This is a cutting-edge true crime history detailing the inexorable rise of the ruthless Mexican drug cartels who have taken violence to new levels and plunged large parts of their home country into chaos as part of their strategy to seize control of the world's most lucrative drug market. The book takes you from the story of the Gulf Cartel, founded in the 1930s to smuggle alcohol into the US during Prohibition, to the frightening private army Los Zetas, who are the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous gang operating out of Mexico.