Women Drug Traffickers: Mules, Bosses, and Organized Crime

by Elaine Carey

Overview

In the flow of drugs to the United States from Latin America, women have always played key roles as bosses, business partners, money launderers, confidantes, and couriers—work rarely acknowledged. Elaine Carey's study of women in the drug trade offers a new understanding of this intriguing subject, from women drug smugglers in the early twentieth century to the cartel queens who make news today. Using international diplomatic documents, trial transcripts, medical and public welfare studies, correspondence between drug czars, and prison and hospital records, the author's research shows that history can be as gripping as a thriller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826351982
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	11/01/2014
Series:	Diálogos Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Elaine Carey chairs the Department of History at St. John's University in New York City. She is also the author of Plaza of Sacrifices: Gender, Power, and Terror in 1968 Mexico (UNM Press).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Selling Is More of a Habit: Women and Drug Trafficking, 1900-1980 1

Chapter 1 Foreign Vices: Drugs, Modernity, and Gender 14

Chapter 2 Mules, Smugglers, and Peddlers: The Illicit Trade in Mexico, 1910s-1930s 53

Chapter 3 The White Lady of Mexico City: Lola la Chata and the Remaking of Narcotics 91

Chapter 4 Transcending Borders: La Nacha and the "Notorious" Women of the North 126

Chapter 5 The Women Who Made It Snow: Cold, Dirty Drug Wars, 1970s 158

Conclusion: Gangsters, Narcs, and Women: A Secret History 194

Notes 205

Bibliography 255

Index 281

Editorial Reviews

"A fascinating book that examines the international drug trade and the central roles played by women in the business."—Choice

"The first full-length study of female drug traffickers. The lives of these women are fascinating and skillfully analyzed by the author. The book will be pleasurable reading to general readers and specialists alike."—Howard Campbell, author of Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez

From the Publisher