In the main, studies of organized crime rely on police or judicial sources, or the accounts of retired criminals and informants. In contrast, this study is based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork with Colombian drug traffickers (traquetos) in The Netherlands and Colombia. By spending long hours in salsa bars,
churches, prisons, and
prostitution streets, the author has uncovered the social world of traquetos: how and why they get involved in illicit activities, the nature of
their work, the manner in which they relate to one another, and lastly how they organize their businesses. The result is a lively, theoretically grounded study that defies common cliches on `cartels' and leadership…
