Narcos Over the Border

The book takes a hard hitting look at the drug wars taking place in Mexico between competing gangs, cartels, and mercenary factions; their insurgency against the Mexican state; the narco-violence and terrorism that is increasingly coming over the border into the United States, and its interrelationship with domestic prison and street gangs. Analysis and response strategies are provided by leading writers on 3GEN gang theory, counterterrorism, transnational organized crime, and homeland security. Narcos Over the Border is divided into three sections: narco-opposing force (NARCO OPFOR) organization and technology use; patterns of violence and corruption and the illicit economy; and United States response strategies. The work also includes short introductory essays, a strategic threat overview, an afterword and selected references. Specific topics covered include: advanced weaponry, internet use, kidnappings and assassinations, torture, beheadings, and occultism, cartel and gang evolutionary patterns, drug trafficking, street taxation, corruption, and border firefights. This book was published as a special issue of Small Wars and Insurgencies.

Robert J. Bunker is CEO of the Counter-OPFOR Corporation, USA. He is an applied theorist focusing on non-state opposing force (OPFOR) research, analysis, and defeat strategies and Epochal Warfare studies. He was the 2006-2007 Futurist in Residence (FIR), FBI Academy, Quantico, VA and has counter-terrorism and red teaming experience. His publications include Non-State Threats and Future Wars; Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency; and Criminal-States and Criminal-Soldiers (all published by Routledge).

Foreword: a view from the Borderlands Alberto M. Melis 1. Strategic threat: narcos and narcotics overview Robert J. Bunker Part 1: Organization and Technology Use 2. Cartel evolution revisited: third phase cartel potentials and alternative futures in Mexico Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan 3. Los Zetas: operational assessment Lisa J. Campbell 4. Surenos gangs and Mexican cartel use of social networking sites Sarah Womer and Robert J. Bunker Part 2: Silver or Lead? 5. Corruption of politicians, law enforcement, and the judiciary in Mexico and complicity across the border Luz E. Nagle 6. Firefights, raids, and assassinations: tactical forms of cartel violence and their underpinnings Graham H. Turbiville, Jr. 7. Torture, beheadings, and narcocultos Pamela L. Bunker, Lisa J. Campbell and Robert J. Bunker Part 3: Response Strategies 8. 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