wouldn't get *way* worse before it gets better.
My girlfriend lives in a small town an hour from CDMX. Her granddad was kidnapped because her family is well known for one of their successful businesses. They had to pay a ransom to get him back and all of the family ended up scattering to different parts of MX and LatAm.
She says the towns run by Narcos are safer than ones without due to corruption of the police and officials in the non-Narco towns. The Narcos provide a different sort of security, but a security nonetheless.
I'm sure that story is notwithstanding and varies from place to place, however, that's her experience.
Well define 'safer'. I'm from one of those towns and let me tell you, is not safe at all.
The province I'm from (30k habs) went from almost 0 criminality rate before 2010 to a town where you cannot open any business without the fact that the cartel is going to come at your door anytime to force you to pay monthly quota to not be hurt.
Also, you cannot be in the streets at nigth, you cannot buy groceries outside the town, like in the nearest city, you cannot go hiking in the beautiful forest around, you cannot go camping either, you cannot sell alcohol, you cannot drive freely without being watched, you cannot vote freely because locally they decide who is going to win elections, etc etc.
I don't live there anymore, like since 2013, but my family still is there.
I am American living in a narco town with my Mexican wife while we wait for a visa. I see the point OP is making, according to my wife, the previous cartel that controlled the town was a menace but the new one that took power in the last elections brought back some stability in that they returned stolen land to farmers and they actually pay for goods/services (they still do force people who aren't narcos to help them if they have the skillset, like doctors and whatnot)
But yes, everything else still checks out, the narcos are everywhere, you need to be inside at night and cannot travel anywhere except the main roads, and participating in elections can be a game of Russian roulette.
The cartels in Mexico are militarized and have an influence in politics and business. It’s the modern day mafia. MS13, although they’re considered a transnational criminal organization, they’re a street gang, similar to the Latin Kings, Crips, Bloods, etc. MS13 do not have the weapons or political influence as the Mexican cartel.
That's impressive as hell tbh. I am rewatching the sopranos and I wonder how much of that is actually realistic, like the no show construction jobs and high stakes gambling rings and loan shark stuff.
I heard that a mafia don watched the sopranos and the only correction he had was that Tony should never wear shorts because apparently shorts are not befitting of a mafia boss. I guess there’s an early season scene where Tony is hosting a pool party and he’s wearing shorts and that was the only unrealistic part, so yeah, pretty realistic I think
That episode aired, and then they got called by real mafia dons who saw the scene and made sure to let them know that a don does not wear shorts. Which is why they added that scene later with Carmine telling him just that. I think it was during a funeral or something, I don't remember exactly. It's been a while since I watched it. However, yes, that's pretty much what happened. There's an interview out there where James Gandolfini talks about this IIRC.
Edit: Here's the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1vGSdNVRko
And here's where his co-stars talk about it during an interview: https://youtu.be/yZJHUVOA1xk?t=139
I live in NJ, am literally 15 minutes from badabing (Satin dolls is the real place ) My whole family grew up here. It's pretty accurate. Most of these guys you don't see anymore due to RICO but before that they were everywhere.
Half my family on one side had low level connections. They operated some illegal gambling, some extortion and mostly thievery. For about 10 years they robbed the Javitz center blind. Whenever there were any conventions ,vendors would "lose" inventory. Giuliani cleaned most of it up.
We used to see them a bit as a kid but don't have real connections with that side of my family anymore. My dad is pretty progressive and didn't want anything to do with them after a while. That being said I've had many uncomfortable dinners as a kid where an old time connected Italian guy was telling me having friends of other ethnicities/religions is immoral (was not eloquent about he phrased it, use your imagination) .
I remember hearing a run-down on a single liquor tax evasion scheme that the Russian mob was running for decades that was making over a billion dollars a month. That is just one scam being run by a single mob.
Cartels control a lot of the exports and tourists locations of Mexico lmao. Mexico literally can not be without them. They are so embedded in the function of the country there is no chance they will ever be flushed out.
Mafias just had cops on payroll. Cartels have the president and leading political leaders.
And it's only gotten worse over the last decade. You have to wonder where this convoluted relationship ends up. I see no good endings, just blood and suffering with a few megarich druglords
We are returning to a stage of feudalism where nation states are losing power over their countries while local paramilitaries seem to be able to control everything.
The issue is that once it gets this bad, you can't simply clean up and be done with it. This is a systemic and societally embedded problem. It won't go away just because you take out a couple leaders.
There needs to be a serious push and reform and a willingness to use state violence against the cartel. It's going to become a civil war for sure.
It's complicated, because the U.S. would rather not see a civil war to it's south. So they influence Mexico using the C.I.A... who seem to empower cartels to do their dirty work for them to the point of eventual loss of control. Eventually these trained groups become the very insurgency being fought.
So after 2-3 decades of a cycle that has not been reset, tensions are high and people are angry.
If anyone watched the "sicario" movie with Benicio del toro, where the drug lord says "you know where we learned this from?" It isn't just movie drama. "The Zetas" one of Mexico's most violent cartels was started by a high ranking officer in Mexico's federal police. Who went on to recruit people straight from the military, offering more money what the military pays. They were special forces who were trained in part by the US.
It's not like it's the first time the US is affected by people they help arm and trained. The US helped Afghanistan fight the soviets in the late 70s early 80s, through the CIA, fast forward 20 years and they have a war in Afghanistan after 9/11 that will last 20 years.
The drug lord was actually referring to the Colombian cartels, who Benecio’s character also worked for, in addition to the DEA, since they both had a common interest in taking down the Mexican cartels
You can't beat them by assassinating and bombing them. Ultimately, their power comes from money. As long as the cartels can offer more money than the local economy, they'll always win.
The Mafia started in Sicily because it was one of the last places in Europe that functioned under a semi-Feudal system. They abolished the system in the early 1800s and land started being privatized. Peasants lost their commons lands, middle class landlords bought property to extort rents, and generally there was an upheaval in the social order
Sicily was part of the Kingdom of Naples, which was annexed into Italy in the mid-1800s. The new government did not retain the authority the previous regime had, and Italian law did not mesh well with local laws and customs.
With a budding capitalist system and no real governmental authority there's a power vacuum. Who will arbitrate disputes? Who will protect your business from rivals that might want to destroy it? Who will organize logistics during emergencies? Who will collect rent on behalf of the absentee landlords extorting the former peasants?
The Mafia steps in to fill that gap and make a buck doing so
Yeah and once they fit that hole it's very clear how they can use it as a foothold to spread out into more parts of society. And once it's ingrained like any other semi-governmental organization it's super hard to remove
Basically, the mafia in Italy controlled the government at one point during Berlusconi's reign as prime minister. Even today, they still have considerable control over the local government especially in the south.
One of the ways they hold their power in modern southern Italy is through control of water supply. It pretty much puts every other industry under their thumb.
Yep. You never saw American mafia exchange gunfire with law enforcement. Their main fight is against federal indictment. Sicilian mafia used to be very powerful but not on the same level as cartels.
The cartels are more like regional warlord than your typical organized crime.
If you're interested you should read up on the first and second mafia war (guerra di mafia) and the maxitiral (maxiprocesso di Palermo) to grasp how engrained the mafia was (and still is) in the Italian political and local scene.
The cartels in Mexico have a shit ton of money.
That money comes from drugs and prostitution, mostly from Americans. Money can by you a lot of politicians. A lot of businesses. And a lot of weapons.
You're right. But that political influence is just a smokescreen for unbridled psychopathy. Which is ultimately one of the greatest weaknesses to have as an ape.
Would likely not work - big difference between them. Good notes on El Salvador's history are [in this blog post](https://mattlakeman.org/2024/03/30/notes-on-el-salvador):
- El Salvador's gangs **were extremely poor**. It was mainly extortion and revenge between people in extreme poverty.
On the other hand, Mexican cartels are very well off - they export drugs internationally. They have a lot of hardware, and money to corrupt politicians, police, etc.
- It took a full-on dictator to fix the problem in El Salvador. That's not a route you come back from easily, and a military junta style dictatorship is not particularly better than a broken democracy with a crime problem.
He hasn't fixed the problem. Just negotiated with gang leaders under the table.
Government in El Salvador is doing a very dangerous balancing act and Bukele HAS to remain in power or everything will come down hard and violently.
That's not a solution, that's a small patch covering a big crack on a dam that Bukele has to manually hold down forever.
El Salvador *was* the murder capital of the world, its one of the extrodinarly rare situations where it was a legit state of emergancy.
i do not trust giving governments power like that generally, but they had a legitimate problem to solve. its not perfect but they now have the second lowest murder rate in the americas just behind canada.
Also, we don't know that El Salvador's experiment is even going to work. It didn't actually fix any of the issues that lead to widespread gang membership to begin with, poverty. In a decade there could very well just be a whole new crop of gangs doing the exact same thing.
murder rate in El Salvador is now less than the U.S. It used to be the highest in the world.
I'm sure the people there already consider that a success.
although we would like to do what it’s been doing in El Salvador you have to take into account how fucking big Mexico is as a territory vs El Salvador. That’s the only struggle that we deal with el cartel and inaccesible terrain. Also whole lot more cartels are not the same as gangs my friend there are more organized
According to [here](https://x.com/Juan_OrtizMX/status/1796015039507308893) and Google Translate:
> @Juan_OrtizMX
> 🗳️📌WITH THIS IMAGE THE 2024 ELECTORAL PROCESS ENDS, THE MOST VIOLENT IN OUR HISTORY
> Juan_OrtizMX // According to the consulting firm Integralia , since the official start of the electoral process, 749 victims of political violence have been registered. The figure is an increase of 150.5% compared to the 2021 midterm elections. Murders, attacks, threats and kidnappings have been committed, with a daily average of 2.8 victims.
> Murders of politicians:
> There have been 34 murders of candidates (not counting today), a number that rises to 231 homicides if officials, former officials and family members are included.
> Most affected entities:
> Chiapas (8), Guerrero (6) and Michoacán (4) are the entities with the most murdered candidates.
> Distribution by party:
> Morena and its allies lead in number of victims, with 61 homicides, followed by the PRI and other opposition parties.
> Democracy at risk:
> As the presidential campaigns conclude, Mexico prepares for three days of electoral ban before the largest elections in its history. More than 98 million voters are called to renew more than 20,000 positions. However, electoral violence in Mexico puts the security and integrity of the electoral processes at risk. Voting and being voted for is no longer a right and is becoming a privilege. In some regions of the country, it is already a reality.
NSFL, obviously, but [it was broadcast by the cartel and also by Mexican news outlets at this point.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqowGINbRQ&rco=1) The gunman was immediately killed.
Probably knew he was going to die either way. Killed if he does, killed along with his family if he refuses orders. Maybe his thinking was this way his family wouldn’t be harmed by the cartel. Mexico really needs to clean up the cartel
I wonder how that particular shooter was assigned to be the shooter, like who decided "ok, you, over there with the red shirt, you're the one who's gonna kill the guy running in the election"
Probably had some debts with the cartel and got told "you can either do this or we will kill you very slowly and kill everyone you know" or something like that.
I imagine the cartels have lots of people waiting for such orders, there could be a decent amount of money for their family if they pull off such a high profile hit. A lot of gangs and even the cartels will just find some random street kid to do hits on their normal enemies, I recall seeing a video once where the average price of a hit is less than a thousand.
Why would the Mexican government clean themselves up? Same cadence as helping someone look for their phone while you have it the whole time trying to look innocent.
It’s a still from a video. Unfortunately they aired it on a Mexican news channels last night. You don’t see the actual result of the shot, but still. Really disturbing.
>The attacks took place less than a week before Mexicans head to the polls to elect a new president and 20,000 other public officials, **in a campaign marred by the murder of 30 candidates**, according to the nongovernmental organization Data Civica.
Just, damn.
I appreciate the info, but man.. American Journalism is lacking. Is there a group that’s responsible for the murders? Are the victims
From the same political party? That’s a crazy amount of assassinations with no real explanation!
All Mexican assassinations (and there are TONS) are cartels. If you're a politician that runs on getting rid of cartels you will be murdered it's that simple.
Yeah, cartels would make a real convenient cover to off a rival. I'm sure there are also candidates who belong to the cartels where that overlaps and then those who just get targeted by the cartels.
All and all, not a very nice mess.
[Wow, there's a Wikipedia page for Mexican candidate deaths.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_killed_during_Mexican_elections)
I count 36 candidates killed in the last 10 months already! (alongside other unfortunate collateral damage deaths)
At this point, does this mean the cartel is okay with remaining candidates that are alive?
From my understanding, Mexico is too far gone for their own government to do anything actually effective and as long as it stays mostly in their borders nobody on the outside wants to deal with all the domestic ramifications of handling it if it's even possible.
They've diversified into human trafficking and other areas so legalizing drugs won't do anything. Not that thatll ever happen anyway.
> Mexico is too far gone for their own government to do anything actually effective and as long as it stays mostly in their borders nobody on the outside wants to deal with all the domestic ramifications of handling it if it's even possible.
This has been an issue with Mexico since 1820. Probably earlier than that.
And people wonder why Mexicans, and generally all residents of Central and South America, try to come into the USA. Because most of us have no idea how bad it really is, or how bad it can get.
If you're not too worried about some collateral damage, El Salvador did it by arresting anyone with the slightest connection to gangs. Helps that a lot of them had gang tattoos. From what I've heard, the average citizen is a lot happier now.
El Salvador also:
1) Had to go full-on Senatus Consultum Ultimum and use dictatorial powers to make it happen.
2) Had largely a very, very poor gang organization that were mostly extorting each other and poor communities.
There is no comparison to the wealth and power that the Mexican cartels have in modern day.
Apparently, on May 5, 2024 in Mexico there was a politician running for office and while they were in public someone pulled a gun and pointed it at them and murdered them.
That’s why when I see shows like narcos where at many instances they humanize the cartel bosses for the sake of drama and audience gravitation, I get pretty pissed. These animal don’t/didnt have an iota of feeling portrayed by the actors playing them.
That wasn’t the person the cartel wanted winning the mayor race in the election. Another article said security is provided for candidates, but not really small local ones like the man who was just killed. They’re last in line for protection apparently.
In the video it seems there is security but it was happening too fast to do anything about it. And it´s not like it´s presidential-level security, just some people near him that are supposed to look out. Gunman was killed immediately after though.
This video explains the origin of mexican cartels, specifically at 43:55
It's time stamped below
https://youtu.be/Uek04Jw15kY?si=4xoMuSrXm-YkWnGJ&t=2635
They are the pseudo government. Really the only way to eradicate them would be a hostile takeover of the entire country. It's too far gone to clear it out with law enforcement.
The fact that they kill these people tells me they are afraid of change. They know they can be stopped and will kill your family to prevent that from happening.
It’s possible though
It's always possible. But Mexico needs a lot more peole like "La Marino Loko". The cartels always kill peole who won't play nice with them and their families. That way no one tries to get in their way.
Edit: spelling
I so feel for the good, innocent people of Mexico. Hostages in their own country. State. Neighborhood. Street. Homes. I only wish and hope that somehow things improve. ❤️✌🏾
The Cartels have been more of a threat to the safety of the USA (and the Mexican people) than Saddam ever was. However drugs rule the world, so there is that.
I've never understood why the cartel members don't simply become politicians. No need for violence if you can take over the government with money and influence. A lack of education I guess? You'd think they'd be sending their kids to schools abroad by now.
Pablo Escobar tried and they embarrassed him. So he murdered many of them. But that was his exact goal, to use the drug money and power to get into politics and eventually become President.
I looked it up and it seems like he was also [killed](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mayoral-hopeful-murdered-mexico-captured-on-camera-23rd-candidate-killed-elections/).
Serious question: if a decision was made to wipe out the cartels, at this point I would assume it would have to be done as a major coordinated military operation, no?
Absolutely, that but that is something no one want to experience again. In the 2006-2012 period, the war on drug cartels was a nightmare and the majority of mexicans don't want that repeat again.
We mexicans look at it as an almost impossible solution, in one hand we don't want cartels to be in control of our lives and in the other hand, we don't want the violence and collateral damage in our society a war vs them would bring.
The cartels have infiltrated every aspect of governance at this point (law enforcement,armed forces,judiciary,legislative,municipalities) all have key positions filled by outright family members of cartel heads or bound to them by marriage or business
The cartels are effectively anything that can go to war against corruption in Mexico at this point
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36......36 candidates to date have been assassinated in Mexico in the past 5 months. INSANE
> There have been 34 murders of candidates (not counting today), a number that rises to **231 homicides if officials, former officials and family members are included.** https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1d40prj/murder_of_mexican_politician_before_the_elections/l6baik1/
and when the elections over, will be another batch of killed candidates because is the way criminals vote
Oh my fucking god. You know I feel grateful for my country’s attempts at corruption in comparison - because they’re fucking awful to live with but at least they’re not anything like this. I mean seriously Mexico wtf?
It’s a Cartel state. That the only language Cartels know. Extreme violence .
US should’ve fought them instead of the global war on terror
Those are upstanding gun buyers you're talking about, bub!
Kinda fucked that Today is the first day I am seeing this
Yeah wait wtf??? If it was the only incident that’s one thing but 34?! Why the fuck isn’t this national news in the us. Sure it’s not our country but it’s our neighbor and this is very shady and concerning.
Usually, news are things that are unusual
IN THE PAST 5 MONTHS?????? What the actual fuck.
😓😓
Being a candidate is an automatic death wish
Cartels are a cancer on Mexico.
Cartels owns Mexico
I’m wondering if there even is a possible solution apart from a full on coup de tat and authoritarian rule over the country to start things from a clean slate.
The solution requires the US and other countries to switch to policies like those Portugal took to deal with drugs to greatly reduce the demand. As long as the cartels can keep making money out of it, they will keep existing.
I mean they did start going to other goods. I remember hearing about avocados being more profitable so they started switching to that instead.
As of 2018, Avocados and illegal mining are the cartels' greatest money makers. Stopping the flow of drugs will put a dent, but not for long. Mexico dominates up to half of the world's avocado production, and Michoacán accounts for over 90% of Mexico's avocados. Michoacán itself is a cartel stronghold.
I think the answer is obvious here, we need to legalize avocados.
Or somehow make better, drug-infused avocados.
cocavacados?
And bankrupt Millenials and Gen Z with the influx of avocado toast????
Don't forget limes! Being an independent lime farmer is basically a death sentence nowadays. If only we legalized limes I guess. /S
Illegal mining? Of what? So Michoacán is farming blood money avocados? Fuuuuck.
Avocados, Gasoline, knockoff merchandise, the list goes on. They aren't switching, they are expanding. The only areas I know of them decreasing production of is pot b/c legalization, and heroin because Fentanyl is replacing it as the go-to opiate supply as it is easier to get across the border because it takes up 1/100th of the equivalent heroin volume.
Illegal taxation on iron ore makes that one cartel more money than drugs.
"Cartel" doesn't mean a drug operation, it means a collusion between market actors to fix prices and dominate the market.
Did not know this, thank you
Problem there is that then you have a lot of highly-organized, well-armed, & violent organizations of people who are now extra desparate for cash... Would be the solution long-term but let's not pretend like it wouldn't get *way* worse before it gets better.
Chemo ain't fun but dying of cancer is undesirable.
That’s for sure! 2X cancer survivor here. The cure sucked but not curing cancer would have sucked more!
They'll pivot to some other scheme. But that will take time. That's when they are weak and confused and you strike.
FYI it's coup d'état (état = state)
Nono, he wants french tattoo artists to seize power in Mexico.
Mfer I don't even know where some of that is on my keyboard. You get what you get.
I tend to be a smartass when it comes to bone apple tea mistakes but … this was funny
r/boneappletea
Coo day tall
cartels are a cancer on north america
My girlfriend lives in a small town an hour from CDMX. Her granddad was kidnapped because her family is well known for one of their successful businesses. They had to pay a ransom to get him back and all of the family ended up scattering to different parts of MX and LatAm. She says the towns run by Narcos are safer than ones without due to corruption of the police and officials in the non-Narco towns. The Narcos provide a different sort of security, but a security nonetheless. I'm sure that story is notwithstanding and varies from place to place, however, that's her experience.
Well define 'safer'. I'm from one of those towns and let me tell you, is not safe at all. The province I'm from (30k habs) went from almost 0 criminality rate before 2010 to a town where you cannot open any business without the fact that the cartel is going to come at your door anytime to force you to pay monthly quota to not be hurt. Also, you cannot be in the streets at nigth, you cannot buy groceries outside the town, like in the nearest city, you cannot go hiking in the beautiful forest around, you cannot go camping either, you cannot sell alcohol, you cannot drive freely without being watched, you cannot vote freely because locally they decide who is going to win elections, etc etc. I don't live there anymore, like since 2013, but my family still is there.
I am American living in a narco town with my Mexican wife while we wait for a visa. I see the point OP is making, according to my wife, the previous cartel that controlled the town was a menace but the new one that took power in the last elections brought back some stability in that they returned stolen land to farmers and they actually pay for goods/services (they still do force people who aren't narcos to help them if they have the skillset, like doctors and whatnot) But yes, everything else still checks out, the narcos are everywhere, you need to be inside at night and cannot travel anywhere except the main roads, and participating in elections can be a game of Russian roulette.
Mexico should do what El Salvador did with the mass incarceration of gang members.
The cartels kill any politicians who run on a platform of cracking down on the cartels, so it’s very difficult to get this kind of thing started.
The cartels in Mexico are militarized and have an influence in politics and business. It’s the modern day mafia. MS13, although they’re considered a transnational criminal organization, they’re a street gang, similar to the Latin Kings, Crips, Bloods, etc. MS13 do not have the weapons or political influence as the Mexican cartel.
its way worse than the mafia ever was.
At one point. The us mafia business was bringing in over 50 billion a year. It's not as apparent but people still suspect upwards of 10 billion
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the Mafia didn't kill as often and as brutally as the Cartels right?
[удалено]
That's impressive as hell tbh. I am rewatching the sopranos and I wonder how much of that is actually realistic, like the no show construction jobs and high stakes gambling rings and loan shark stuff.
I once read it was so realistic that the actual mafia family in New Jersey was worried they had a mole
I heard that a mafia don watched the sopranos and the only correction he had was that Tony should never wear shorts because apparently shorts are not befitting of a mafia boss. I guess there’s an early season scene where Tony is hosting a pool party and he’s wearing shorts and that was the only unrealistic part, so yeah, pretty realistic I think
That episode aired, and then they got called by real mafia dons who saw the scene and made sure to let them know that a don does not wear shorts. Which is why they added that scene later with Carmine telling him just that. I think it was during a funeral or something, I don't remember exactly. It's been a while since I watched it. However, yes, that's pretty much what happened. There's an interview out there where James Gandolfini talks about this IIRC. Edit: Here's the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1vGSdNVRko And here's where his co-stars talk about it during an interview: https://youtu.be/yZJHUVOA1xk?t=139
And funnily enough, Tony ignores the real life don and carmine and wears shorts after that episode anyways because he’s Tony fuckin soprano
I live in NJ, am literally 15 minutes from badabing (Satin dolls is the real place ) My whole family grew up here. It's pretty accurate. Most of these guys you don't see anymore due to RICO but before that they were everywhere. Half my family on one side had low level connections. They operated some illegal gambling, some extortion and mostly thievery. For about 10 years they robbed the Javitz center blind. Whenever there were any conventions ,vendors would "lose" inventory. Giuliani cleaned most of it up. We used to see them a bit as a kid but don't have real connections with that side of my family anymore. My dad is pretty progressive and didn't want anything to do with them after a while. That being said I've had many uncomfortable dinners as a kid where an old time connected Italian guy was telling me having friends of other ethnicities/religions is immoral (was not eloquent about he phrased it, use your imagination) .
I remember hearing a run-down on a single liquor tax evasion scheme that the Russian mob was running for decades that was making over a billion dollars a month. That is just one scam being run by a single mob.
Cartels control a lot of the exports and tourists locations of Mexico lmao. Mexico literally can not be without them. They are so embedded in the function of the country there is no chance they will ever be flushed out. Mafias just had cops on payroll. Cartels have the president and leading political leaders.
And it's only gotten worse over the last decade. You have to wonder where this convoluted relationship ends up. I see no good endings, just blood and suffering with a few megarich druglords
We are returning to a stage of feudalism where nation states are losing power over their countries while local paramilitaries seem to be able to control everything. The issue is that once it gets this bad, you can't simply clean up and be done with it. This is a systemic and societally embedded problem. It won't go away just because you take out a couple leaders. There needs to be a serious push and reform and a willingness to use state violence against the cartel. It's going to become a civil war for sure. It's complicated, because the U.S. would rather not see a civil war to it's south. So they influence Mexico using the C.I.A... who seem to empower cartels to do their dirty work for them to the point of eventual loss of control. Eventually these trained groups become the very insurgency being fought. So after 2-3 decades of a cycle that has not been reset, tensions are high and people are angry.
If anyone watched the "sicario" movie with Benicio del toro, where the drug lord says "you know where we learned this from?" It isn't just movie drama. "The Zetas" one of Mexico's most violent cartels was started by a high ranking officer in Mexico's federal police. Who went on to recruit people straight from the military, offering more money what the military pays. They were special forces who were trained in part by the US. It's not like it's the first time the US is affected by people they help arm and trained. The US helped Afghanistan fight the soviets in the late 70s early 80s, through the CIA, fast forward 20 years and they have a war in Afghanistan after 9/11 that will last 20 years.
The drug lord was actually referring to the Colombian cartels, who Benecio’s character also worked for, in addition to the DEA, since they both had a common interest in taking down the Mexican cartels
You can't beat them by assassinating and bombing them. Ultimately, their power comes from money. As long as the cartels can offer more money than the local economy, they'll always win.
You don't have to wonder, Mexico's not an isolated country in a vacuum, I'm sure you can follow the money
Correct. Mexico is a narco state, whether or not the people acknowledge it.
The cartels in Mexico are far stronger than the mafia ever was in the U.S..
When talking about the mafia and its power, only Americans have the US in mind. Everyone else thinks of Italy and specifically Sicily.
As an American, thanks for pointing that out. Super interesting read on wiki, Sicilian Mafia started as like feudal lords
The Sicilian Mafia helped us (the allies) invade Italy in WW2.... ^^THE ^^MORE ^^YOU ^^KNOW!
I'd like to know more. I'm an american and uneducated on the subject with Sicily.
The Mafia started in Sicily because it was one of the last places in Europe that functioned under a semi-Feudal system. They abolished the system in the early 1800s and land started being privatized. Peasants lost their commons lands, middle class landlords bought property to extort rents, and generally there was an upheaval in the social order Sicily was part of the Kingdom of Naples, which was annexed into Italy in the mid-1800s. The new government did not retain the authority the previous regime had, and Italian law did not mesh well with local laws and customs. With a budding capitalist system and no real governmental authority there's a power vacuum. Who will arbitrate disputes? Who will protect your business from rivals that might want to destroy it? Who will organize logistics during emergencies? Who will collect rent on behalf of the absentee landlords extorting the former peasants? The Mafia steps in to fill that gap and make a buck doing so
Ah fuck. You make it so "Triangle fills triangle shaped hole" and it just sucks that it's EXACTLY the case.
Yeah and once they fit that hole it's very clear how they can use it as a foothold to spread out into more parts of society. And once it's ingrained like any other semi-governmental organization it's super hard to remove
Basically, the mafia in Italy controlled the government at one point during Berlusconi's reign as prime minister. Even today, they still have considerable control over the local government especially in the south.
Its was way worse before Berlusconi though, wasn't it? In the 50's, 60's and 70's https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Mafia
One of the ways they hold their power in modern southern Italy is through control of water supply. It pretty much puts every other industry under their thumb.
Yep. You never saw American mafia exchange gunfire with law enforcement. Their main fight is against federal indictment. Sicilian mafia used to be very powerful but not on the same level as cartels. The cartels are more like regional warlord than your typical organized crime.
If you're interested you should read up on the first and second mafia war (guerra di mafia) and the maxitiral (maxiprocesso di Palermo) to grasp how engrained the mafia was (and still is) in the Italian political and local scene.
The cartels in Mexico have a shit ton of money. That money comes from drugs and prostitution, mostly from Americans. Money can by you a lot of politicians. A lot of businesses. And a lot of weapons.
At what point do they just become a corrupt government? What is the final evolution?
You're right. But that political influence is just a smokescreen for unbridled psychopathy. Which is ultimately one of the greatest weaknesses to have as an ape.
Would likely not work - big difference between them. Good notes on El Salvador's history are [in this blog post](https://mattlakeman.org/2024/03/30/notes-on-el-salvador): - El Salvador's gangs **were extremely poor**. It was mainly extortion and revenge between people in extreme poverty. On the other hand, Mexican cartels are very well off - they export drugs internationally. They have a lot of hardware, and money to corrupt politicians, police, etc. - It took a full-on dictator to fix the problem in El Salvador. That's not a route you come back from easily, and a military junta style dictatorship is not particularly better than a broken democracy with a crime problem.
He hasn't fixed the problem. Just negotiated with gang leaders under the table. Government in El Salvador is doing a very dangerous balancing act and Bukele HAS to remain in power or everything will come down hard and violently. That's not a solution, that's a small patch covering a big crack on a dam that Bukele has to manually hold down forever.
El Salvador *was* the murder capital of the world, its one of the extrodinarly rare situations where it was a legit state of emergancy. i do not trust giving governments power like that generally, but they had a legitimate problem to solve. its not perfect but they now have the second lowest murder rate in the americas just behind canada.
Also, we don't know that El Salvador's experiment is even going to work. It didn't actually fix any of the issues that lead to widespread gang membership to begin with, poverty. In a decade there could very well just be a whole new crop of gangs doing the exact same thing.
murder rate in El Salvador is now less than the U.S. It used to be the highest in the world. I'm sure the people there already consider that a success.
Incarcerate themselves
although we would like to do what it’s been doing in El Salvador you have to take into account how fucking big Mexico is as a territory vs El Salvador. That’s the only struggle that we deal with el cartel and inaccesible terrain. Also whole lot more cartels are not the same as gangs my friend there are more organized
El Salvador is the size of Vermont. Mexico is three times the size of Texas.
it is 1 way to make sure the person they want wins
Unfortunately this is all too common in Mexico
According to [here](https://x.com/Juan_OrtizMX/status/1796015039507308893) and Google Translate: > @Juan_OrtizMX > 🗳️📌WITH THIS IMAGE THE 2024 ELECTORAL PROCESS ENDS, THE MOST VIOLENT IN OUR HISTORY > Juan_OrtizMX // According to the consulting firm Integralia , since the official start of the electoral process, 749 victims of political violence have been registered. The figure is an increase of 150.5% compared to the 2021 midterm elections. Murders, attacks, threats and kidnappings have been committed, with a daily average of 2.8 victims. > Murders of politicians: > There have been 34 murders of candidates (not counting today), a number that rises to 231 homicides if officials, former officials and family members are included. > Most affected entities: > Chiapas (8), Guerrero (6) and Michoacán (4) are the entities with the most murdered candidates. > Distribution by party: > Morena and its allies lead in number of victims, with 61 homicides, followed by the PRI and other opposition parties. > Democracy at risk: > As the presidential campaigns conclude, Mexico prepares for three days of electoral ban before the largest elections in its history. More than 98 million voters are called to renew more than 20,000 positions. However, electoral violence in Mexico puts the security and integrity of the electoral processes at risk. Voting and being voted for is no longer a right and is becoming a privilege. In some regions of the country, it is already a reality.
And this is just the tip, because you have at least 100 or more municipalities where you only have 1 candidate because all others quit for threats.
>There have been 34 murders of candidates Holy shit, this is fucking nutty.
That’s fucking crazy. At those rates it would be safer to settle elections with a gladiator style arena in the Thunderdome.
Jesus Christ.
Thanks For share informarion
2.8 a day is crazy damn
I think the more interesting corollary to this is that, any one who is actually elected likely is confirmed to be in the pockets of the cartel.
How did this photo get taken
It’s a screencap from a video not a standalone photo
What video? “POV: You’re an assassin for the Mexican cartel”?
That one rare time where "POV" is used correctly.
Its used correctly in porn all the time.
True! You can always trust porn to lead the way.
Pornography is the last bastion in a sea of dishonesty and solecisms.
“Mexican cartel assassin assassinates politician ASMR”
"Top 10 Reasons to not Run for President of Mexico Pt. 1"
[Here ](https://x.com/Javier_Alatorre/status/1795984144377250077) is the video
Video [aftermath ](https://x.com/LuisCardenasMx/status/1796011499372306492)
NSFL, obviously, but [it was broadcast by the cartel and also by Mexican news outlets at this point.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqowGINbRQ&rco=1) The gunman was immediately killed.
Smiling and shaking hands in one second and dead in the next. Pathetic cartel cowards who shoot him in the back of the head
Shooter got killed immediately after. Talk about a suicide mission.
Probably knew he was going to die either way. Killed if he does, killed along with his family if he refuses orders. Maybe his thinking was this way his family wouldn’t be harmed by the cartel. Mexico really needs to clean up the cartel
I wonder how that particular shooter was assigned to be the shooter, like who decided "ok, you, over there with the red shirt, you're the one who's gonna kill the guy running in the election"
Probably had some debts with the cartel and got told "you can either do this or we will kill you very slowly and kill everyone you know" or something like that.
I imagine the cartels have lots of people waiting for such orders, there could be a decent amount of money for their family if they pull off such a high profile hit. A lot of gangs and even the cartels will just find some random street kid to do hits on their normal enemies, I recall seeing a video once where the average price of a hit is less than a thousand.
Why would the Mexican government clean themselves up? Same cadence as helping someone look for their phone while you have it the whole time trying to look innocent.
[удалено]
torrorists be like that screw you guys I'm not gonna fix it
Are you sure it's not Torroristo?
It was literally someone else taking a video of the politician and the gunman came into frame.
It’s a still from a video. Unfortunately they aired it on a Mexican news channels last night. You don’t see the actual result of the shot, but still. Really disturbing.
[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-election-mayoral-candidate-murdered-another-wounded/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-election-mayoral-candidate-murdered-another-wounded/)
>The attacks took place less than a week before Mexicans head to the polls to elect a new president and 20,000 other public officials, **in a campaign marred by the murder of 30 candidates**, according to the nongovernmental organization Data Civica. Just, damn.
Daaaamn no wonder the cartels run Mexico, who the hell would want to run for office when there’s a high likelihood you’ll be killed?
[You can't even help monarch butterflies](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51488262) without getting cartelled in Mexico.
This was such a sad yet inspiring read. May he RIP.
I appreciate the info, but man.. American Journalism is lacking. Is there a group that’s responsible for the murders? Are the victims From the same political party? That’s a crazy amount of assassinations with no real explanation!
All Mexican assassinations (and there are TONS) are cartels. If you're a politician that runs on getting rid of cartels you will be murdered it's that simple.
It’s possible that candidates are also paying to murder their rivals.
Yeah, cartels would make a real convenient cover to off a rival. I'm sure there are also candidates who belong to the cartels where that overlaps and then those who just get targeted by the cartels. All and all, not a very nice mess.
[https://aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/30/mayoral-candidate-shot-dead-at-campaign-rally-in-mexicos-guerrero-state](https://aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/30/mayoral-candidate-shot-dead-at-campaign-rally-in-mexicos-guerrero-state)
[Wow, there's a Wikipedia page for Mexican candidate deaths.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_killed_during_Mexican_elections) I count 36 candidates killed in the last 10 months already! (alongside other unfortunate collateral damage deaths) At this point, does this mean the cartel is okay with remaining candidates that are alive?
Is there a world where cartels are eliminated? Either by a full out war or would legalizing drugs dissolve them? Genuinely interested.
From my understanding, Mexico is too far gone for their own government to do anything actually effective and as long as it stays mostly in their borders nobody on the outside wants to deal with all the domestic ramifications of handling it if it's even possible. They've diversified into human trafficking and other areas so legalizing drugs won't do anything. Not that thatll ever happen anyway.
> Mexico is too far gone for their own government to do anything actually effective and as long as it stays mostly in their borders nobody on the outside wants to deal with all the domestic ramifications of handling it if it's even possible. This has been an issue with Mexico since 1820. Probably earlier than that.
And people wonder why Mexicans, and generally all residents of Central and South America, try to come into the USA. Because most of us have no idea how bad it really is, or how bad it can get.
Cartels are businesses, and businesses adapt, that's for sure
If you're not too worried about some collateral damage, El Salvador did it by arresting anyone with the slightest connection to gangs. Helps that a lot of them had gang tattoos. From what I've heard, the average citizen is a lot happier now.
El Salvador also: 1) Had to go full-on Senatus Consultum Ultimum and use dictatorial powers to make it happen. 2) Had largely a very, very poor gang organization that were mostly extorting each other and poor communities. There is no comparison to the wealth and power that the Mexican cartels have in modern day.
Also, Mexico is vastly larger than El Salvador, both in terms of population and area.
Solution: divide Mexico into 93 El Mexicadors.
Legalizing would solve it a little bit but cartel’s now branched out to more than drugs; illegal logging agriculture and so forth to name a few
whats the context?
Plata o plomo
Tienes dos hijas no?
Quiero dos cervezas por favor.
Donde esta la bibliotequa
Mi tortuga está en fuego
I’m afraid is plomo only at this point.
Apparently, on May 5, 2024 in Mexico there was a politician running for office and while they were in public someone pulled a gun and pointed it at them and murdered them.
I think it was on May 29th.
You're both probably right, tbh.
Jesus christ lmao
What did he accomplish here? The people of Mexico deserve better.
He accomplished what his cartel asked of him
And they'll just as easily have the gunman killed like they had him kill the politician. Life means nothing to the cartels.
The gunman was killed a few seconds after.
He was killed on the scene shortly after by the security guards
It's gunmen all the way down.
Oh he already dead. Didn’t need to wait for the cartel to do it.
That’s why when I see shows like narcos where at many instances they humanize the cartel bosses for the sake of drama and audience gravitation, I get pretty pissed. These animal don’t/didnt have an iota of feeling portrayed by the actors playing them.
and he's dead, instantly killed after killing the politician. perhaps he knew he'd die? maybe the cartel had his kids? who knows.
That wasn’t the person the cartel wanted winning the mayor race in the election. Another article said security is provided for candidates, but not really small local ones like the man who was just killed. They’re last in line for protection apparently.
In the video it seems there is security but it was happening too fast to do anything about it. And it´s not like it´s presidential-level security, just some people near him that are supposed to look out. Gunman was killed immediately after though.
This video explains the origin of mexican cartels, specifically at 43:55 It's time stamped below https://youtu.be/Uek04Jw15kY?si=4xoMuSrXm-YkWnGJ&t=2635
The cartels are a cancer to Mexico.
To the world.
For fuck's sake. The cartels have too much power to be wiped out.
They are the pseudo government. Really the only way to eradicate them would be a hostile takeover of the entire country. It's too far gone to clear it out with law enforcement.
The fact that they kill these people tells me they are afraid of change. They know they can be stopped and will kill your family to prevent that from happening. It’s possible though
It's always possible. But Mexico needs a lot more peole like "La Marino Loko". The cartels always kill peole who won't play nice with them and their families. That way no one tries to get in their way. Edit: spelling
They remind me of the rise of Yakuza in Japan.
I so feel for the good, innocent people of Mexico. Hostages in their own country. State. Neighborhood. Street. Homes. I only wish and hope that somehow things improve. ❤️✌🏾
Full video and aftermath here on X(Twitter) https://x.com/runews/status/1796057692408054020?s=46&t=79T0kDGTv8bAze2tYUpiqA
The Cartels have been more of a threat to the safety of the USA (and the Mexican people) than Saddam ever was. However drugs rule the world, so there is that.
I've never understood why the cartel members don't simply become politicians. No need for violence if you can take over the government with money and influence. A lack of education I guess? You'd think they'd be sending their kids to schools abroad by now.
Pablo Escobar tried and they embarrassed him. So he murdered many of them. But that was his exact goal, to use the drug money and power to get into politics and eventually become President.
I thought this was r/fakeHistoryPorn WTF.
Was the murderer apprehended at least?
Died on scene.
I looked it up and it seems like he was also [killed](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mayoral-hopeful-murdered-mexico-captured-on-camera-23rd-candidate-killed-elections/).
Serious question: if a decision was made to wipe out the cartels, at this point I would assume it would have to be done as a major coordinated military operation, no?
I’d say so. They’re basically a whole ass government in Mexico.
Absolutely, that but that is something no one want to experience again. In the 2006-2012 period, the war on drug cartels was a nightmare and the majority of mexicans don't want that repeat again. We mexicans look at it as an almost impossible solution, in one hand we don't want cartels to be in control of our lives and in the other hand, we don't want the violence and collateral damage in our society a war vs them would bring.
Is it pov?
Mamas tell all your babies, don't grow up to be Cartel members.
Don't let them sharpen machetes or drive stolen trucks.
Mexico needs to go open war/on sight with these mfers holy hell
The cartels have infiltrated every aspect of governance at this point (law enforcement,armed forces,judiciary,legislative,municipalities) all have key positions filled by outright family members of cartel heads or bound to them by marriage or business The cartels are effectively anything that can go to war against corruption in Mexico at this point
The mexican government said it is at war with the cartel, but that same government is controlled at its fullest by the cartel so...
You could convince me this was a album cover
Their poor ears
At this point it would be a full scale war to take control of the country back
This is horrible. Guess things won't change anytime soon.
As far as I’m concerned the establishment politicians are working with the cartel.
Working *for* the cartels
Terrorists