Leaving no stone unturned, Ioan Grillo casts a wide net into understanding the web of firearm culture and complicity; an increasingly important work of journalism both heartbreaking and impossible to put down.

–Matthew Heinemann, Oscar nominated filmmaker of Cartel Land, and A Private War

“Ioan Grillo is one of the best reporters covering the cartels, crime and carnage south of the border. In Blood Gun Money, he traces the drug-gun pipeline that runs straight from that violence to the beating heart of America. It’s even weirder and bloodier than the fiction.”

–Don Winslow, Author of The Cartel and The Border

Blood Gun Money is an eye-opening and riveting account of how guns make it into the black market and into the hands of criminals and drug lords. While Americans fear mass shootings, Ioan Grillo’s fascinating and well-researched book shows that gun trafficking is the most important gun issue of our time.

–Adam Winkler, Author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America

The debate over individual gun rights in the United States rarely takes in the wider consequences of the Second Amendment— the American guns that are freely sold and then easily smuggled into the hands of narco gunmen and contract killers in Mexico and parts further south. Written in a gripping narrative style and with details gleaned from firsthand reporting, Ioan Grillo has written a vitally important book about the gun underground that those in the know call the Iron River.

–Jon Lee Anderson, Author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life 

Grillo’s gripping book is the definitive story of how, for decades, hundreds of thousands of firearms bought legally in the United States have been smuggled into Mexico and fueled unspeakable violence. For Mexico and the United States, there is no greater outrage than this tale of greed, ignorance and immoral inaction. Grillo reports it in gripping, enraging fashion.

–León Krauze, Univision

Journalist Grillo (Gangster Warlords) delivers an alarming and deeply reported account of how the U.S. gun trade fuels bloodshed, terror, and refugee crises throughout the Western hemisphere… This expert account makes the high cost of America’s thirst for guns crystal clear.

–Publishers Weekly

Read full review: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-63557-278-0

’That old lamentation ‘Poor Mexico: so far from God and so close to the United States!’ echoes throughout Grillo’s powerful book. This is not just potent journalism. It is a finger of truth pointing North from the Mexican border, showing how the gun, so beloved by American libertarians and lobbyists, has sown death and destruction South of the border. And how Americans, searching for their line to paradise in a gramme of cocaine, have dragged too many nameless Mexicans with them into hell.

Grillo isn’t just a brilliant writer. He’s a modern Dante.”

–Iain Overton, Author “Gun Baby Gun,” and Executive Director of Action on Armed Violence

“Blood Gun Money expertly maps the “iron river” of U.S. weapons gushing into Mexico to illustrate the way North American economic integration is being undermined by a dangerous misalignment of security policies. Grillo’s fast-paced writing and vivid interviews with gunmakers, cops, criminals and cartel assassins guide readers up and down the tributaries of a grisly North American landscape, enabled by weak U.S. laws, that connect urban combat on the streets of Baltimore to the terrifying arsenals of Mexico’s mafias and the gang wars of Central America.”

— Nick Miroff, Washington Post.

“Ioan Grillo is one of the bravest and most thoughtful journalists in the world. If you want to know what’s really going on, you have to read him – and especially this excellent book.”

–Johann Hari, Author of Chasing the Scream, Lost Connections

“Grillo in particular scores some spectacular successes,”
Misha Glenny in The New York Times
Read Full Review

“Tenacious, riveting, hair-raising reportage.” The Financial Times.
Read Full Review

“Grillo’s strength is that while he draws the broad patterns of the raging conflict, he also zooms in on the peculiarities of each front.” The Times.
Read Full Review

“An absorbing work of reportage,” Ian Thomson in the Telegraph.
Read Full Review

“Sterling work on the front lines, from Brazil’s broken megacities to the insanely violent ‘garrisons’ of Kingston, Jamaica.” The Spectator.
Read Full Review

“Grillo is a breathtakingly intrepid reporter, diving in where police fear to tread, seeking out men who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. He profiles some of the ‘puzzling postmodern networks that mix gangs, mafia, death squads, religious cults and urban guerrillas’.
Francis Wheen in the Mail on Sunday.

“An excellent work derived from a number of years of intimate interviews and field reports,” Small Wars Journal.
Read Full Review

“A vitally important book.” — Library Journal (starred review)
Read Full Review

“A striking exploration of the horrors of mass violence in the Western Hemisphere, with the author offering hope that radical policies could provide positive change.” — Kirkus Reviews Read Full Review

“Grillo dissects Latin America’s narco world, both its mechanics and its culture, with a precision and firsthand knowledge that is astounding. There has quite simply never been a book like this before, one that not only examines the broader currents that allow the drug trade to flourish, but animates that discussion with intimate portraits of both its practitioners and victims.  Taut and endlessly revelatory, Gangster Warlords is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the drug wars taking place in Latin America today – and especially for any Americans who might imagine it’s just ‘their’ problem.” — Scott Anderson, bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East

“Grillo’s new book is steely-eyed and sensitive reporting on the criminal kings at the front-lines of the continental catastrophe called the war on drugs.” — Daniel Hernandez, author of Down & Delirious in Mexico City

“With El Narco, Mr. Grillo gave us an unprecedented glimpse into the vicious world of Mexican drug cartels. In Gangster Warlords, he masterfully expands the criminal landscape to include villains across Latin America and the Caribbean. The depth and detail he provides on fearsome organizations like the Red Commando in Brazil and the Shower Posse in Jamaica cast a much-needed spotlight on groups not regularly featured in US media. A sobering and fascinating look at deadly gangsters in often-neglected corners of our own hemisphere.” — Sylvia Longmire, author of Cartel and Border Insecurity

“Something new and terrible is happening in the Americas. It has murdered a million people in ten years, and yet we don’t fully understand it. Until now. Combining hair-raising reporting with erudite analysis, Grillo has written an indispensable guide to the new world disorder.” — Richard Grant, author of God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre

“Reading Gangster Warlords is a like riding shotgun through the darkest battlefields of the drug war with a hardboiled narcotics detective at the wheel. You won’t want to get out of the car. With terrific storytelling and analytical sweep, Grillo’s guided tour lays bare the interconnected nature of 21st century crime and drug trafficking in the Americas. His warlords are the region’s new insurgents, offering no ideology beyond power and riches. The ripples of their violence reach further than we tend to acknowledge. And they aren’t going away any time soon.” — Nick Miroff, Latin America correspondent, The Washington Post

“The stories in Gangster Warlords offer a dramatic portrait of a region torn by poverty, dysfunctional politics and the bloody allure of crime. Grillo has written a riveting Latin American tragedy. If only it were fiction.” — León Krauze, Univision

“Superbly reported, Gangster Walords offers a searching look into crime groups across Latin America and examines how the region got into the violent mess it is in. Ioan Grillo delves deep to deliver grisly detail in sharp focus with the skill of a born raconteur. Just like El Narco, this is a page-turner, despite the tough subject matter.” — Jude Webber, Mexico and Central America correspondent, Financial Times

“Ioan Grillo captures the power and the horror of the Latin American drug cartels with unrivaled reporting and riveting writing. With Gangster Warlords, he once again proves his mastery of interweaving the broader context with vivid, on-the-ground journalism to provide readers with a street level view of a complex war fought without clear front lines.” — Matthew Heineman, director of Sundance winner, Cartel Land

“Taking his readers for a walk through some of the world’s most dangerous streets, Ioan Grillo has produced a crucial travel guide of the murky world of Latin America’s criminal fiefdoms. Enriched by narcotics trafficking and other rackets, these mostly non-ideological capos and their armies of young gunmen threaten the region’s often shaky governments and institutions, as much or more as the armed insurgencies of decades past. This is shoe leather reporting at its very best: honest, insightful and engrossing.” — Jose de Cordoba, correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

“Grillo’s remarkable new book takes us behind the blood soaked headlines in Mexico and courageously connects the footprints of a beast ravaging the continent, from Central to South America to the Caribbean. The haunting journey is chilling. The reporting first-rate. The lessons sobering, long after you finish Gangsters Warlords.” — Alfredo Corchado, author of Midnight in Mexico

“At first I didn’t know what to think. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Great writing and thought provoking ideas. This will definitely start a lot of necessary conversations.” — Felipe Coronel aka Immortal Technique

“El Narco is riveting, authoritative reporting from the front lines of the Mexican drug wars. What’s happening there has explosive potential consequences for every American, and Ioan Grillo’s book shows you why.”
— Dan Rather, Founder and Anchor, HDNet’s Dan Rather Reports.

“Grillo’s book is terrific—full of vivid front-line reporting; diverse interviews; a sense of history; a touch of social science; clarifying statistics; and realistic reviews of what might be done to improve things, none of it easy. It is essential reading.” Read Full Review
— Steve Coll, NewYorker.com

“Graphic and fast-paced history” — Mother Jones Read Full Review

“El Narco achieves something unattempted in the English-language reporting on the Mexican drug war: it lays out in clear terms the contours of a world that has existed for years and only grown more barbaric as it’s graduated to “war” status. Since that world is right next door, it’s high time that English-language readers are able to learn just what makes it tick.”
— Bookforum, Read Full Review

“The strength of El Narco lies in its shoe-leather reporting; Grillo interviews everyone from a former cartel assassin to DEA agents to grieving families, snitches, pot and poppy farmers, illegal immigrants and gangbangers. He’s the sort of journalist who’ll pop into a plastic surgery clinic or taqueria if it turns up on a list of cartel-linked businesses, just to see what he can see. Writers this knowledgeable about the subject and with no particular ax to grind are rare.” Read Full Review
— Salon

“Ioan Grillo delivers the first authoritative and comprehensive examination of the unprecedented mafia violence that has taken so many lives, shaken the Mexican state and spooked the Americans…this is the book to read to understand the homicidal madness just across the river…The considerable strengths of El Narco are the depth of Grillo’s reporting, the clarity of his writing and the fact that he is a thinking reporter who, while wandering through the bloody wilderness, is looking for a way out.” Read Full Review
— San Antonio Express

“Effectively [analyzes how] Mexico came to control drug trafficking, how it spreads, and what can be done about it…This excellent work packs the punch of Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah, an exploration of the Italian Mafia, which also displays the fruits of direct reporting bolstered by intensive interviewing.” Read Full Review
– Booklist (starred review)

“Grillo takes advantage of his sources to provide insight on the drug war from nearly every angle, from the American government’s longstanding attempts to stifle trafficking there to the national history that underpins much of the current narco culture.” Read Full Review
– Boston Globe

“El Narco is a seminal text . . . For those looking for a good read from an unaltered man, plow into this one while you are under this influence of your legal beverage of choice. A toast to Ioan Grillo and his spellbinding El Narco.” Read Full Review
– New York Journal of Books

“The monster of violence rampaging in Mexico was a long time coming. Ioan Grillo traces the beast’s footprints with meticulous research—including courageous reporting on some of the country’s meanest streets—and engaging writing. Remarkable.”
— Dudley Althaus, Mexico City Bureau Chief, Houston Chronicle

“It is hard enough to report the facts of Mexico’s crazy death spiral of drug violence. Ioan Grillo goes much, much deeper. He explains why El Narco threatens the soul of this beautiful country. He tells us how we got here.”
— William Booth, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, Washington Post

“El autor recaba su información lo más cercana posible de su objeto de estudio, lo que implica correr riesgos en aras del compromiso con el lector, lo que se aprecia. La experiencia y profesionalismo de Grillo, aunados a su empatía con los personajes -algunos muy siniestros- dan por resultado un libro tan escalofriante como útil.” Read full review
— Lorenzo Meyer, Reforma

“Not since Elaine Shannon’s Desperados has a book shown us the lawless horrors of the drug war with the kind of gripping human detail that confronts us in El Narco. Ioan Grillo explores that world as deeply as few journalists have dared, but he also examines it artfully and broadly: he puts the tragedy in a rich historical context that indicts not only Mexican and Latin American politicos but U.S. policymakers as well.”
— Tim Padgett, Miami and Latin America Bureau Chief, Time

“Mexico’s drug trafficking mafias have become too large and dangerous for Americans to ignore. In limpid prose and penetrating analysis Ioan Grillo puts a human face on the violent tragedy caused by U.S. drug demand and Mexican cartel criminality. I strongly recommend this timely and troubling book.”
— Howard Campbell, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas-El Paso, author of Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juarez

“Ioan Grillo, the most intrepid and knowledgeable foreign journalist covering the drug war in Mexico today, provides us with more than just a glimpse into this sordid underworld and its history—he gives us access to the soul and mind of El Narco, as well as deftly explaining and providing new insight into this hemispheric war on drugs.”
— Malcolm Beith, author of The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World’s Most Wanted Drug Lord

“Ioan Grillo really gets Mexico’s Drug War. His gripping and informative El Narco masterfully intersperses personal accounts from the front lines with fascinating and crucial historical details to help the reader understand why this violence is happening, and how it is impacting people on both sides of the border. El Narco is a must-read for anyone who wants the bottom line on the situation in Mexico.”
— Sylvia Longmire, Consultant, Drug War analyst, and author of Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico’s Drug Wars.

“A propulsive account of the blood-soaked machinery of ‘El Narco’…Examining the trade’s gunslinging culture, the motivations behind the continual ramping-up of violence, and some potential solutions to the problem, Grillo argues that America’s hard-line rhetoric has failed–and that if a game-changing alternative is not implemented, the Mexican state could also fail. Given the savage chaos Grillo shows us in the country’s streets and barrios, his arguments are as perceptive as his high-octane reportage.”
— Publishers Weekly

“Accomplished, chilling account of the murderous growth of Mexican drug cartels …Grillo has reported from the region since 2001; his experience is evident in his easy, wry familiarity with the political and social currents of Latin America … A valuable contribution to the literature of the Drug War.”
— Kirkus