The Cartel

... it's unbelievable.

The Cartel is a, a long book.

It's the second in a trilogy about the Mexican drug cartels.

Uh, and I spent 23 years on that beat, which, yeah, was a, a tough space to be in.

But, um, no, you know, I, I would come home, um, i- it was somewhat similar when I was doing PI work, you know? You're, you're not gonna come home and, you know, "What'd you do today?" "Well, I, you know, I interviewed a child molester for six hours," or-

Mm

... you know, "I looked at autopsy photos." Um, you, that's, you're not gonna bring that to your wife and your, your child, you know? Um, and it was so much worse with, with the cartels.

There were weeks at a time where I would do nothing but look at atrocity videos.

And Don has written the two trilogies that made him famous, quite frankly, and made him $10,000, maybe $15,000.

over the years on the cartel, the border, the power of the dog, which the critics thought were just amazing on the cartel in Mexico.

And then his other trilogy on the Irish mob against the Italian mob back in Rhode Island, which is just great stuff with the City of Dreams, City on Fire, and City in Ruins.

Did I get them right?

Which was the book that stopped the struggle and made you Don Winslow?

Cartel.

The Cartel.

Would I be safe to say... that the cartel in doing all these stories and showing all their viciousness and their murderous goings on and what have you, and their lawlessness, that the cartel is probably not fond of Don Winslow's writing.