ZeroZeroZero

Starred review from May 18, 2015
Following 2006’s Gomorrah, reporter Saviano returns with another blistering crime exposé, this time delivering a wide-ranging and disturbing look at international cocaine trafficking. To give a sense of the amount of money involved in the cocaine trade, reporter Saviano notes, “there are two kinds of wealthy people: those who count their money and those who weigh it.” With the U.S.’s War on Drugs greatly overshadowed by the War on Terror, many readers will be surprised at how active and violent drug trafficking remains. Saviano is particularly apt at making complex facts accessible; for example, to illustrate his point that “no market in the world brings in more revenue than the cocaine market,” he compares the return on investment of the narcotic with that of Apple stock. Strong stomachs are needed for graphic descriptions of the horrific violence the cartels inflict on those who dare to cross them. His eventual and surprising conclusion—that cocaine legalization is the only reasonable solution to the problem of trafficking—will generate controversy.

Starred review from May 15, 2015
An inside account of the international cocaine trade. Italian investigative journalist Saviano has lived under armed guard since the 2006 publication of his bestselling debut, Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples's Organized Crime System. This revealing new book, with a strong focus on Mexico's cartels, surges with fast-moving prose detailing the lives of drug lords and pushers, the inner workings of their violent world, and how their lucrative business (between $25 billion and $50 billion annually) affects all our lives. "The world's drowning in unhappiness," he writes. "Mexico has the solution: cocaine." An obsessive ("My White Whale is cocaine"), Saviano says reporting on drugs-in the hope it will foster change-gives meaning to his life. His stories offer a close glimpse of Mexico's cartels: the biggest, the Sinaloa cartel, owns 160 million acres. La Familia cartel recruits in drug rehabs and lavishes money on peasants and churches. The Knights Templar cartel, with a rigid honor code, portrays itself as a protector of widows and orphans. Between 2006 and 2011, such cartels killed 31 Mexican mayors and more than 47,000 other people. Working like remarkably efficient, moneymaking machines, they use Africa, with its poor border controls, as a drug warehouse, build submarines (capable of carrying 10 tons of cocaine) in hidden jungle shipyards, and teach aspiring mules how to package and ingest cocaine-filled capsules at a school in Curacao. Saviano describes the complexities of money laundering, how world banks help make it possible, and the many ways in which drugs are smuggled: in paintings, handcrafted doors, frozen fish, and more. Throughout, the author provides vivid stories of the lives of well-known drug bosses and their minions. Saviano says he can no longer look at a beach or a map without seeing cocaine, and many will share that view after reading this dark, relentless, hyperreal report.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2015
We want to believe that cocaine use and trafficking are part of some netherworld that never touches most of us. Italian journalist Saviano argues that it is everywhere and affects nearly every aspect of our lives. Author of the highly acclaimed Gomorrah (2007), Saviano has lived under 24-hour police protection since his expose on the Neapolitan Mob and here continues his admitted obsession with international crime networks. In the thoroughly engaging narrative, he details the connections between an international network of drug traffickers that make up narcocapitalism. In the 1980s, organized crime syndicates introduced their traditions into the South American drug organizations, traditions that have since spread through Russia and Africa, as well. Later, the privatizing of territories strengthened local investment and made it more difficult to break up the entire operation, promising an exponential increase in efficiency, profitability, and violence. Saviano begins each section with a stream-of-consciousness riff on the ubiquity of cocaine use, the lexicon of incredible names used to describe cocaine, and the wildly imaginative schemes for getting it past customs. With keen observation and deep probing, Saviano is an anthropologist and philosopher as much as a journalist. This is an epic account of how the modern cocaine trafficking business came to be and how widespread, how impenetrable, and how intertwined with international commerce and politicsand our everyday livesit is.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2015

Journalist Saviano (Gomorrah) offers a wide-ranging and chilling account of how cocaine dominates world markets. He covers everything from the beginning of the drug's takeover in the jungles of Colombia, the shift to Mexico as the center of the cocaine business, the infiltration into Europe through Italy, the world of the Soviet Mafiaja, the African connections, and the United States's and Europe's insatiable appetite for the stimulant. Saviano also writes about specific narco-trafficers, gang members, and leaders; law enforcement; trials; and the journalists who try to make a difference by shedding light on the industry. He occasionally interjects himself into the book, revealing his own ordeal of living under police protection since the 2006 publication of Gomorrah, his book on the world of the Camorra. At times it seems Saviano has become addicted to the global story of cocaine. VERDICT This overview of the cocaine industry will be important for legal and criminal collections. The combination of writing styles--worldview and personal experiences--might not appeal to some, however.--Karen Sandlin Silverman, Scarborough H.S. Lib., ME

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2013

Saviano has used the 24-hour police protection he's had since the 2006 publication of Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples's Organized Crime System to build relationships with law enforcement worldwide. That's given him a startling overview of the international trade in cocaine, including the whitest, brightest stuff called "zero zero zero."

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.