Books like The Memory of Pablo Escobar by James Mollison

Roberto Escobar‑Gaviria, brother and chief accountant of Pablo Escobar, recounts the inner workings of the Medellín Cartel, its vast wealth, brutal violence, and his own survival after a bombing during imprisonment.

Investigative journalist Phoebe Eaton separates man from myth, journeying past cartel checkpoints up to El Chapo’s remote hometown hideout in the Sierra Madre. She meets Chapo's family and reveals the surprising telenovela details of his childhood, discovering exactly how this third-grade dropout, Mexico’s most controversial narcotrafficker, rappelled his way from the rock pile that is La Tuna, Sinaloa, onto Forbes magazine's big-time billionaire list, governing a $14-billion empire even as he was on the lam, living in simple pine shacks with plastic folding chairs where the phone service went down if it was raining. She discovers the Pentecostal faith his mother (and he) credit with keeping him alive all these years and helping him escape jail and the authorities numerous times, the gift his mother and sisters (and perhaps even he) have of speaking in tongues. Including many never-seen-before color pictures from Chapo's haunts in La Tuna in Badiraguato, the surprising seat of his empire, and also rare material from his 12-week Brooklyn court trial where he was convicted on ten felony counts before shipping off to a life term in Colorado's Supermax prison.

"This is the incredible, true story of the only American alive ever admitted to the inner circle of the Colombian cocaine cartel. From 1978 to 1985, Max Mermelstein was a pivotal figure in the American cocaine explosion, moving fifty-six tons of tropical snow into Florida and 300million dollars in cash back to Medellin, Colombia. 'The Man Who Made It Snow is Mermelstein's story--a tale every bit as violent and hair-raising as the movie 'Scarface'. In this vivid, spellbinding account, Mermelstein traces the inexorable path that led a son of a working-class Jewish family to meet and marry a beautiful Colombian girl and, in the process, become embroiled in the perilous world of cocaine manufacturing, smuggling, and distribution"--Dust jacket flap.