Comments by "Geoffrey Lyons" (@granatmof) on "How Ruthless Mexican Drug Cartels Evolved" video.

  1. I liked how you skipped over the CIA turning a blind eye on Columbian drug runners flying cocaine and crack into LA during the 80s. The story fully illustrates how the US government even has complex relationships with the cartels and drug trade. The US government isn't exactly the good guys and the CIA has operated in Mexico for decades.
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  2. MS-13 started as veterans from El Salvador organizing to protect their community from gangs and became a ganger themselves. Gangs in general operate as more or less de facto governments. They use threat of violence to secure a local monopoly on violence and then charge protection money similar to the way a government charges taxes. Gangs are able to organize due to a lack of conventional governmental involvement in an area. You'll often see a breakdown in infrastructure, like poor roads, unreliable power and utilities and more antagonistic relationships with police in areas where gangs pop up. Since these conditions are likewise detrimental to local economies lack of jobs mean people are more likely to result in criminal behavior, which gangs operating outside the law are more likely to be in charge or control of. The things with gangs, if they go long enough, they'll actually try to shift to legitimate operations, partly to hide illegal wealth, but also legal money can be argued in court for it's return when it's seized.
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